Gospel of Mark

's St. Mark, 1448|190x190px Authorship and date An early Christian tradition deriving from Papias of Hierapolis () regards the Gospel as being based on the preaching of Saint Peter, as recorded by John Mark, a companion and interpreter of Peter. The gospel is anonymous, as was common for bios of the time; biographies by Plutarch and Suetonius were also originally anonymous as well. The name of Mark was attached to it to link it to an authoritative figure, according to Adela Yarbro Collins, already early on, and not in a later stage of the early Church history. Helen Bond also argues that the name goes back to the earliest period of circulation and claims that the Gospel was written by someone named Mark. Gerd Theissen also argues for homonymity. Scholarship is inconclusive on authorship, with some denying that the gospel was written by anyone named Mark while others accept the view John Mark was the author. Others argue the gospel was written by a Mark not mentioned in the Bible or connected to Peter. According to Helen Bond, there is a "growing consensus" that Mark was written in the early to mid-70s. The dating around 70 AD is not dependent on the naturalistic argument that Jesus could not have made an accurate prophecy; scholars like Michael Barber and Amy-Jill Levine argue the historical Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple. Whether the Gospels were composed before or after 70 AD, according to Bas van Os, the lifetime of various eyewitnesses that includes Jesus's own family through the end of the First Century is very likely statistically. Markus Bockmuehl finds this structure of lifetime memory in various early Christian traditions. Recent scholarship has turned against source criticism of the gospels; a pre-Markan passion narrative has remained the most persistent, though Bond notes the lack of agreement in scholarship regarding its nature alerts to its lack of existence. Since the 19th century, most scholars have held to Marcan priority, in which Mark was the first gospel written and used as a source by Matthew and Luke. Nicholas Elder argues that Mark is an oral work involving both a speaker and a writer who composed the text, based on its oral characteristics and patristic testimony. While Werner Kelber in his media contrast model argued that the transition from oral sources to the written Gospel of Mark represented a major break in transmission, going as far to claim that the latter tried to stifle the former, James DG Dunn argues that such distinctions are greatly exaggerated and that Mark largely preserved the Jesus tradition back to his lifetime. Rafael Rodriguez too is critical of Kelber's divide. Setting The Gospel of Mark was written in Greek, for a gentile audience, and probably in Rome, although Galilee, Antioch (third-largest city in the Roman Empire, located in northern Syria), and southern Syria have also been suggested. Theologian and former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams proposed that Libya was a possible setting, as it was the location of Cyrene and there is a long-held Arabic tradition of Mark's residence there. The consensus among modern scholars is that the gospels are a subset of the genre of (ancient biography). Ancient biographies were typically written shortly after the death of the subject and included substantial history. Ancient biographies were concerned with providing examples for readers to emulate while preserving and promoting the subject's reputation and memory, and also included morals and rhetoric in their works. The purpose of writing the gospels was to strengthen the faith of those who already believed, as opposed to serving as a tractate for missionary conversion. Christian churches were small communities of believers, often based on households (an autocratic patriarch plus extended family, slaves, freedmen, and other clients). Aune argues that the evangelists wrote on two levels: one the "historical" presentation of Jesus, the other dealing with the concerns of the author's own day, though other scholars have taken aim against two-level readings of the fourth gospel. Christianity began within Judaism, with a Christian "church" (, , meaning 'assembly') that arose shortly after Jesus's death when some of his followers claimed to have witnessed him risen from the dead. Christians depended heavily on Jewish literature, supporting their convictions through the Jewish scriptures. Those convictions involved a nucleus of key concepts: the messiah, the son of God and the son of man, the suffering servant, the Day of the Lord, and the kingdom of God. These ideas were linked by apocalyptic expectation: Jews and Christians alike believed that God would