John Burnett has a Bachelor’s Degree in Classics and Buddhist Studies, and a Master’s Degree in Theology / Old Testament. His well-regarded master’s thesis on the structure and meaning of the biblical genealogies still gets checked out of the library from time to time. His interest in the structure of biblical texts has figured importantly in his work on Mark as well.
Before and after completing his degrees, Mr Burnett spent some 20 years often on pilgrimage to monasteries in the United States and abroad, including Mount Athos and Mount Sinai. However, his one true dream since 1964 was always to work for the church in Africa. This finally became possible in 2003 and 2005–07, when he became the Dean of St Paul’s Orthodox Seminary in Kampala, Uganda; and again in 2009–11, when he was Director of Studies at Patriarch Petros VII Orthodox Seminary in Johannesburg, South Africa. He hopes to return to Africa and resume teaching there one day soon.
Mr Burnett has been an ordained Reader (a kind of cantor) in the Orthodox Church since 1988. Except when he was in Africa, he has served in that capacity since 1995 at St Nicholas Orthodox Church (OCA) in San Anselmo, California (a little north of San Francisco; come and visit!), where he is currently the parish’s official Catechist and adult education leader.
The Gospel of Mark Workshop arose out of his experiences in Africa.
Reading Mark’s Gospel one afternoon in Kampala after graduating a group of seminarians whose real lack of biblical understanding deeply troubled him, he realized that he’d failed to connect them with the only Gospel they’d had time to study (Mark, because it’s the shortest) because he himself had not connected with it. And he saw that the Western academic model was a complete non-starter in the context of Africa— and to no small extent, even in the West as well. We don’t need priests who can write papers; we need priests who can tell the story.
Fortunately, his Master’s Degree and his thesis on the structure and meaning of the Bible’s genealogies had equipped him to know where to look for the solutions.
If Mark seemed to be just an aimless pile of paragraphs with no structure or plot, and no one writes like that, then the challenge was to discover the structure and the plot. As any auto mechanic will tell you, to know how something works is to know how the parts fit together.
And of course, with the Bible, one always needs to know the historical context as well.
And it was obvious that the first challenge was to understand Mark, and to understand it whole, not just in disconnected pieces, as we usually do if we read it, say, following the church calendar. Mark tells his own story, which is different than Matthew’s and Luke’s.
Upon returning to America in 2008, Mr Burnett embarked upon what has now been more than 10 years of discovering and teaching the story in Mark’s Gospel. This proved to be a powerful way of teaching Scripture generally. He has done the same with Romans, Genesis, and other texts, and given Workshops on these as well.
The effect of teaching the narrative in this way has been explosive. After getting through just one chapter, his Congolese students came to him and said, “Mr John! We will never believe those ‘pastors’ again. We can see now that they don’t know what they’re talking about!”
What Mr Burnett offers are not his own ideas, but a close reading of the Text itself, even from the original Greek (and Hebrew) if you can handle it. In revealing the structure of Mark he has been helped greatly by a whole list of important scholars.
Discerning readers may note the absence of any church fathers in this list, perhaps unexpected for an Orthodox Christian. This is not due to any distaste for tradition, but the fact is, none of the fathers ever addressed questions of structure and narrative flow of the Scriptures, and so they don’t answer the questions that Mr Burnett began asking on that fateful afternoon in Kampala. There’s still plenty of work for Orthodox Christians to do, when it comes to the Bible!
You’ll like the Workshop a lot— Mr Burnett has given it more than 20 times to churches, monasteries, and unaffiliated groups in Utah, California, and Africa (references upon request) and, without exception even non-believers have always been— well, stunned. One former student wrote, “I was in awe the whole time.” Mr Burnett says that this is because he himself is in awe of Mark’s accomplishment, which he considers one of the most astonishing pieces of literature ever written, a theological wellspring of staggering abundance and depth. “And”, he adds, “you don’t even have to ‘believe’ it— the story delivers a knockout punch on its own— no assistance necessary!”
Even after 12 hours of high-energy discussion you’ll feel you’ve just gotten started with Mark’s Gospel! But at least to help slake your deeper thirst, Mr Burnett offers offer a Weekend Retreat that will keep you deeply engaged with the Text every minute, and leave you transformed by the “beginning of the Good News” that Mark proclaims.
The great thing about a story, though, is that you can convey a complete sense of it in just a few words— so of course Mr Burnett can introduce you to the transformative mysteries of Mark in any amount of time from an hour to a whole weekend workshop. You will understand the Scriptures— not just Mark alone!— in a way you never imagined— and which is deeply in line with the whole of the Christian tradition.
The real question is only, How much you want? Then, for a really dynamite study of any length at your location, contact Mr Burnett using the form below to discuss your needs.
John Burnett’s Gospel of Mark Workshop offers a powerful new/old way of looking at the first Gospel ever written— the gospel that provided the basis for the others— and without doubt will transform your whole understanding of the Bible, and quite possibly even your understanding of God himself. Mr Burnett can make this claim because that is precisely the effect that coming to understand Mark has had on him, and he has seen it over and over in the Workshop participants.
Mark’s structure and sequence of unassuming, but immeasurably subtle little stories about Jesus and his disciples hold the key not just to the rest of the Bible, but to the entire treasury of divine knowledge.
The story— and its astounding punchline— are so familiar that you’ll say, But of course that’s it!— and yet so powerfully new that you’ll be left speechless.
Mark does not require any special “faith” or “belief”, but only that you pay close attention to his story, as you would with any book. Mark’s meaning emerges by itself as the story is told.
How refreshing to find that you can discuss the Bible in a way that actually makes sense!
How refreshing not to need interpretations before actually grasping the narrative.
How refreshing, really, to allow you to measure the narrative by your ownmost convictions in a natural way!
Mr Burnett offers the Gospel of Mark Workshop on a suggested-donation basis, but all proceeds go to the St Nicholas Africa Fund, a 501c(3) charitable works project of Mr Burnett’s parish, which supports secondary and post-secondary education and vocational needs in Uganda, South Africa, and Congo— so he asks that you be as generous as you can.
Sign up for the current course (if any) by emailing Mr Burnett below. You’ll be very happy you didn’t miss this chance to understand the Scriptures in a way that few if any (yet) do!—