Encountering the New Testament, 4th Edition
A Historical and Theological Survey
series: Encountering Biblical Studies
Materials available for professors by request only
Chapter
5. The Gospel of Mark
Discussion Questions
- Why is Papias’s statement so important to settling the authorship of Mark?
- What are some reasons biblical scholars think Mark was not written in Galilee?
- Why do you think Mark begins his Gospel with his own confession and closes it with the Roman centurion’s confession?
- Why do you think that the divine reality of Jesus was expressed by everyone except the religious leaders?
- How did Mark emphasize that Jesus’s death was not an accident?
- What was the purpose of Jesus asking the apostles to keep silent about his messiahship?
Assignment Ideas / Class Activities
- Plan and present a Scripture reading from Mark that demonstrates that Jesus came to teach us about God.
- Have students write an essay comparing the reaction of religious leaders in Jesus’s day to the reaction of religious leaders today to Jesus and his teaching.
- Break the class up into small groups and have them find passages in Mark that support the idea that Rome was the city where the Gospel was written. Assign a group to each of the following:
a. Mark writes for a gentile audience.
b. Mark explains Aramaic expressions he uses. - Have the class find the references to the silence that Jesus commanded and read these out loud. Help the class see why this is called the “messianic secret.”