I - INTRODUCTION TO MARK

Summary

INTRODUCTION

This introduction will focus on two issues as it summarizes the commentary discussion of the setting of Mark. Initially we give consideration to issues of authorship, setting, and date, not discussing each category separately, but rather looking at how commentators have handled the combination. The key questions here revolve around whether we can identify the Mark tied to the Gospel, whether he had connections to Peter, and whether Mark was written before or after the destruction of Jerusalem. This forms the backdrop for my own discussion of where I place the setting of the Gospel, its themes, and other key issues tied to it.

COMMENTARY DISCUSSION OF AUTHOR, DATE, AND SETTING

The common scholarly position that Mark is the earliest Gospel means that there has been an intensification of attention paid to this Gospel. This attention has resulted in several excellent commentaries, some of which I will discuss in groups for reasons of space. Because there are so many valuable treatments, our survey of commentaries on Mark will not review Synoptic Gospel issues, but will focus on questions tied to Mark's setting, date, and authorship.

Vincent Taylor's classic commentary works faithfully through the Greek text. It does not have a plethora of background discussion, since key Second Temple finds came after the bulk of his work. Still, the commentary is a useful treatment of Mark with a full introduction of 149 pages. This introduction covers the history of the Gospel in the early church and in modern criticism; it provides a careful look at the manuscripts behind the text, vocabulary syntax and style, the Semitic background of the Gospel, his sources, the Markan materials, and its forms, literary structure, arrangement, theology, and historical value. On authorship, Taylor argues there can be no doubt the author was Mark, Peter's attendant. He argues that the external testimony to Mark is unanimous and that Mark is not a likely candidate to surface as author unless there was a reason to make the connection. He says the Gospel shows local knowledge of the region (places like Bethphage, Bethany, Gethsemene, and Golgotha). The Gospel dates to the decade of the sixties, with AD 65–67 likely, given things like the emphasis on persecution and suffering as well as Gentile freedom from the law.