"Have You Not Heard this Scripture?"

In the study presented in this book, Hans Lammers sets out to answer the question which Old Testament (OT) version was used by the Markan Evangelist as the source of his scriptural quotations. Next, he observes that in most cases, the text of the quotations in Mark deviates from that in the OT source used. Whereas scholars usually ascribe the observed variation to the use of variant versions or forms of the OT text that are no longer extant, Lammers offers a different explanation. He argues that the Markan author quoted the OT from memory, a process in the course of which a considerable portion of the observed variation was generated. This explanation requires us to modify current views of evangelists sifting through biblical books from which they copy certain passages. In addition, Lammers suggests that another part of the observed variation may be the result of conscious adaptation of OT quotations making them better serve the purpose of supporting the Gospel’s message. By means of four case studies, he tries to demonstrate how views of Jesus developed in the Markan Gospel may have prompted the Evangelist to alter OT quotations, a practice for which he proposes the designation context-based modification.