New Testament
Week 3: The Gospel of Mark, Part 1
Mark 1:1–6:6
29 September 2022
Lesson Materials
Handout 1
arnt03_handout.pdfHandout 2
arnt03_handout2.pdfAdditional reading and links
“Does the Gospel of Mark Reveal Jesus’ Anger or His Compassion?,” Bible History Daily (blog), 5 August 2014. Most ancient New Testament manuscripts of Mark 1:41 read that Jesus “was moved with compassion” for the leper, but one important fifth-century Greek manuscript and a few Latin ones say that he was “moved with anger.” Although the very idea of Jesus being angry seems impossible to the modern reader, it actually fits Mark’s portrayal of Christ’s personality. As unlikely as “moved with anger” sounds, it just might be the original reading.
Mark Goodacre, “Fatigue in the Synoptics,” New Testament Studies 44 (1998): 45–58. Goodacre provides evidence that Matthew and Luke used Mark as a source by showing passages where it appears that Matthew or Luke began by altering Mark, but later simply copied Mark directly, even when doing so was inconsistent with the changes they had already made.
Videos
During the time of Jesus and the New Testament period, the Jews in Judea and Galilee were subjects of the Roman Empire. At its height in the early second century ᴀ.ᴅ., the Roman Empire encompassed nearly 2 million square miles (5 million km²) of territory, from Britain to Egypt and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caspian Sea. What made the Romans different than the empires that preceded it? The Armchair Historian YouTube channel explains how the Roman Empire expanded so efficiently.