Eugene Peterson on Mark’s Gospel

Update November 4, 2011:

The lectures and videos for Scripture as Formation are now available through iTunes for free.

Original post:

Seven quotes (paraphrased (!) and reconstructed from my notes) from Eugene Peterson's talk tonight at Seattle Pacific University.

1. Mark 1-8 Jesus is strolling–leisurely meandering, he has time to eat meals with anyone and take boat rides.
2. Mark 9-16 is dominated by death talk. But Mark is not morbid–Matthew, Luke, and John keep that proportion.
3. Spirituality is today viewed as a certain insipidity–blurred piety. But in the Bible, it means livingness.
4. The capacity to say no is the key to freedom. I don't have to do what my culture and glands tell me to do.
5. Mark 8–Peter tried to avoid the cross's asceticism. Mark 9–Peter tried to make the aesthetic functional.
6. St. Mark teaches us that we get to enter the center of the story but we are not the center.
7. Find a couple of theologians you trust and read them. We are not paying enough attention to our good scholars.

He was speaking at http://spu.edu/depts/theology/events/scripture-as-formation/ and http://www.napce.org/conference.html