John Pilch’s 1994 article on the same subject demonstrated how social-science criticism had developed during the intervening seventeen years. Pilch used the first-century Mediterranean social models of secrecy and honor/shame to provide new insights into Mark’s messianic secret. Control of information (the keeping of secrets) was part of the culture, and keeping secrets separated people inside a group or family from outsiders. Therefore, keeping secrets was a way to preserve personal or group honor