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The Gospel of Mark is the second Gospel in the most usual conventional sequence of accepted New Testament gospels, as printed in the New Testament. The commonly accepted range of dates for the text in its existing form are ca. AD 65, the traditional date for the death of Peter, to ca. AD 80, a terminus set by the use of purely Markan material in the Gospel of Luke.
The synoptic problem concerns conflicting claims for priority among the three synoptic gospels; the most commonly accepted solution in secular academia designates Mark as the first of the surviving gospels to have been written (Markan priority). An alternative and more conservative analysis credits Matthew with this distinction.
It is widely (though not universally) agreed that the gospels of Matthew and Luke draw extensively from Markan textual tradition, in addition to a now-lost "sayings" gospel—called Q after German Quelle, "source". Out of a total of 662 verses, Mark has 406 in common with both Matthew and Luke, 145 with Matthew alone, 60 with Luke alone, and at most 51 peculiar to itself, according to a common concordance.
As early as Papias in the early 2nd century, the text was attributed to Mark, a disciple of Peter who is said to have recorded the Apostle's discourses under his tutelage in Rome. This is the most widely accepted attribution of any of the New Testament authors.
While the text of Papias' original attribution is no longer extant, it was quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea:
Notable in Papias' guaranty of the authenticity of the canonical text is the unambiguous statement that Peter "accommodated his instructions to the necessities". Since the time of Clement of Alexandria, at the end of the 2nd century, scholars have agreed this gospel was first written at Rome; Clement affirms this history with some detail in the recently rediscovered "Mar Saba letter", which contains references to a previously unknown Secret Gospel of Mark. This theory is also supported by scholars such as William Barclay. According to tradition, Mark would have had abundant opportunities to obtain information from the other apostles and their helpers while staying in his mother's house, yet he was "the disciple and interpreter of Peter". Some have followed Clement in suggesting that it was edited into its final form at Alexandria.
It is clear from several passages that jumble Judean topography that the author of Mark was unfamiliar with the actual geography. Reginald Fuller, in his work A Critical Introduction to the New Testament, suggests that if a single connection to Rome (based on Peter 5:13, written later) is decoupled, Mark could have been written in Antioch.
The text of the Gospel itself furnishes us with no clear information as to the time that it was written. Comments attributed to Jesus in Mark 13:1–2 (the "little Apocalypse", see below) have been seen as a reference to the destruction of the Temple, which would place the work after AD 70.
One possible reading of a parchment from a cave at Qumran, 7Q5, thought by some to be a fragment of Mark, presents the possibility that the Gospel was written and distributed prior to AD 68. Most scholars consider this reading, and its connection to early Christians at Qumran, to be rather dubious.
Mark is a Hellenistic gospel, written primarily for an audience of Greek-speaking citizens of the Roman Empire. This is evidenced by the fact that it explains Jewish usages (7:3; 14:3; 14:12; 15:42) and takes care to interpret Aramaic words and phrases which a Gentile would be likely to misunderstand, such as "Boanerges" (3:17); "Talitha cumi" (5:41); "Corban" (7:11); "Bartimaeus" (10:46); "Abba" (14:36); "Eloi" (15:34), etc. Mark also uses certain Latin words not found in any of the other Gospels, as "speculator" (6:27, rendered AV "executioner"; RV "soldier of his guard"), "xestes" (a corruption of sextarius, rendered "pots", 7:4, 8), "quadrans" (12:42, rendered "a farthing"), "centurion" (15:39, 44, 45). These usages are consistent with a proposed theory that Mark is writing in Greek, as a foreign language, for the first time.
The Hellenism exhibited is not confined to language. The description in this Gospel of how the Sanhedrin (the authorities of the Judaic religion) plotted to execute Jesus has been used to promote and condone anti-Semitism. The demonization of Pharisees, or non-Hellenized Jews, would have directed this gospel at a Gentile audience; perhaps one only partly of Jewish extraction, as at Alexandria. The audience for Mark seems to have experienced some persecution, and would have been expecting more. (See Jews in the New Testament for further discussion.)
Characteristic of this text is the absence of a genealogy for Jesus, present (albeit in contradicting forms) in both Matthew and Luke. Mark also records with minuteness Jesus' very words (3:17; 5:41; 7:11, 34; 14:36) as well as his position (9:35) and gestures (3:5, 34; 5:32; 9:36; 10:16). He is also careful to record particulars of person (1:29, 36; 3:6, 22, etc.), number (5:13; 6:7, etc.), place (2:13; 4:1; 7:31, etc.), and time (1:35; 2:1; 4:35, etc.), which the other evangelists omit.
