๐๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐ก๐๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐ค!
Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
Twitter:@NassarMohamadMR
๐๐ฑ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐ฅ
๐๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐จ๐๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
The Gospel of Mark is purportedly the oldest gospel now present in the New Testament. On one hand, where it enjoys antiquity, on other hand, it intrigues Bible students too! In this paper, we are concerned with one such perplexing issue related to the gospel and a fundamental Christian doctrine.
Gospel of Mark, unlike any other gospel, has two endings to it โ as weird as it sounds โ in one version it ends at Chapter 16,ย Verse 8, however, in another version it continues thereafter to end atย verse 20.ย Various Bibles now in print often provide both endings with sufficient notifications on the issue. For instance, The Good News Edition marginalizes/brackets verses 9 through 20 which we would be referring to asย extraneous-versesย throughout this paper.
Christians generally explain the matter as manuscript differences. However, is the issue so straight forward? When we tried to look into the matter a little closely, it turned out to be that it was not merely an issue of manuscripts! There were ponderous, controversialย doctrinalย issues hovering around the two narratives. Thus, in this paper, we would address the objectives behind otherwise innocent looking two endings of Markโs gospel(s)ย (1.).
The two endings
In this section, we would briefly paraphrase the two endings which we have in the gospel of Mark today.
Longer/Extraneous ending (Mark 16:9-20)
In this version, Jesus (peace be upon him) appears to his disciples after his alleged resurrection from death and commands them various things:
After Jesus rose from death early on Sunday,ย he appearedย first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had driven out seven demons. She went and told his companions. They were mourning and crying; and when they heard her say that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe her.ย After this,ย Jesus appearedย in a different manner to the two of them while they were on their way to the country.ย They returned and told the others, but these would not believe it. (Mark 16: 9-13)
For variousย passionateย Christians, this ending of the gospel is very sensational since in this account, upon (alleged) resurrection, Jesus (peace be upon him) appears and informs his disciples that they would be able to achieve extraordinary feats:
โLast of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating. He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.
Believers will be given the power to perform miracles: they will drive out demons in my name; they will speak in strange tongues; if they pick up snakes or drink any poison, they will not be harmed; they will place their hands on sick people, and these will get well.โ (Mark 16: 14, 17-18)
[Friendly Appeal: We strongly request our โbelievingโ friends at โanswering-islamโ not to try handling vipers or drink the venom of rattlers.]
๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ข๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ, ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ (๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ) ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐๐ฏ๐๐ง:
After the Lord Jesus had talked with them, he was taken up to heaven and sat at the right side of God. The disciples went and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and proved that their preaching was true by the miracles that were performed. (Mark 16: 19-20)
Here the longer version ends. So this longer version, in general terms, is more or less similar to the other gospel accounts except the sensational blessings for the believers. So far so good!
๐๐ก๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ซ ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ (๐๐๐ซ๐ค ๐๐:๐-๐)
In the shorter version of the gospel however, Jesusโ (peace be upon him) female disciples, who also served him as his masseuse on occasions, from Galilee and Bethany hurries to the tomb on early Sunday morning to massage Jesusโ (peace be upon him) alleged corpse once again.
However, upon visiting the tomb, abnormally, they find a man already present inside it; although the tomb was sealed by a massive stone!
This mysterious man informs them that Jesus (peace be upon him) is no more in the tomb since he has been raised. He also commanded them to inform to other apostles especially Peter that, as planned, Jesus (peace be upon him) has been raised from the tomb:
Very early on Sunday morning, at sunrise, they went to the tomb. On the way they said to one another, โWho will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?โ (It was a very large stone.) Then they looked up and saw that the stone had already been rolled back. (SEE 16:3) So they entered the tomb, where they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robeโand they were alarmed.
โDonโt be alarmed,โ he said. โI know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not hereโhe has been raised! Look, here is the place where he was placed. Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: โHe is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him, just as he told you.โ โ(Mark 16: 2-7)
However, the biblical โdisciplesโ of Jesus (peace be upon him) acted contradictorily to run away from the tomb; moreover, they did not inform to any other apostle that Jesus (peace be upon him) has been raised!