punish their enemies, establish his rule, and place them at the center of his plan. Christians read the Jewish scripture as a figure or type of Jesus, so that the goal of Christian literature became an experience of the living Christ. The movement spread around the eastern Mediterranean and to Rome and further west, and assumed a distinct identity, although the groups within it remained diverse. of the Gospel of Matthew and before the Gospel of Mark, in the Codex Alexandrinus (400–440 AD) Historicity The idea of Marcan priority gained widespread acceptance in the 19th century. From this perspective, Mark was generally regarded as the most reliable of the four Gospels for information about the historical Jesus, owing to its early provenance. However, the view that Mark could be used to reconstruct the historical Jesus was significantly undermined in the early 20th century. Firstly, in 1901 William Wrede put forward an argument that the "Messianic Secret" motif within Mark had actually been a creation of the early church instead of a reflection of the historical Jesus. In 1919, Karl Ludwig Schmidt argued that the links between episodes in Mark were a literary invention of the author, meaning that the text could not be used as evidence in attempts to reconstruct the chronology of Jesus' mission. However, efforts to cast Mark as a literary invention have struggled to explain details such as , which casts Simon's sons as children of an eyewitness who could affirm their father's testimony. By the mid-1990s, scholars broadly agreed that the gospels represented ancient biographies of Jesus rather than sui generis works or theological treatises. Nonetheless, Mark was generally seen as the most reliable of the four gospels at the end of the 20th century in its overall description of Jesus' life and ministry. Michael Patrick Barber has challenged the prevailing view, arguing that Matthew’s portrayal offers a historically plausible account of the historical Jesus. Dale Allison had already argued that the Gospel of Matthew is more accurate than Mark in several regards, but was finally convinced by Barber's work to no longer regard the "uniquely Matthean" materials as ahistorical, declaring that the historical Jesus "is not buried beneath Matthew but stares at us from its surface". Matthew Thiessen wholeheartedly agrees as well, finding no fault in Barber's work. ==Structure and content==

Detailed content of Mark 1. Galilean ministry John the Baptist () Baptism of Jesus () Temptation of Jesus () Return to Galilee () Good News () First disciples () Capernaum's synagogue () Peter's mother-in-law () Exorcising at sunset () A leper () A paralytic () Calling of Matthew () Fasting and wineskins () Lord of the Sabbath () Man with withered hand () Withdrawing to the sea () Commissioning the Twelve () Blind mute () Strong man () Eternal sin () Jesus' true relatives () Parable of the Sower (, ) Purpose of parables () Lamp under a bushel () Mote and Beam () Growing seed and Mustard seed () Calming the storm () Demon named Legion () Daughter of Jairus () Hometown rejection () Instructions for the Twelve () Beheading of John () Feeding the 5000 () Walking on water () Fringe of his cloak heals () Discourse on Defilement () Canaanite woman's daughter () Deaf mute () Feeding the 4000 () No sign will be given () Healing with spit () Peter's confession () Jesus predicts his death (, , ) Instructions for followers () Transfiguration () Possessed boy () Teaching in Capernaum () 2. Journey to Jerusalem Entering Judea and Transjordan () On divorce () Little children () Rich young man () Son of man came to serve () Blind Bartimaeus () 3. Events in Jerusalem Entering Jerusalem () Cursing the fig tree (,) Temple incident () Prayer for forgiveness () Authority questioned () Wicked husbandman () Render unto Caesar... () Resurrection of the Dead () Great Commandment () Is the Messiah the son of David? () Widow's mite () Olivet Discourse () Plot to kill Jesus () Anointing () Bargain of Judas () Last Supper () Denial of Peter (,) Agony in the Garden () Kiss of Judas () Arrest () Before the High Priest () Pilate's court () Soldiers mock Jesus () Simon of Cyrene () Crucifixion () Entombment () Empty tomb () The Longer Ending () Post-resurrection appearances () Great Commission () Ascension () Dispersion of the Apostles () Structure There is currently no agreement on the structure of Mark. There is, however, a widely recognised break at : before there are numerous miracle stories, the action is in Galilee, and Jesus preaches to the crowds, while after there are hardly any miracles, the action shifts from Galilee to gentile areas or hostile Judea, and Jesus teaches the disciples. Peter's confession