The Jewish Gospel of Mark

Course Info

It is often assumed that the Gospel of Mark was written for the benefit of a primarily gentile, non-Jewish Christian audience.  Dr. John Van Maaren proposes that Mark’s Gospel is firmly rooted in first-century Judaism, albeit differently from Matthew or Luke. The lectures consider the reasons why Mark has been read as a non-Jewish Gospel, address the early traditions of Mark’s composition, and seek to establish its social location (i.e., Jewish/non-Jewish). This intriguing course looks closely at how Jews and Gentiles are portrayed in Mark’s stories, arguing that it should be read within Judaism. Questions considered include: How is Torah observance portrayed in Mark? What are the criteria to be a part of God’s Kingdom that Mark describes? How central are the people of Israel for Mark’s salvation message and why is the gentile mission nearly absent in Mark’s narrative?

About Author

Dr. John Van Maaren

Lecturer in Jewish and Biblical Studies

John Van Maaren has a PhD in Early Christianity and Early Judaism from McMaster University (Canada). He was a fellow at Tantur Ecumenical Institute for Theological Studies in Jerusalem during the 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 academic years. His research focuses on changing conceptions of Jewishness in the Southern Levant during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods (200 BCE-135 CE) and the gradual emergence of a distinct, non-Jewish, Christian identity. His dissertation, The Gospel of Mark within Judaism: Reading the Second Gospel in Its Ethnic Landscape, is the first systematic argument that Mark should be read as Jewish literature.