Oral and Written Aspects of the Emergence of the Gospel of Mark as Scripture

How the Gospel of Mark, which would not have qualified as a “respectable” text in the Hellenistic-Roman world, became included in the Scripture of established Christianity is explored in the following steps: an examination of Mark’s relation to the Judean Scriptures in comparison with scribal cultivation of those scriptures; an exploration of the importance of oral communication in the origin of the Gospel; a review of the predominance of oral communication, oral performance, and oral-written texts in the context in which Mark was cultivated; an examination of the ways in which the Gospel of Mark was memorable and performable; and an analysis of Mark’s resonance with hearers in its historical performance context