ACC ~ Mark 1 v40

THE GOSPEL WRITERS’ MEMORY

AUGUSTINE: It is not in one’s own power, however admirable and trustworthy may be the knowledge one has of the facts, to determine the order in which he will recall them to memory. [1] For the way in which one thing comes into one’s mind before or after another proceeds not as we will, but simply as it occurs to us. It is reasonable enough to suppose that each of the Evangelists believed it to have been his duty to relate what he had to relate in that order in which it had pleased God to suggest it to his recollection. HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 21.51. [2]

[1] Augustine is asking why this narrative is located in a different sequence in Mark than in the other Gospels.

[2] Cetedoc 0273, 2.21.51.152.19; NPNF 1 6:127. The variable order of presentation of events is not to be considered a deficit in the memory of the Holy Spirit but a normal aspect of recollective consciousness.

Mk