Gospel of Mark: Encyclopedia II - Gospel of Mark - Date

Gospel of Mark - Date

The text of the Gospel itself furnishes us with no clear information as to the time that it was written. It is generally agreed among scholars to be the first gospel 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. This would mean that either Mark recorded Jesus prophesying that the temple would be destroyed, or that the work was written after it happened in AD 70. Most scholars contrast these comments with the more specific ones in Luke and Matthew, and would be hesitant to assign a date later than 70-73 CE, the latter being when Jerusalem was finally and fully sacked. Nevertheless, a great majority of moderate and conservative scholars assign Mark a date between 60 and 70 CE, although there are vocal minority groups which argue for earlier or later dates.

Two papyrologists, Fr. Jose O'Callaghan and Carsten Peter Thiede, have proposed that lettering on a postage stamp-sized papyrus fragment found in a cave at Qumran, 7Q5, represents a fragment of Mark 6:52-53; thus they assert that the present gospel was written and distributed prior to 68. Almost all other papyrologists, however, consider this identification of the fragmentary text, and its supposition that early Christians lived at Qumran, to be dubious.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Date", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki