What are major themes in Mark's Gospel?

Answer 1

Maurice Goguel (Jesus the Nazarene: Myth or History?, 1926) remarked that the Gospel According to St Mark is composed of an introduction and of four portions, of which the first may be subdivided into eight sections. It has a 3-part plan: psychological, since it rests upon the idea of the development of the Jewish opposition and the disciples' lack of intelligence; logical and chronological, since it shows in the events the reaction after the welcome given to Jesus; geographical, since it divides the history of Jesus into three periods: Galilean, itinerant, and then Jerusalem. However, in spite of his Gospel being called a well-planned book, Mark seems a poor writer, often writing ungrammatically and hardly knowing how to write a narrative. Mark frequently stressed that Jesus instructed witnesses to his miracles to keep his true identity a secret. Dennis R MacDonald (The Homeric Epics and the Gospel of Mark) argues persuasively that this was the result of Homeric influence, with Jesus a counterpart to Odysseus, who also had to keep his identity secret. A possible further reason could be that Mark needed to show why few people had ever heard of Jesus, who supposedly performed so many great wonders and miracles in the recent past. Mark's Gospel has also been called a story of the death of Jesus with a long introduction. Far more than the later gospels (Matthew, Luke and John), Mark's Gospel is about the period leading up to and just after the death of Jesus.

Answer 2

A:

The Gospel of John is now known to have been loosely based on Luke's Gospel, with some material taken direct from Mark, the original New Testament gospel. Naturally, Johncontinues the gospel theme, although with many alterations.

John's Gospel introduces the theme of Jesus as wholly divine and pre-existing. We see this in the prologue (John 1:1-5), but it is continued subtly throughout the gospel. In comparison, Mark portrays Jesus as adopted by God as his son at the time of his baptism, while Matthew and Luke say he was the Son of God from the time of his conception. Themes unique to John's Gospel also include the notion of 'doubting Thomas', and the ongoing comparison between an unnamed 'disciple whom Jesus loved' and the disciple Peter, with the beloved disciple alway shown to be a more worthy disciple.

Answer 3

Jesus holds the Lord's Supper, Jesus dies and is buried, and Jesus is raised again are just a few.

Answer 4

Compared to the other gospel writers, Matthew focused on the ancestry of Jesus and on the immaculate conception of His mother, Mary.