at Mark that Jesus is the messiah thus forms the watershed to the whole gospel. A further generally recognised turning point comes at the end of chapter 10, when Jesus and his followers arrive in Jerusalem and the foreseen confrontation with the Temple authorities begins, leading R.T. France to characterise Mark as a three-act drama. A four-act drama acknowledges a further turning point at 6.1, with divisions at 1.21, 6.1, 8.27 and 11.1. This scheme identifies Four Series of Seven Days, where the Series are arranged as a classic chiasm, ABB'A' and the Days in each Series are arranged as in Homer's Iliad ABB'-X-ABB'. James Edwards in his 2002 commentary points out that the gospel can be seen as a series of questions asking first who Jesus is (the answer being that he is the messiah), then what form his mission takes (a mission of suffering culminating in the crucifixion and resurrection, events only to be understood when the questions are answered), while another scholar, C. Myers, has made what Edwards calls a "compelling case" for recognising the incidents of Jesus' baptism, transfiguration and crucifixion, at the beginning, middle and end of the gospel, as three key moments, each with common elements, and each portrayed in an apocalyptic light. Stephen H. Smith has made the point that the structure of Mark is similar to the structure of a Greek tragedy. Content • Jesus is first announced as the Messiah and then later as the Son of God; he is baptised by John and a heavenly voice announces him as the Son of God; he is tested in the wilderness by Satan; John is arrested, and Jesus begins to preach the good news of the kingdom of God. • Jesus gathers his disciples; he begins teaching, driving out demons, healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, feeding the hungry, and giving sight to the blind; he delivers a long discourse in parables to the crowd, intended for the disciples, but they fail to understand; he performs mighty works, calming the storm and walking on water, but while God and demons recognise him, neither the crowds nor the disciples grasp his identity. He also has several run-ins with Jewish lawkeepers, especially in chapters –. • Jesus asks the disciples who people say he is, and then, "but you, who do you say I am?" Peter answers that he is the Christ, and Jesus commands him to silence; Jesus explains that the Son of Man must go to Jerusalem and be killed, but will rise again; Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus and God tells the disciples, "This is my son," but they remain uncomprehending. • Jesus goes to Jerusalem, where he is hailed as one who "comes in the name of the Lord" and will inaugurate the "kingdom of David"; he drives those who buy and sell animals from the Temple and debates with the Jewish authorities; on the Mount of Olives he announces the coming destruction of the Temple, the persecution of his followers, and the coming of the Son of Man in power and glory. • A woman perfumes Jesus' head with oil, and Jesus explains that this is a sign of his coming death; Jesus celebrates Passover with the disciples, declares the bread and wine to be his body and blood, and goes with them to Gethsemane to pray; there Judas betrays him to the Jewish authorities. Interrogated by the high priest, Jesus says that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and will return as Son of Man at God's right hand. The Jewish leaders turn him over to Pilate, who has him crucified as one who claims to be "king of the Jews"; Jesus, abandoned by the disciples, is buried in a rock tomb by a sympathetic member of the Jewish council. • The women who have followed Jesus come to the tomb on Sunday morning; they find it empty, and are told by a young man in a white robe to go and tell the others that Jesus has risen and has gone before them to Galilee; "but they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid". Ending The earliest extant Greek manuscripts of Mark, codices Vaticanus (which contains a large blank space in the column after ) and Sinaiticus, end at Mark 16:8, with the women fleeing in fear from the empty tomb. The majority of recent scholars believe this to be the original ending, and that this is supported by statements from the early Church Fathers Eusebius and Jerome. The "shorter ending", found in a small number of manuscripts, tells how the women told "those around Peter" all that the angel had commanded and how the message of eternal life (or "proclamation of eternal salvation") was then sent out by Jesus himself. This differs from the rest of Mark both in style and in its understanding of Jesus and is almost universally considered a spurious addition; the overwhelming majority of manuscripts have the "longer ending", with accounts of the resurrected Jesus, the commissioning of the disciples to proclaim the gospel, and Christ's ascension. In deference to its importance within the manuscript tradition, the New Testament critical editors enclose the longer ending in brackets. ==Theology==

