"Mark's Gospel: Further Considerations"

"Mark's Gospel: Further Considerations" Wenham pp. 173-182

This chapter discusses additional considerations about the dating of Mark's Gospel.

pp. 173-174 "Another possible source of information about the writing of Mark's gospel is the tradition of the Alexandrian church. We have seen that the dismissal of the age-long tradition of the Roman church by nineteenth-century scholars may have been ill judged. Perhaps the same applies to Alexandria."

Wenham goes on to cite early authorities who state that Mark went to Egypt, proclaiming the gospel which he had previously written.

p. 175 "Thus in the fourth century, not only does Alexandria claim Mark as its founder, but this claim is acknowledged in East and West, and it has remained the steadfast tradition of the Coptic church to the present day."

p. 175 "It is a case of putting Eusebius' encyclopedic knowledge of the Eastern church together with the solid tradition of the Copts against conclusions based on what Roberts calls the 'jejune and scrappy references' available to present-day scholars in our extant literary sources."

We then look at the ease of travel for both people and documents in imperial Rome, documenting that it was fairly easy for people to travel throughout the Mediterranean region.

Wenham discusses the fragment 7Q5, which may possibly be asserted to be a fragment of Mark 6:52 and following. pp. 178-179 "If 7Q5 is tentatively identified with Mark 6:52f, some of O'Callaghan's other identifications at once become plausible. 7Q4 fits 1 Timothy 3:16-4:3 (O'Callaghan thinks this certain) and 7Q8 fits James 1:23f. That epistles like 1 Timothy and James, commonly dated round about the end of the century, should have been in the possession of a Christian community in Palestine in 68 is a conclusion almost too shocking to be contemplated! But if the traditional dating of these New Testament documents is in general sounder than the modern dating (as the present book maintains), there is nothing impossible about it. We ought therefore, in spite of the fragmentary nature of the evidence, to keep the possibility in mind."


Finally, Wenham looks at some internal features of Mark, indicating that the vividness of details may indicate a very early authorship, not bearing the marks of a long tradition which could smooth out the physicality of the gospel.

Wenham's conclusion is that Mark's gospel was informed by Peter's preaching and that it was handed down to the church after Peter's death, probably having been written some time before that, possibly as early as the first half of the 40s.