By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The Gospel of Mark is the earliest, the shortest, and in many ways, the most mysterious of the four gospels in the New Testament. Thought to have been written some time after AD 64 (when Nero began persecuting Christians following the great fire of Rome), Mark’s gospel shows the hallmarks of having been written for a Jewish audience, but in such a way as to be accessible to those who are not well-versed in biblical scripture.