I have read this book in printed form but with access to the PDF, I am able to run it into ChatGPT for synthesis and look for specific information. Below is a very good synthesis and might help others who haven't read the book just yet or are about to.
From Paul to Mark: A Thesis Summary
1. Problem Statement and Central Question
From Paul to Mark addresses one of the most persistent assumptions in New Testament scholarship: that Christianity originated in the life and teachings of a historical Jesus of Nazareth, later interpreted by Paul and recorded—however imperfectly—by the Gospel writers. Laura Knight-Jadczyk challenges this foundational narrative and asks a more radical question:
What if Christianity originated not with Jesus of Nazareth, but with Paul—and what if the Gospels were later literary constructions designed to reframe, domesticate, and historicize Paul’s theology?
The book argues that the traditional sequence—Jesus → apostles → Paul → Gospels—is methodologically unsound. Instead, the evidence points to a reverse trajectory:
Paul’s letters first, then Mark as a Pauline reinterpretation, followed by Matthew, Luke, and Acts as corrective rewritings that reconciled Paul with Jewish tradition and emerging church authority.
This thesis is not merely historical. It has theological, sociological, and philosophical implications, suggesting that Christianity as it developed after the first century is structurally disconnected from its original meaning.
2. Methodology and Historical Approach
Knight-Jadczyk employs
strict historical-critical methodology, emphasizing:
- Priority of earliest sources (Paul’s letters)
- Rejection of Acts as reliable history
- Textual criticism, including interpolations and redactions
- Comparative literary analysis
- Archaeological corroboration
- Political and social context (Roman imperial power, Jewish nationalism)
A key methodological rule adopted throughout is
John Knox’s principle:
When Paul and Acts conflict, Paul must be given priority.
This rule immediately destabilizes the canonical harmony assumed in traditional scholarship. Acts is treated as a
second-century ideological narrative, not a historical continuation of Paul’s life. Likewise, the Gospels are treated as
crafted literary texts, not eyewitness reports or repositories of oral tradition.
3. Paul as the Origin of Christianity
3.1 Paul’s Christ
Paul’s letters reveal a Christ who is:
- Pre-existent and cosmic
- Revealed through visions and scripture, not memory
- Killed by “the rulers of this age” (cosmic powers, not Roman officials)
- Central to a mystical soteriology rather than an ethical biography
Crucially,
Paul never refers to Jesus’ earthly ministry, parables, miracles, trial, betrayal, or tomb. He never cites Jesus’ sayings to settle disputes, even when doing so would be rhetorically decisive. His Christ is not a recently deceased teacher but a
heavenly being who descends, dies, and is exalted within a mytho-cosmic framework.
This creates a fatal tension with the Gospel portrait. If Paul knew the Jesus of the Gospels, his silence is inexplicable. If he did not, then the Gospels cannot be primary.
3.2 Conflict with the Jerusalem Church
Paul describes ongoing, bitter conflict with the Jerusalem leadership—James, Cephas, and John—whom he labels false apostles and enemies of the Cross. Their gospel required adherence to Jewish Law; Paul’s explicitly abolished it.
This conflict is irreconcilable with Acts’ portrayal of apostolic unity. The book argues that
two incompatible Christianities existed simultaneously:
- Jerusalem Christianity
- Torah-observant
- Nationalist
- Messianic in a Jewish sense
- Likely adoptionist
- Pauline Christianity
- Anti-Law
- Universalist
- Mystical and cosmic
- Salvation through participation in Christ
Only one could survive.
4. The Gospel of Mark as a Pauline Construction
4.1 Mark’s Literary Nature
Mark is shown to be:
- Allegorical
- Structurally sophisticated
- Saturated with Pauline theology
- Written after the destruction of Jerusalem (post-70 CE)
Drawing on the work of David Oliver Smith and others, Knight-Jadczyk demonstrates that Mark
uses Paul’s letters as source material, particularly Romans, Corinthians, and Hebrews. Teachings originally attributed to Paul are retrojected into the mouth of Jesus.
Thus,
Mark does not record Paul’s Jesus; Mark invents Jesus to embody Paul’s theology.
4.2 Political and Historical Context
Mark is best understood as a response to:
- The Jewish War
- The destruction of the Temple
- Anti-Jewish sentiment in the Roman world
- The disappearance of the Jerusalem church
By recasting the messiah as:
- Rejected by Jews
- Innocent of rebellion
- Executed yet vindicated
- Universal rather than national
Mark neutralizes Jewish messianism and renders Christianity compatible with Roman order. This makes Mark not merely theological, but
political literature.
5. Matthew, Luke, Acts, and the Suppression of Paul
Matthew and Luke both depend on Mark but modify him in opposing ways:
- Matthew re-Judaizes Jesus, restoring Torah emphasis
- Luke harmonizes Paul with Jewish tradition and imperial authority
Acts completes this project by rewriting Paul’s life into a narrative of obedience, continuity, and harmony—contradicting Paul’s own testimony at nearly every point.
This process culminates in the
Pastoral Epistles, which redefine Paul as a proto-bishop and explicitly counter Marcionite and Pauline radicalism.
6. Marcion and the Survival of an Earlier Paul
Marcion emerges as a critical figure because:
- He possessed the earliest known Pauline corpus
- His versions of Paul’s letters were shorter and less Judaized
- He rejected the Old Testament entirely
- He treated Paul as the sole true apostle
Orthodox Christianity’s violent reaction to Marcion reveals that
Paul’s theology was still controversial well into the second century. The canonical New Testament is presented as a
counter-Marcionite editorial project, not a neutral preservation of apostolic memory.
7. Archaeological and Cultural Evidence
Pre-Constantinian Christian archaeology shows:
- No crucifixion imagery
- No emphasis on atonement or suffering
- Jesus depicted as healer and wonder-worker
- Ritual meals with the dead
- Resurrection understood as communal continuity, not final judgment
This material culture aligns far more closely with
Paul’s resurrection-centric mysticism than with later Gospel theology, suggesting that the familiar crucifixion narrative was a
late doctrinal development.
8. Conclusions and Implications
The book concludes that:
- Christianity began with Paul, not Jesus of Nazareth
- The Gospels are literary-theological constructions, not biographies
- Orthodox Christianity is a post-war, post-Pauline synthesis
- Paul’s original message was mystical, cosmic, and anti-materialist
- That message was progressively misunderstood, historicized, and neutralized
Knight-Jadczyk ultimately frames this as a tragedy of interpretation:
Paul’s vision of a transcendent reality was flattened into pseudo-history, producing a religion that no longer understands its own origins—or its original purpose.