So they went out and ran from the tomb, distressed and terrified. They said nothing to anyone because they were afraid.ย (Mark 16:8)
Just at this point, the shorter version of Markโs gospel ends!
At this junction of the paper, we could feel that something fishy was transpiring in the pages of the so-called โInjeelโ. Before we dig further into the issue, it is relatively important to know about the authenticity of the two narratives.
๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐๐ง๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ
According to biblical scholarship, the first or shorter narration of the gospel is found only in oldest and best Markan manuscripts:
โฆthe last twelve verses of Mark, in which Jesus appears to his disciples after the resurrection, telling them to preach the gospel to all the nations and indicating that those who believe in him will speak in strange tongues, handle snakes, and drink poison without feeling its effects. But this amazing and startling ending is not found in the oldest and best manuscripts of Mark.
Instead, these manuscripts end at Mark 16:8, where the women at Jesusโ tomb are told that he has been raised, are instructed to inform Peter, but then flee the tomb and say nothing to anyone, โfor they were afraid.โ And that is the end of the story. (Bart Ehrman, Lost Christianities, p. 78)
We will talk about the authenticity of the longer, extraneous-version soon but at this instant let us assume that the so-called Holy โGhostโ did inspire the writer (whoever s/he was) with the extraneous-verses. With that said, let us do some inquiry into the two differing endings.
Notice that the โbestโ and the โoldestโ manuscripts did not have the extra-verses (9 through 20). On the foregoing, we propose the following queries:
1)ย ย ย ย ย Why the extra โversesโ were not present in the โoldestโ and โbestโ manuscripts?
2) Does the presence of extraneous-verses in later manuscripts imply that they were โinspiredโ to younger writer(s)?
3)ย ย ย ย ย Subsequently, we ask: why were the extraneous verses not inspired to the earlier author(s)?
The truth of the matter is that the appended extraneous-verses are inauthentic and forged in the name of Mark. Biblical authority is almost unanimous about it. The introduction to the gospel of Mark has the following to say:
โThe two endings of the Gospel, which are enclosed in brackets, are generally regarded as written by someone other than the author of Mark. (The Gospel according to Mark, Introduction, Good News Edition, p. 44)
Consequently, if the extraneous-verses were inauthentic then why were they forged in the first place? Why were they inserted into โGodโs wordsโ? Like any other forging, these counterfeit โversesโ served basically two fundamental Pauline objectives:
Objective 1: To confirm that Jesus (peace be upon him) was indeed resurrected.
Objective 2: To further corroborate that Jesus (peace be upon him) was raised.
The two objectives look very similar on the face of it, however, there are subtle but very important differences between them; we would explore them in the passages to follow to finally see how important it was for Pauline Christianity to achieve these objectives and how menacing it could have been for Pauline Christianity if the extraneous-verses were absent.
๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐: ๐๐จย ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ซ๐ฆย ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ (๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ) ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง๐๐๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐๐
Remember that in the shorter version of Mark it was the mysterious man in the tomb apprising the ladies that Jesus (peace be upon him) has risen. In other words, the ladies were not firsthand, eye witnesses of the resurrected Jesus (peace be upon him).
The unknown identity of the informing man in the tomb; lack of firsthand eyewitness account for resurrected Jesus (peace be upon him) โ were enough ground to reduce the veracity of Jesusโ (peace be upon him) resurrection which in turn had negative repercussions on his (alleged) death and would have in turn undermined the (alleged) crucifixion as well!
Therefore, to fill the obvious gaps, Bible redactors conveniently added the extraneous-verses and attributed them to God. So now we have the longer version in which Jesus (peace be upon him) is being witnessed by several of his disciples after his resurrection โ problem was immediately solved!
