Religion - St. Mark's Gospel

Topic 1 - Background to Mark's Gospel

• Gospel = Good News
• They tell the life and work of Jesus
• Written in Greek

Mark Introduces his Gospel (1:1)

The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

What was Mark's purpose in writing the gospel?

• Strengthen belief of Christians
• Convert people to Christianity
• Written by someone who had faith to create or encourage faith.

We believe the gospels are guided/inspired by God and therefore have authority.

Mark wanted to highlight the role of disciples.

A permanent written record was needed.

Authentic records needed to be kept.

Christians needed to be encouraged in their faith because of persecution.

Who was Mark and what/who were his sources for the Gospel?

We believe Mark was a scribe and friend of Peter. Mark's number one source was Peter.

• Jesus' actual words quoted in Aramaic
• Only three disciples present at his events
• The Disciples - met at Mark's mother's home
• Other eyewitnesses - Bartimaeus, Simon of Cyrene

Secondary Sources

• The Passion Narative - Jesus' suffering and death
• Ur Markus - a primitive, early version of gospel, possibly written by Mark
• Matthew's Gospel
• Paul and Barnabas

When and where was the Gospel written?

• Scholars believe it was written around the time of the destruction of…