Mark

The Book of Mark

According to Burton Mack's analysis of the synoptic gospels, A Myth of Innocence: Mark and Christian Origins, the Gospel of Mark was likely written in 70 CE in Syria. The Gospel of Mark tells the story of a Jesus who is not born in an overly divine fashion in the sense that it contains no story of Mary's impregnation by the Holy Spirit nor Jesus persecution by Herod. Nor does it contain an extensive Judaic linage of the figure of Jesus, or extensive sermons, like the book of Mark. Instead, it begins with Jesus' baptism as a teacher by the hands of John the Baptist.

According to Mack, the Jesus of Mark's envisioning is an angry, rather terse parable-teller and speaker of wisdom literature, designed to be obscure in meaning than easily understood. He is a man whom stands outside of conventional, Judaic society and...
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