However, theย redactorsย supposedly working under the influence of the Holy โGhostโ did an utterly gauche job when they out ofย needย appendedย extraneous-verses. Initial Mark โ the shorter version โ ended with ladies not witnessing resurrected Jesus (peace be upon him) in the tomb. In fact, the preternatural men inside the tomb exhorted them that resurrected Jesus (peace be upon him) would be witnessed on-road to Galilee:
So they entered the tomb, where they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robeโand they were alarmed. โDonโt be alarmed,โ he said. โI know you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is not hereโhe has been raised! Look, here is the place where he was placed. Now go and give this message to his disciples, including Peter: โHe is going to Galilee ahead of you; there you will see him, just as he told you.โ โ(Mark 16: 5-7)
However, contradictorily, (appended) verse 9 stated that the ladies did witness Jesus (peace be upon him) on Sunday โ his resurrection day:
After Jesus rose from death early on Sunday, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had driven out seven demons. (Mark 16:9)
The presumably โresurrectedโ Jesus (peace be upon him) did not meet Mary Magdalene on Galilee highway but at very close proximity to the tomb, in fact,ย at the entrance of the tombย itself.
Mary stood crying outside the tomb. While she was still crying, she bent over and looked in the tomb and saw two angels there dressed in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. โWoman, why are you crying?โ they asked her. She answered, โThey have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!โ
Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,ย but she did not know that it was Jesus. โWoman, why are you crying?โ Jesus asked her. โWho is it that you are looking for?โ She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, โIf you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.โ Jesus said to her, โMary!โย She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, โRabboni!โ (This means โTeacher.โ)ย (John 20:11-16)
On the foregoing, it can be conclusively asserted that theย appendedย โverse(s)โ does not fit snugly to the flow of the chapter (Mark 16) and therefore it incurs sufficient proofs of itsย humanย production. No surprise, gospel manuscript authority D.C. Parker notes as follows:
โIt has been pointed out that verse 9 sits very uneasily with verses 1-8. There is no resumption of the theme of fear and silence in verse 8, and Mary Magdalene is introduced afresh in verse 9, as though she were not already on stage.โ (D.C.Parker, The Living Text of the Gospels (1997), p.138)]
The very fact that verse 9 sits โvery uneasilyโ with verses 1-8 alludes that it has been extrapolated. This extrapolation also paved the path for the gospels to be written in the future; as such none of the younger gospels committed the mistake of not providing eyewitness accounts of Jesusโ (peace be upon him) resurrection! (Donโt we learn from our past mistakes?)
But one important query still lingers why were the Bible redactors and compilers (corrupters?) so keen on adding the extraneous-verses of Jesusโ (peace be upon him) post-resurrection personal interaction with his disciples? Why was it not enough when verses 1 through 8 informed that Jesus (peace be upon him) was raised? ย The answer of this query takes us to the next analysis of the next objective.
๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐: ๐๐จย ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ซ๐จ๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ย ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ (๐ฉ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ) ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐
As already mentioned, verses 1 through 8 did inform under Godโs โinspirationโ that Jesus (peace be upon him) had been (allegedly) resurrected yet there was a need forย further corroborationย of the resurrection phenomenon. This was so because theย believingย disciples of Jesus (peace be upon him) were in no mood to believe the resurrection news of Jesus (peace be upon him) from theirย ownย colleagues,ย vicariously:
He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee: โThe Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.โ โThen the women remembered his words, returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest.
The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles. But the apostles thought that what the women said was NONSENSE, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the grave cloths but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened. (Luke 24:6-12)
They returned and told the others, but these would not believe it. (Luke 16:13)
The disbelief of the disciples led Jesus (peace be upon him) to scold them:
Last, of all, Jesus appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating.ย He scolded them, because they did not have faith and because they were too stubborn to believe those who had seen him alive.ย He said to them, โGo throughout the whole world and preach the gospel to all people. ย (Mark 16: 14-15)
And,
ย And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. Some of the women in our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him.โ
Then Jesus said to them, โHow foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?โ And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets. (Luke 24:21-27)
โApostleโ Thomas, the โMy-Lord-My-Godโ fellow, put an even more stringent condition to believe in the resurrection. He would not have believed unless he would put his fingers through Jesusโ (peace be upon him) wounds!
One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (called the Twin), was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, โWe have seen the Lord!โ Thomas said to them, โUnless I see the scars of the nails in his hands and put my finger on those scars and my hand in his side, I will not believe.โ (John 20: 24-25)
We need to wait here for a moment to think why were the โloyalโ disciples of Jesus (peace be upon him) had so much difficulty in accepting his resurrection (?).