(14th century)|245x245px "Archaic Mark" Gospel The author introduces his work as "gospel", meaning "good news", a literal translation of the Greek "evangelion"he uses the word more often than any other writer in the New Testament except Paul. Paul uses it to mean "the good news (of the saving significance of the death and resurrection) of Christ"; Mark extends it to the career of Christ as well as his death and resurrection. Like the other gospels, Mark was written to confirm the identity of Jesus as eschatological delivererthe purpose of terms such as "messiah" and "son of God". As in all the gospels, the messianic identity of Jesus is supported by a number of themes, including: (1) the depiction of his disciples as obtuse, fearful and uncomprehending; (2) the refutation of the charge made by Jesus' enemies that he was a magician; (3) secrecy surrounding his true identity (this last is missing from John). The failure of the disciples Mark has been viewed as portraying the disciples of Jesus in a negative light, although recent studies largely argue that Mark is not as negative towards Peter as a previous generation of scholars thought. Mark, the disciples, especially the Twelve, move from lack of perception of Jesus to rejection of the "way of suffering" to flight and denialeven the women who received the first proclamation of his resurrection can be seen as failures for not reporting the good news. There is much discussion of this theme among scholars. Some argue that the author of Mark was using the disciples to correct "erroneous" views in his own community concerning the reality of the suffering messiah, others that it is an attack on the Jerusalem branch of the church for resisting the extension of the gospel to the gentiles, or a mirror of the convert's usual experience of the initial enthusiasm followed by growing awareness of the necessity for suffering. It certainly reflects the strong theme in Mark of Jesus as the "suffering just one" portrayed in so many of the books of the Jewish scriptures, from Jeremiah to Job and the Psalms, but especially in the "Suffering Servant" passages in Isaiah. It also reflects the Jewish scripture theme of God's love being met by infidelity and failure, only to be renewed by God. The failure of the disciples and Jesus' denial by Peter himself would have been powerful symbols of faith, hope and reconciliation for Christians. The performance of miracles called magic Mark contains twenty accounts of miracles and healings, accounting for almost a third of the gospel and half of the first ten chapters, more, proportionally, than in any other gospel. In the gospels as a whole, Jesus' miracles, prophecies, etc., are presented as evidence of God's rule, but Mark's descriptions of Jesus' healings are a partial exception to this, as his methods, using spittle to heal blindness and words or phrases that act like magic formulae, were those of a magician. The charge the Jewish religious leaders bring against Jesus is based upon this similarity: they say he is performing exorcisms with the aid of an evil spirit and calling up the spirit of John the Baptist. "There was [...] no period in the history of the [Roman] empire in which the magician was not considered an enemy of society," subject to penalties ranging from exile to death, says Classical scholar Ramsay MacMullen. All the gospels defend Jesus against this charge, which, if true, would contradict their ultimate claims for him. The point of the Beelzebub incident in Mark is to set forth Jesus' claims to be an instrument of God, not Satan. Messianic Secret In 1901, William Wrede identified the "Messianic Secret"Jesus' secrecy about his identity as the messiahas one of Mark's central themes. Wrede argued that the elements of the secretJesus' silencing of the demons, the obtuseness of the disciples regarding his identity, and the concealment of the truth inside parableswere fictions and arose from the tension between the Church's post-resurrection messianic belief and the historical reality of Jesus. There remains continuing debate over how far the "secret" originated with Mark and how far he got it from tradition, and how far, if at all, it represents the self-understanding and practices of the historical Jesus. Christology Christology means a doctrine or understanding concerning the person or nature of Christ. In the New Testament writings it is frequently