The phrase "and straightway" occurs nearly forty times in this Gospel; in Luke, which is much longer, it is used only seven times, and in John only four times. In a more modern translation, this phrase would be rendered as "immediately" or "soon afterward". It is this immediacy which makes the gospel "a transcript of life" according to Brooke Foss Westcott. This immediacy is heightened by the frequent use of the present tense to describe Jesus' actions, although most translations do not represent this.
The repetitive use of "and straightaway" is an apparent indication that various literary forms and doublets have been loosely strung together to construct a continuous narrative; this suggests to some that Mark is not an author, but rather an editor. Cf. Matthew, which uses "and it came to pass" as a repetitive link in retelling Mark's story more eloquently and elaborately, in the exact same sequence. These links are not as evident in English translations are they are in the Greek texts.
Since the time of Papias, Mark has commonly been thought of as a rapid succession of vivid pictures loosely strung together without much attempt to bind them into a whole or give the events in their natural sequence. This pictorial power is that which specially characterizes the author, so that "if anyone desires to know an evangelical fact, not only in its main features and grand results, but also in its most minute and so to speak more graphic delineation, he must betake himself to Mark". Redaction criticism since the 1950s, however, has produced another view of Mark's gospel: one of a carefully constructed narrative with a detailed internal structure. This is especially apparent in the threefold passion prediction cycle.
Mark also has other peculiarities:
The underlying theme of this Gospel may be expressed in the motto: "Jesus came ... preaching the gospel of the kingdom" (1:14). Yet the Gospel also portrays Jesus as consistently attempting to hide his identity as the Messiah from the general public. This persistent theme is often referred to as the Messianic secret, and is one of the distinguishing characteristics of Mark in constrast with the other Gospels.
Exegesis is often made to show correspondences with the calamities of the First Jewish Revolt of AD 66–70. Jesus' remarks in 13:1–2, seen as a reference to the destruction of the Temple, would place the work after AD 70. The passage predicts that the Temple would be torn down completely—"Not one stone will be left upon another." Indeed, the Temple was completely destroyed by the forces of the Roman general Titus (Josephus, Jewish War VI). (The Western Wall, which still stands, was not a part of the Temple proper, but rather part of a larger structure on which the Temple and other buildings stood.) This fulfilled prophecy would place the passage before the destruction of Jerusalem, for readers who affirm the reality of prophecies; others speculate that this an example of a vaticinium ex eventu (NL, loosely "prophecy after the event"; cf. Book of Daniel).
Mark is the shortest gospel. Manuscripts, both scrolls and codices, tend to lose text at the beginning and the end, not unlike a coverless paperback in a backpack. These losses are characteristically unconnected with excisions. For instance, Mark 1:1 has been found in two different forms. Half of the discovered texts contain the phrase "Son of God", while half do not. (NB: The article "the" is not present in Greek MSS; it was instead added to English translations for flow and compatibility with Church doctrine. "A Son of God" would also be a correct translation, as would the omission the article entirely.)
An axiom adopted by some readers, though not by professionals generally, is: "A shorter version generally means an earlier form." Judicious editing of unwanted material, however, may also produce a shorter document. The discovery of sections that have been omitted from the familiar, canonical Mark, quoted in a letter of Clement of Alexandria, is discussed in the entry for Secret Gospel of Mark.
Interpolations may not be editorial, either. It is a common experience that glosses written in the margins of manuscripts get incorporated into the text as copies are made. Any particular example is open to dispute of course, but one may take note of Mark 13:14:
There is some dispute among scholars as to whether verses of chapter 16, describing a resurrected Jesus, were actually part of the original Gospel, or if they were added later. The oldest extant manuscripts do not contain these verses, suggesting that they were a later addition—in fact, to date Mark has been found with nine different endings.
The so-called "short ending" of Mark 16:8 seems to be the only empty tomb / resurrection story known to both Celsus and Origen. Origen corroborates this by a weak argument of silence. This is very odd, because Origen is familiar with all four gospels. Many believe that this reading, which ends the Gospel at the empty tomb without further explanation, is characteristic of the theme of the Messianic Secret. (See Mark 16 for a more comprehensive treatment of this topic.)
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