Notice that there is one similarity between Lukeโs account of disbelieving disciples and Johnโs account of disbelieving Thomas. In both narratives, the audience was bereaved of firsthand experience. In Lukan’s narrative, it was the ladies who gaveย secondhandย information about the resurrection to the other disciples and in Johnโs account, it was the other disciples giving vicarious information to Thomas!ย
On the foregoing, it can be deduced that disciples tangibly wanted to see and experience Jesus (peace be upon him) to believe in his resurrection. D.C. Parker asserts the same:
โโฆthat the disciples did not believe (neither source has such a reference), and that when Jesus does appear, he rebukes โtheir unbelief and hardness of heartโ. It is only when they see and speak with Jesus that they believe. (D.C.Parker, The Living Text of the Gospels (1997),p.140)
However, this exact condition of firsthand experience was missing in Markโs shorter version! None of the disciples, including the ladies at the site (tomb), had firsthand experience; which in turn implies that they hitherto had no belief in resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him)!
In order words, had Markโs gospel ended at verse 8 it would have established beyond doubt that none of the disciples everย believedย in the resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him); which in turn would have casted sufficient doubt on the death of Jesus (peace be upon him); which in turn would have rendered crucifixion and Christianity to be dubious!
Nevertheless, since Paulโs epistles,ย which predated Markโs gospel, had already set โorthodox doctrineโ that without the resurrection there was Christianity (1 Corinthians 15:14), this left the โcustodiansโ of the so-called โInjeelโ to append Markโs โincompleteโ and doctrinally menacing shorter account with verses tailor-made to fit in succinctly with Paulโs theology. Now, as expected, disciples were portrayed to have had firsthand experience of the โrisenโ Jesus (peace be upon him)!
All this fast and loose was done to render credit to the alleged crucifixion (and resurrection) which, otherwise, even first of all gospels and Christians doubts!
In fact, Parker takes a step forward to expose the truth that theย additionsย were made in the gospel to tailor it according to a particular (Pauline) agenda:
โThis aside, the full contents of verses 9โ20 provide a programme which, when interpreted in a certain way, is extremely congenial to a particular kind of conservative Christianity. Conversely, those who argue that these verses are spurious might be charged by their opponents with a hidden โliberalisingโ motive.
And,
โThe Long Ending is best read as a cento or pastiche of material gathered from the other Gospels and from other sources, slanted towards a particular interpretation. This may be demonstrated by going through it verse by verse. Verses 15-16: In Matthew 28.19 the disciples are commanded โGo therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.โ
The same pair of verbs, โpreachโ/โbaptise5, is found here. The main idea here (beliefs-baptismโsalvation) may be seen as a development of what is found in the New Testament (see Acts 16.31 and 33; 1 Peter 3ยท2ฮ)โ. (D.C.Parker, The Living Text of the Gospels (1997),pp.103-131, p.140)
ย Not merely did Parker assert that the extraneous verses have strong doctrinal biases but he even recognizes the sources which fathered these โversesโ. He points out that other gospels and epistles laid the framework for the extraneous-verses. This in itself raises several questions on the textual integrity of the New Testament.
The later/younger gospels had narratives for firsthand experience of Jesusโ (peace be upon him) resurrection quite in line with Pauline theology. Thus it was not too difficult to mould the odd one out โ gospel of Mark โ so that its โLong ending is best read as a cento or pastiche of material gathered from other Gospels and from other sources, slanted towards a particular interpretationโ.
In the wake of the above sleight maneuverings, well-known author Kenneth Cragg claims the following:
โThere is condensation and editing, there is choice production and witness. The Gospels have come through the mind of the church behind the authors. They represent experience and history.โ (Kenneth Cragg, The Call of the Minaret, p. 277)
Respectful resource Encyclopedia Brittanica has a similar note to chime:
โYet, as a matter of FACT, EVERY BOOK of the New Testament, with the exception of the four great Epistles o St. Paul is at present more or less the subject of controversy and interpolations (inserted verses) are asserted even in these.โ (Encyclopedia Brittanica, 12th Edition, Vol. 3, p.643)
Also, remember that Paulโs various epistles primarily stressing on the (alleged) resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him) and consequent salvation thereby were already available and in circulation among various Christian churches all around the area yet Mark did not includeย confirmedย firsthand resurrection phenomenon in his โgospelโ.