conveyed through the titles applied to Jesus. Most scholars agree that "Son of God" is the most important of these titles in Mark. It appears on the lips of God himself at the baptism and the transfiguration, and is Jesus' own self-designation. These and other instances provide reliable evidence of how the evangelist perceived Jesus, but it is not clear just what the title meant to Mark and his 1st-century audience. The term "Son of God" had certain meanings in the Hebrew Scriptures and among Jews, including referring to an angel, the nation of Israel as God's people, a suffering righteous man, or simply a man. One of the most significant Jewish meanings of this epithet is a reference to an earthly king adopted by God as his son at his enthronement, legitimizing his rule over Israel. Some earlier scholarship attempted to use the concept of a "divine man" to argue the gospels were ‘aretalogies’, or narrative accounts of the deeds of a hero or god such as Hercules or the Egyptian pharaohs. However, Helen Bond notes that apart from the problematic notion of a ‘divine man’, there is little evidence that aretalogy represented a distinct genre. Ulrich Luz and Armin Baum find the four gospels to be biographies of Jesus in the style of the Hebrew Bible and rabbinic works with relatively little Greco-Roman influence. Mark does not explicitly state what he means by "Son of God", nor when the sonship was conferred. According to Burkett, Mark conceived of Jesus becoming God's son at his baptism, while "Son of God" referred to the relationship then established for him by God. However, other scholars dispute this interpretation and instead hold that Jesus is already presented as God's son even before his baptism in Mark. Boring argues Mark does not mention a miraculous birth nor any doctrine of pre-existence, while Winn and Wilhite find a divine Christology present in the gospel. Mark also calls Jesus "christos" (Christ), translating the Hebrew "messiah" (anointed person). In the Old Testament the term messiah ("anointed one") described prophets, priests and kings; by the time of Jesus, with the kingdom long vanished, it had come to mean an eschatological king (a king who would come at the end of time), one who would be entirely human though far greater than all God's previous messengers to Israel, endowed with miraculous powers, free from sin, ruling in justice and glory (as described in, for example, the Psalms of Solomon, a Jewish work from this period). Jews expected the messiah to be an eschatological figure, a deliverer who would appear at the end of the age to usher in an earthly kingdom. The earliest Jewish Christian community saw Jesus as a messiah in this Jewish sense, a human figure appointed by God as his earthly regent; but they also believed in Jesus' resurrection and exaltation to heaven, and for this reason they also viewed him as God's agent (the "son of God") who would return in glory ushering in the Kingdom of God. The most important occurrences are in the context of Jesus' death and suffering, suggesting that, for Mark, Jesus can only be fully understood in that context. A third important title, "Son of Man", has its roots in Ezekiel, the Book of Enoch, (a popular Jewish apocalyptic work of the period), and especially in , where the Son of Man is assigned royal roles of dominion, kingship and glory. combines more scriptural allusions: before he comes on clouds the Son of Man will be seated on the right hand of God. In the Old Testament, the cloud is the garment or dwelling-place of deity, the symbol of its presence in the midst of the people. lauds the "Lord riding upon a soft cloud"; at the transfiguration, the cloud was the sign of God's presence on the mountain ( and parallels); and on the day of his ascension, Jesus was taken up in a cloud. The equivalence of these three titles, Christ, Son of God, Son of Man, the common element being the reference to kingly power. ==Comparison with other writings==

) Mark and the New Testament All four gospels tell a story in which Jesus' death and resurrection are the crucial redemptive events. There are, however, important differences between the four: unlike Matthew and Luke, the author does not mention a virgin birth or indicate whether Jesus had a normal human parentage and birth; unlike Matthew and Luke, he makes no attempt to trace Jesus' ancestry back to King David or Adam with a genealogy. Whilst not as overt as John, scholars have found that the Synoptic gospels portray Jesus as divine in various ways. Many scholars find a conditional understanding of eschatology in the gospels, with the date of the parousia being dependent on Israel's repentance rather than being fixed, and the expectation is