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Gospel of Mark

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A picture of St Mark with his quill. It is from an illuminated manuscript of the Renaissance.

The Gospel of Mark is a gospel in the New Testament that records the ministry of Jesus from his baptism. Many academics agree that this gospel is the most historically reliable,[1] but some argue that the Gospel of Matthew may be more accurate regarding the historical Jesus.[2][3]

It is included among the Synoptic Gospels because it shares many similarities with the others, but it was probably written before them around 70 (CE),[4][5] probably in Rome and for a non-Jewish audience.[6][7] The certainty that tradition has regarding authorship is often rejected by academics because the gospel never names its author.[8][9]

Contents

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Summary

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The Gospel of Mark moves quickly, recording ministry of Jesus beginning with his baptism by John the Baptist, overall taking three years to arrive at his crucifixion because of the references to three different Sabbaths.[source?]

The endings

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The earliest manuscripts of this gospel end with the women running away in fear and telling nobody about the Resurrection, but most copies end later.[10] Most scholars think that the shorter ending is more original[11] and that early Church Fathers such as Jerome did not know about the longer ending.[10]

Composition

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Authorship

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According to Christian tradition from Papias of Hierapolis, the Gospel of Mark was written by Mark the Evangelist, a friend of Saint Peter who recorded Peter's preaching;[12] there is no particular reason to doubt the name,[13] although the author never names himself.[9] a certain Mark is also mentioned in the First Epistle of Peter.[14] Many experts believe that the young man who evades arrest naked is the author himself.[15][16][17]

The consensus among experts is that the Gospel of Mark was written before the other three gospels and was used by them as a source.[18][19]

Date and place

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While dates for its writing vary,[20] most scholars agree that it was written from the mid-60s to early-70s (CE);[21] a growing number of experts date it shortly afterward,[22][23] while a minority believe that it was written much earlier,[24][unreliable source?] such as Jonathan Bernier, who believes that the Book of Acts was written before the death of Paul (c. mid-60s CE) and that it can be used to determine a terminus ante quem (latest possible date) for Mark.[25]

Whoever the author was and whenever he wrote, it is probably true that this gospel written in Rome to strengthen the faith of a non-Jewish audience.[6][7]

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References

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  1. ↑ Powell 1998, p. 37.
  2. ↑ Allison, Dale C. Jr. (2023). Foreword. The Historical Jesus and the Temple: Memory, Methodology and the Gospel of Matthew. By Barber, Michael Patrick. Cambridge University Press. pp. x, 238. ISBN 978-1-009-21085-0.
  3. ↑ Thiessen, Matthew (2024). "The Historical Jesus and the Temple: Memory, Methodology, and the Gospel of Matthew by Michael Patrick Barber (review)". The Catholic Biblical Quarterly. 86–1: 168. doi:10.1353/cbq.2024.a918386.
  4. ↑ Edwards 2002, pp. 1–3.
  5. ↑ Telford 1999, p. 12.
  6. 1 2 Aune 1987, p. 59.
  7. 1 2 Perkins 2007, p. 241.
  8. ↑ Sanders 1995, pp. 63–64.
  9. 1 2 Tucker, J. Brian; Kuecker, Aaron, eds. (2019-12-26). T&T Clark Social Identity Commentary on the New Testament. London, UK; New York, NY, USA: T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-66786-1.
  10. 1 2 Schröter 2010, p. 279.
  11. ↑ Edwards 2002, pp. 500–01.
  12. ↑ Keith 2016, p. 92.
  13. ↑ Hatina, Thomas R. (2014). "Gospel of Mark". In Evans, Craig A. (ed.). The Routledge Encyclopedia of the Historical Jesus. Taylor & Francis. p. 252. ISBN 978-1-317-72224-3. Like the other synoptics, Mark's Gospel is anonymous[...]Nevertheless, we can be fairly certain that it was written by someone named Mark.[...]The difficulty is ascertaining the identity of Mark. Scholars debate whether he is John Mark[...]or another person simply named Mark who was not native to the region.
  14. ↑ I Peter 5:13
  15. ↑ https://homiletix.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Kuruvilla-JETS-2011.pdf
  16. ↑ Vincent Taylor, The Gospel According to St. Mark (2d ed.; London: Macmillan, 1966) 561
  17. ↑ (Hermann Olshausen, Biblical Commentary on the New Testament [New York: Sheldon and Co., 1859] 46).
  18. ↑ Mendez, Hugo (2025). The Gospel of John: A New History. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0197686126. And yet for much of the twentieth century, "a broad scholarly consensus…tended to regard John's Gospel as quite independent of the other gospels"…Today, however, an increasing number of scholars—now a majority—have arrived at a different view...they find no reason to exclude the Synoptic Gospels from among these sources
  19. ↑ Edwards 2002, p. 2.
  20. ↑ https://stpaulcenter.com/posts/when-were-the-gospels-written,
  21. ↑ Rodriguez, Rafael (2018). Jesus Darkly: Remembering Jesus with the New Testament. Abingdon Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1501839115.
  22. ↑ Rodriguez, Rafael (2018). Jesus Darkly: Remembering Jesus with the New Testament. Abingdon Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-1501839115.
  23. ↑ Bond, Helen (2020). The First Biography of Jesus. Eerdmans. p. 33. ISBN 978-0802874603. After discussing recent scholarship, J. R. Donahue concludes that "more and more scholars are dating it after AD 70 and somehow in response to the Jewish War of AD 66–70 and the destruction of the temple"; "The Quest for the Community of Mark's Gospel," in Becker and Runesson, Mark and Matthew I, 817–38.
  24. ↑ https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/the-date-of-marks-gospel/
  25. ↑ Jonathan Bernier, Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament: The Evidence for Early Composition (Baker Academic: 2022)