This concerns whether Mark believed in the resurrection of Christ (peace be upon him); whether the resurrection incident was a mass phenomenon;ย whether resurrection was indispensible part of Christianity, if so, Mark would have never missed to mention it especially given the unbelieving attitude of the โbelieversโ and direct guidance from โdivineโ Holy โGhostโ. On this note, Bible Professor Dr. A. Meyerย (2.)ย makes a rather justified assertion:
โIf by โChristianityโ we understand faith in Jesus Christ as the heavenly son of God, who did not belong to Earthly humanity, but who lived in the divine likeness and glory, who came down from heaven to earth, who entered humanity and took upon himself a human form through a virgin, that he might make propitiation for menโs sins by his own blood on the cross, who was them awakened from death and raised to God as the Lord of his own people,
who believe in him, who hears their prayers, guards and leads them, who shall come again to judge the world, who will cast down all the foes of God, and will bring his people with him unto the house of heavenly light so that they may become like his glorified body โ if this is Christianity, the[n] such a Christianity was founded by Paul and not by Jesus.โ (Meyer, Jesus or Paul, p. 122)
Finally, and very importantly, as if stating distinctly on the subject in hand โ the (alleged) resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him) โ the group of scholars at the โJesus Seminarโ claim that death, resurrection and vicarious atonement are mythical roles attributed falsely to historical Jesus (peace be upon him):
โBiblical scholars and theologians alike have learned to distinguish the Jesus of history from the Christ of faith. It has been a painful lesson for both the church and scholarship. The distinction between the two figures is the difference between a historical person who lived in a particular time and place and a figure who has been assigned a mythical role, in which he descends from heaven to rescue mankind and, of course, eventually return there.โ (Jesus Seminar, Robert W. Funk and Roy W. Hoover (translators and eds.), The Five Gospels (1993), pp.533-537)
๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง
According to the methodology of the best and earliest Christians โ the โapostlesโ themselves โ they were not supposed to believe in the resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him) unless they themselves had a firsthand witness of it.
Now, as per the best and earliest version of the oldest of all gospels โ the gospel of Mark โ not a single disciple ever had firsthand witness of Jesusโ (peace be upon him) purported resurrection phenomenon. This expressly implied that none of the earliest Christians ever believed in the (alleged) resurrection.
However, such a Jesus (peace be upon him) tradition emanating from the oldest gospel itself contradicted Pauline theology which predated it and dominated Christianity. Therefore, a concerted effort was required toย addย an appendix to โGodโs inspirationโ itself. (Of course, this fast and loose had its own gauche limitations.)
And this is exactly we wanted to prove that although gospel of Mark is not specifically an โinspirationโ identified by Qurโan yet even it was not spared of tampering. Menย modifiedย it to suit their sectarian beliefsย (3.).
Indeed God spoke the truth in this regard:
Then woe to those who write the Book with their own hands, and then say:โ This is from Allah,โ to traffic with it for miserable price!- Woe to them for what their hands do write, and for the gain they make thereby.ย (Qurโan 2:79, Yusuf Aliโs Quran Translation)
If such is the state of affairs with the gospel(s) then, as a non โ Christian, we feel it is extremely dangerous to venture our souls and eternal salvation in the so-called โInjeelโ purported by missionaries.
๐๐จ๐ญ๐๐ฌ:
- All biblical text is taken from Good News Edition.
๐ ๐จ๐จ๐ญ๐ง๐จ๐ญ๐:
(1.) Mark has not just authored the โcanonicalโ gospel. There have been other gospels around like the โSecret Gospel of Markโ which is also authoritatively attributed to him by scholars.
ย (2.)ย He is a Professor of Theology at Zurich University
ย (3.)ย What we now know as โorthodoxโ Christianity was not the only form of Christianity in the incipient days of the churches. Many Christian groups did not endorse Paul or his coined doctrines. Whereas some rejected him as a corruptor of the religion of Jewish patriarchs while others hardly believed in the death and resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him) let alone the salvation, if any, it entailed.ย