The Date of Mark's Gospel and its Place of Origin

Abstract

This chapter considers the evidence available for establishing the date of Mark's Gospel and its place of origin. It discusses the early Christian tradition that forms the basis of the 'traditional' view. It will become apparent that this external evidence does not provide us with historically reliable information concerning the Gospel's origin. The chapter subsequently, therefore, establishes when and where Mark's Gospel was written by using internal evidence, that is, the indications concerning time and place of origin occurring within the Gospel itself. The assumption that the authors of the Gospels of Luke and Matthew used the Gospel of Mark sets the terminus ante quem for the composition of Mark's Gospel at approximately 85 AD. Information about the Gospel's terminus post quem is to be gathered from the Gospel itself. Four passages in Mark's Gospel are helpful in this respect. Keywords: early Christian tradition; Gospel's terminus post quem ; Gospels of Luke; Gospels of Mathew; Mark's Gospel