Tag Archives: History

The Life and Times of John Mark or How to Date a Gospel (Part VI)

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The earlier posts in this series (part 1) explored the early evidence that a person named Mark is the author of the book we call the Gospel of Mark.

The testimony was largely in agreement about the following information:

  • Mark was the author.
  • Mark was not a disciple of Jesus (while Jesus was alive).
  • Mark wrote down what Peter was teaching and proclaiming.
  • The book was written at the request of believers in Rome.

The testimony of the early church also notes that Mark was in Alexandria, