Literary and cultural scholar A. Nünning postulates that "narratives are one of the most powerful ways of worldmaking" - both because of their potential to imagine and interpret events from the past, present, and future, and because of their performative power. In this sense, they not only help to organize the world and make sense of it, they also invite participation through their social, and cultural dimensions. Cultures largely constitute themselves through narrative. New Testament literature, as the written record of religious narrative(s) of the earliest followers of Christ, is a prominent example, that through its relatively short period of formation in times of great political turmoil, gives insight into the dynamic processes of narrating the experiences leading to the formation of the religious group, and into their strategies to preserve and frame theological contents. Within biblical scholarship, the recognition of New Testament literature as religious and cultural texts is attested through the rise of approaches concerning cultural narratology in the last years, that yielded insights into their function as media of cultural memory, of negotiation of theological ideas and positions, and of reassurance of identity. This contribution aims to highlight the narrative strategies of New Testament literature from a cultural-narratological perspective. Using a short reading of central literary strategies found in the gospel of Mark, such as paradox, ambiguity, and regressive storytelling, the way New Testament texts address political trauma and theological crises by providing means to frame and fortify the religious identity of the group is discussed.