In Biblical criticism

Biblical criticism

Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of Biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work...

, the Messianic Secret refers to a proposed motif primarily in the Gospel of Mark in which Jesus is portrayed as commanding his followers to silence about his Messianic mission. This is a modern motif and the first theory for it was proposed in 1901 by William Wrede

William Wrede

Georg Friedrich Eduard William Wrede was a German Lutheran theologian.Wrede was born at Bücken in Hannover. He became an associate professor at Breslau in 1893, and full professor in 1896. He died in office in 1906....

.

Part of Wrede's theory involved statements in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 by Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 to his followers not to reveal to others that he is the Messiah

Messiah

A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...

. Wrede suggested that this theme was not historical but was an addition by the author of Mark. Wrede's broad concept of the Messianic Secret also involved the use of parables by Jesus.

Wrede's theory had an inherent inter-relationship with the hypothesis of Markan priority

Markan priority

Markan priority is the hypothesis that the Gospel of Mark was the first written of the three Synoptic Gospels, and that the two other synoptic evangelists, Matthew and Luke, used Mark's Gospel as one of their sources. The theory of Markan priority is today accepted by the majority of New Testament...

, which Wrede eventually abandoned, but some of his followers accepted. The theory was strongly criticized in the first years of the 20th century, then gained acceptance in the 1920s; but eventually began to lose support and by the 1970s it no longer existed as Wrede had proposed it.

New Testament examples

In the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

, Jesus commands silence in many instances. An example is Mark 8:29–30:

And he asked them, But who say ye that I am? Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged them that they should tell no man of him.

Jesus also issues commands of silence after miracles

Miracles of Jesus

The miracles of Jesus are the supernatural deeds of Jesus, as recorded in Gospels, in the course of his ministry. According to the Gospel of John, only some of these were recorded. states that "Jesus did many other things as well...

 and healings, e.g. in Mark 1:43–45 in the cleansing of a leper:

After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.'

The concept, as Wrede used it also included parables

Parables of Jesus

The parables of Jesus can be found in all the Canonical gospels as well as in some of the non-canonical gospels but are located mainly within the three synoptic gospels. They represent a key part of the teachings of Jesus, forming approximately one third of his recorded teachings...

 and secrets of the Kingdom of God

Kingdom of God

The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven is a foundational concept in the Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.The term "Kingdom of God" is found in all four canonical gospels and in the Pauline epistles...

 as in Mark 4:11:

And he said unto them, Unto you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all things are done in parables:

Wrede's theory

Wrede proposed that the author of Mark invented the notion of secrecy to reduce the tension between early Christian

Early Christianity

Early Christianity is generally considered as Christianity before 325. The New Testament's Book of Acts and Epistle to the Galatians records that the first Christian community was centered in Jerusalem and its leaders included James, Peter and John....

 beliefs about Jesus being the Messiah, and the non-Messianic nature of his ministry. However, Wrede's notion of secrecy did not simply rely on the commands of Jesus but also involved the "Markan parable theory" of why Jesus spoke in parables.

Wrede recognized the inherent inter-relationship of his approach with the hypothesis of Markan priority

Markan priority

Markan priority is the hypothesis that the Gospel of Mark was the first written of the three Synoptic Gospels, and that the two other synoptic evangelists, Matthew and Luke, used Mark's Gospel as one of their sources. The theory of Markan priority is today accepted by the majority of New Testament...

 – namely that Mark was written first and influenced the other Gospels. However, after re-examining his initial theory, Wrede suggested that his theory would work best if the Markan priority hypothesis turned out to be false and wrote: "it would be 'most highly desirable' if such a gospel as Mark were not the oldest gospel". Yet, the followers of the Messianic Secret hypothesis were later forced to assume Markan priority – an issue that has resulted in various forms of criticism by other scholars.

