Brian Incigneri has been involved with Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Melbourne since 1978. He served as one of the Coordinators of the Archdiocese for eight years, and was active in developing and conducting teaching programs within CCR. He obtained a Degree in Theology with First Class Honours through Catholic Theological College, Melbourne, in 1996, and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy from Australian Catholic University in 2002.
Slightly revised, his doctoral thesis was published in 2003 by Brill under the title,
The Gospel to the Romans: The Setting and Rhetoric of Mark’s Gospel.
His book proposes that Mark’s Gospel was written in Rome in late 71 after the return of the feared Titus who had recently destroyed the Jerusalem Temple. Recognising that the use of emotional appeals was a prime rhetorical tool in those times, it shows the Gospel to be an emotionally-charged text aimed at readers traumatised by years of persecution, fear of arrest and intra-community tensions over the forgiveness of those who had failed. It examines the political, social and religious situation in Rome and shows that the Gospel contains allusions to many recent events of concern to the Christians in the city at that time. Mark stirs their fears and painful memories to move them to a new resolve, and provides a model for them — Jesus, the first martyr for the gospel.
It has often been noticed that Mark depicts the disciples in a very negative way. This book proposes that Mark portrayed the disciples as having failed not only to understand Jesus but to abandon, betray and deny him in order to show that Jesus would forgive and welcome back even the worst of sinners as, in Rome, as Tacitus reported, many Christians had been martyred during Nero’s persecution due to the “information” of other Christians and, no doubt, many had denied being Christians. It is suggested that these Christians were now seeking to return to the Christian community. In 2:1–12, Mark seems to describe the attitude of those who would keep such ‘sinners’ out, and, in the post-resurrection scene (16:1–8), Mark shows how Peter welcomes back “even Peter,” who, in his narrative, played the part of those who denied knowing Jesus (14:66–72) out of fear of being reported to the authorities.
Brian has given many courses on
The Gospel of Mark,
The Gospel of John,
Paul’s Letters,
Understanding the Old Testament, and various other talks on the Bible in parishes and at study weekends and conferences around Melbourne, country Victoria, interstate, and New Zealand. He has also tutored in biblical studies at Australian Catholic University.
Brian can be contacted by e-mail if you want to comment on this article.
