Scholars have long recognized the salient place held by the temple in Mark's narrative. What remains to be examined is why Mark gives the temple such a conspicuous place. There is also in Mark a significant connection between the temple and eschatology that has never been examined in depth.
This study takes up a narrative analysis of the eschatological role of the temple in the latter part of Mark (chapters 11-15). Coinciding with Mark's emphasis on the temple in these chapters is his prominent use of Israel's Scriptures through citation and allusion. Thus, the present study gives significant attention to Markan intertextuality.
One of the methodological findings of this study is that Mark's use of intertextuality often relates to his intratextuality, that is, many of the key words and themes of Mark's Gospel are interwoven through repetition into the narrative tapestry of his story.
The study of Markan intertextuality, particularly Mark in 13, shows that an important pattern underlies the clustering of OT texts throughout. Mark's gospel frequently deploys OT texts that speak of prophetic eschatology, particularly those concerning the great tribulation that surrounded the fall of Jerusalem and the temple at the hands of the Babylonians. Mark applies these texts to the second temple in order to show that its destruction marks the end of the ages foretold by the prophets. Mark then connects the death of Jesus to the eschatological tribulation, rooting eschatology first and foremost in Jesus, and secondarily in the temple. Whereas the temple was called by God to be the focal point of Israel's restoration and the final ingathering of the nations, it failed to fulfill this vocation and is declared by Jesus "a den of thieves," doomed for destruction. Through his passion narrative and especially his description of Jesus' death, Mark portrays Jesus as the cornerstone of a new temple that succeeds where its predecessor failed.
