Gospel of Mark

Question 1

Be familiar with the dates and place the book is thought to be written, who we think the author might be, and the audience who received it

Answer 1

Date: Around 70 AD
Place: Rome or Syria
Author: Anonymous; May have been his followers or other community members
Audience: Gentile Converts

Question 2

What major events impacted the tone and message of the Gospel of Mark?

Answer 2

Fall of the temple
Emergence of the Early Church

Question 3

What is the new genre Mark creates? How is it distinct from other genres at the time?

Answer 3

Centered on act of God in Christ event

Composed of Preaching units of tradition

Definitive segment of universal salvation history

Simultaneous fusions of horizons

Question 4

Why the sense of urgency? What is the author trying to accomplish?

Answer 4

Everything happens immediately

New changes are here so we have to act on those rather than old custom

Question 5

What is unique about the ending of Mark, and what reasons might the author have chosen that method?

Answer 5

Abrupt ending

Possibly so that those who were reading it aloud could add their own testimony

Or there was a lost ending, or it was just never finished

Question 6

What does Jesus deliver humanity from?

Answer 6

Enemies of Life:
Hunger
Demonic Powers
Sickness
Death

Question 7

List three features of Mark’s Gospel that make it distinctive in terms of literary style.

Answer 7

Urgency

Intercalation

Inserting a 2nd, unrelated story in the middle of another
Irony

Question 8

Gospel of Mark vocab:

Answer 8

Messianic Secret
Jesus repeatedly tells his followers to be silent about his messianic mission

Intercalation
Inserting a 2nd, unrelated story in the middle of another

Present and Future kingdom

Present
Holiness is contagious and transforms the unclean
New obedience to God is possible now =

Future
Jesus returns
Brings judgment and deliverance

Apostolic Age
From the start of the ministry of Jesus to the death of the last disciple

Bioi

Covenant
Jesus blood is the covenant with his people, it is a sacrifice for many

Historical Present
Luke may use the present tense in places where you may expect the past tense to be used; used to make those sections more intense and to be focused on

Inclusion
Death of Jesus paid for all of humanity to be able to have eternal life for those who accept Jesus; not just certain people