In our first post we discussed Heather Schuldt's blog post "5 Examples Why Bart Ehrman Is Not a Gospel Expert."1 We addressed specifically issues concerning the dating of the Synoptic Gospels, briefly giving an overview of why Mark is dated to around 70 CE and Matthew and Luke to post-70. We also showed that Schuldt's use... Continue Reading →
Michael Kok: John Mark as a Composite Creation of the Author of Acts
Michael J. Kok, The Gospel on the Margins: The Reception of Mark in the Second Century (Fortpress Press, 2015), 158-159. The John Mark of the book of Acts is a composite creation, the result of harmonizing the earlier accounts of Mark as a Pauline coworker and the later association of Mark with Peter. Like 1 Peter... Continue Reading →
Musings on Mark: Another Reason to Doubt Peter Was Behind Mark’s Gospel
In addition to my regular Bible reading schedule and my verse-by-verse translating of the Gospel of Mark, I've also been reading a Markan pericope a day each weekday. Today I was in Mark 14:43-52 and something struck me as really odd. Jesus is in Gethsemane (14:32-42) with a few of his sleepy disciples when Judas... Continue Reading →
Mary Ann Beavis: Mark Offers No Information About His Identity
Mary Ann Beavis, Mark, Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2011), 6. Unfortunately, the author gives us no explicit information about his identity, location, or circumstances. Like the other Gospels, Mark is anonymous in that the author does not identify himself in the body of the text; in this commentary, the... Continue Reading →
Michael Kok: The Rotten Foundation of Papias
Michael J. Kok, The Gospel on the Margins: The Reception of Mark in the Second Century (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2015), 104-105. [Papias'] main source was the elder John, a figure who remains as elusive as ever. It is unlikely that he was a personal disciple of Jesus; he was probably a second-generation charismatic leader in... Continue Reading →
Musings on Mark: Who Wrote the Gospel of Mark?
My personal library has close to a thousand volumes. No, it isn't much and it used to be a bit bigger but it gets the job done. Let's say I pick a random book of the shelf like The Revenant. The cover has a bear attacking a man and has both the title of the book as... Continue Reading →
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