reflected in the Pauline Epistles, the Epistle of James, the Epistle to the Hebrews and in the Book of Revelation. According to Burkett, the return failed and early Christians revised their understanding, while according to Christopher Hays, Dale Allison, and Craig Keener, the delay of the parousia is consistent with the way ancient Jewish prophecy was understood contingently. Some acknowledged that the Second Coming had been delayed, but still expected it; others redefined the focus of the promise, the Gospel of John spoke of "eternal life" as something available in the present; while still others concluded that Jesus would not return at all (the Second Epistle of Peter argues against those who held the view that Jesus would not return at all). Other scholars, however, contend that all four gospels show an eschatology wherein many of the eschatological topics concern the destruction of the Jewish Temple, the transfiguration and resurrection of Jesus, whereas his return is a promise for an undisclosed time in the future which people should always be ready for. Other scholars, like those of the Jesus Seminar, believe that the apocalyptic language in Mark and the rest of the gospels are inventions of the gospel writers and the early Christians for theological and cultural purposes. Luke and Matthew use Mark more conservatively than other ancient historians such as Diodorus Siculus or Josephus, though parallels and variations of the Synoptic gospels are typical of ancient historical biographies. Later gospels add more positive allusions to the resurrection and submission to God's will to Mark's despairing death of Jesus. Content unique to Mark with angels, holding his gospel. His symbol, the winged lion, also appears with him. Detail from St Mark's Cathedral. • The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Not present in either or . This is also a so-called "Western non-interpolation". The passage is not found in the Western text of Mark. • People were saying, "[Jesus] has gone out of his mind", see also Rejection of Jesus. • Mark is the only gospel with the combination of verses in : the other gospels split them up, being found in and , in and , and . • The Parable of the Growing Seed. • Only Mark counts the possessed swine; there are about two thousand. • Two consecutive healing stories of women; both make use of the number twelve. • Only Mark gives healing commands of Jesus in the (presumably original) Aramaic: Talitha koum, Ephphatha. See Aramaic of Jesus. • Only place in the New Testament where Jesus is referred to as "the son of Mary". • Mark is the only gospel where Jesus himself is called a carpenter; • Only place that both names his brothers and mentions his sisters; Matthew and Luke refer to him (more properly) as an Herodian tetrarch. • The longest version of the story of Herodias' daughter's dance and the beheading of John the Baptist. • Mark's literary cycles: :* Feeding of the five thousand; :* Crossing of the lake; :* Dispute with the Pharisees; :* Discourse on Defilement :Then: :* Feeding of the four thousand; :* Crossing of the lake; :* Dispute with the Pharisees; :* Incident of no bread and discourse about the leaven of the Pharisees. • Customs that at that time were unique to Jews are explained (hand, produce, and utensil washing): . • "Thus he declared all foods clean". NRSVue, not found in the Matthean parallel . • There is no mention of Samaritans. • Jesus heals using his fingers and spit at the same time: ; cf. , , , . • Jesus lays his hands on a blind man twice in curing him: ; cf. , , , , , laying on of hands. • Jesus cites the Shema Yisrael: "Hear O Israel ..."; in the parallels of and the first part of the Shema is absent. • Mark points out that the Mount of Olives is across from the Temple. • When Jesus is arrested, a naked young man flees. A young man in a robe also appears in . • Mark does not name the High Priest. • Witness testimony against Jesus does not agree. • The cock crows "twice" as predicted. See also Fayyum Fragment. The other Gospels simply record, "the cock crew". Early codices 01, W, and most Western texts have the simpler version. • Pilate's position (Governor) is not specified. • Simon of Cyrene's sons are named. • A summoned centurion is questioned. • The women ask each other who will roll away the stone. • A young man sits on the "right side". • Mark is the only canonical gospel with significant various alternative endings. Most of the contents of the traditional "Longer Ending" () are found in other New Testament texts and are not unique to Mark, see , the one significant exception being b ("and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them"), which is unique to Mark. ==See also==