Criticism

Soon after the appearance of the theory in 1901, theologians such as William Sanday

William Sanday

William Sanday was born in Holme Pierrepont, Nottinghamshire, England to William Sanday and Elizabeth Mann. He was a British theologian and biblical scholar...

 and Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer OM was a German theologian, organist, philosopher, physician, and medical missionary. He was born in Kaysersberg in the province of Alsace-Lorraine, at that time part of the German Empire...

 reacted negatively to it. Initially, scholarship was strictly divided, although suggestions to bridge a gap between the opposing views were made. Wrede's broad concept of the Messianic Secret also involved the use of parables

Parables of Jesus

The parables of Jesus can be found in all the Canonical gospels as well as in some of the non-canonical gospels but are located mainly within the three synoptic gospels. They represent a key part of the teachings of Jesus, forming approximately one third of his recorded teachings...

 by Jesus, and in his criticism Albert Schweitzer called it the weakest element of Wrede's approach.

Wrede's theory enjoyed its highest level of acceptance in the 1920s, and support for it began to decline thereafter as criticisms of the theory were provided based on multiple new arguments. In the 1960's Ulrich Luz

Ulrich Luz

Ulrich Luz is a Swiss theologian, and professor at the University of Bern.He was born in Männedorf and studied Protestant theology in Zurich, Göttingen and Basel...

 demonstrated that the commands of silence which Jesus gave to healed persons belonged to a different category from those issued to his disciples. By the mid 1970's the Messianic Secret theory no longer existed as Wrede had proposed it.

Late in the 20th century, criticism of both the motif and the theory continued from a number of other perspectives, e.g. Daniel J. Harrington

Daniel J. Harrington

Daniel J. Harrington, S.J. is a professor and the Chair of the Biblical Studies Department at Boston College School of Theology and Ministry . A member of the Society of Jesus, Fr. Harrington has served as editor of New Testament Abstracts since 1972...

 argued that even the term "Messianic Secret" is a misnomer, has lumped together multiple issues and some of the Biblical terms used have been confused. G. L.Ladd

George Eldon Ladd

George Eldon Ladd was a Baptist minister and professor of New Testament exegesis and theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California....

 stated that: "The 'Messanic Secret' is a clever theory, but utterly lacking in evidence".

Other explanations

Other explanations regarding the commands of secrecy issued by Jesus have been proposed, e.g. philological

Philology

Philology is the study of language in written historical sources; it is a combination of literary studies, history and linguistics.Classical philology is the philology of Greek and Classical Latin...

 explanations based on mistranslations. An example is the explanation suggested by the Exegetic School of Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 based on the Aramaic primacy

Aramaic primacy

The hypothesis of Aramaic primacy holds that the original text of the New Testament was not written in Greek, as held by the majority of scholars, but in the Aramaic language, which was the primary language of Jesus and his Twelve Apostles....

 that Jesus never expressed those ideas, and that they were added as a result of mistranslation of what Jesus said. However, there is no extant copy of this alleged Aramaic original to support this proposal.

The historical explanations generally assume that the Gospel of Mark is historical and that Jesus issued the commands. Based on that assumption, various additional theories have been proposed, e.g. that Jesus issued the commands in order not to become a "celebrity" and be able to move about with ease.

The theological explanation was proposed by Wrede: it was not yet the proper time for him to be revealed as such. He knew when he had to go to the court and then be crucified. In Mark 8:30 Jesus, “Then strictly warned them that they should tell no one about Him.” Jesus’ messianic mission cannot be understood apart from the cross, which the disciples did not yet understand (vs. 31–33 and ch. 9 vs. 30–32).

The literary explanation theory has it that Mark made a conscious effort to identify Jesus with Odysseus

Odysseus

Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....

, a Greek hero with whom Mark's gentile

Gentile

The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....

 audience would certainly have been familiar. Odysseus, on his return home, has to disguise his identity to avoid his enemies, and in Mark the messianic secret could serve the same purpose for Jesus. Dennis R. MacDonald says that if Mark tried to emulate Homer

Homer

In the Western classical tradition Homer , is the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, and is revered as the greatest ancient Greek epic poet. These epics lie at the beginning of the Western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.When he lived is...

's Odyssey

Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is, in part, a sequel to the Iliad, the other work ascribed to Homer. The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon, and is the second—the Iliad being the first—extant work of Western literature...

, this proves that Mark's gospel stories are fictions.