BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON MARK'S GOSPEL
The Apostle Saint Mark was one of Christ’s 70 disciples, one of the four evangelists and he author of the second Gospel, The Book of Mark. Mark was born in Cyrene, Libya (DOB unknown) and died April 25th, 68 AD in Alexandria, Egypt.
The date in which Mark’s Gospel was written in unknown, although early Church Fathers have said that the writing occurred after St Paul’s death between AD 50 and 67. Mark’s Gospel has been presumed to be written in Rome, as it was one of the earliest places of Christianity. It was believed that the good news of the gospel that Mark shared travelled from Rome to Jerusalem by Jewish Christian believers like Mark himself.
Mark has been known for his close relations to St Peter (who was very close friends with Jesus) and was often referred to as the secretary and interpreter. Mark also recorded St Peter’s preaching. During the New Testament, Mark is mentioned numerous times throughout The Acts of the Apostle as he has various relations with Jesus and St Peter. For example, his mother was a woman named Mary whose home was used for the sacred of breaking the bread and his cousin, Barnabus, travelled with St Paul on his first missionary journey. The whole of the Gospel of Mark includes many incidents connected with Peter.
The date in which Mark’s Gospel was written in unknown, although early Church Fathers have said that the writing occurred after St Paul’s death between AD 50 and 67. Mark’s Gospel has been presumed to be written in Rome, as it was one of the earliest places of Christianity. It was believed that the good news of the gospel that Mark shared travelled from Rome to Jerusalem by Jewish Christian believers like Mark himself.
Mark has been known for his close relations to St Peter (who was very close friends with Jesus) and was often referred to as the secretary and interpreter. Mark also recorded St Peter’s preaching. During the New Testament, Mark is mentioned numerous times throughout The Acts of the Apostle as he has various relations with Jesus and St Peter. For example, his mother was a woman named Mary whose home was used for the sacred of breaking the bread and his cousin, Barnabus, travelled with St Paul on his first missionary journey. The whole of the Gospel of Mark includes many incidents connected with Peter.
At the time of the writing of this Gospel, the language that was spoken in Rome was Greek. This caused Mark’s Gospel to be believed to originally be written in Greek and then translated over the time. Despite this, Mark himself spoke the same language of Jesus; Aramaic.
The Gospel of Mark is believed to be written for Roman Christians who were gentiles (not Jewish). We can conclude this because:
The Gospel of Mark is believed to be written for Roman Christians who were gentiles (not Jewish). We can conclude this because:
- The Jewish language, customs and terms which were explained in the text. If the audience were in fact Jewish, there would be no need to explain common knowledge for the Jewish audience. An example of this is seen when Mark explains the direction of the Mount of Olives in relation to the Temple.
- The Old Testament is only quoted once within the text.
- Coins mentioned within the text were reduced to their value in Roman currency.
- The story tells the audience that Rufus and Alexander were said to be sons of Simon of Cyrene purely because Rufus would have been known by the Roman Christians.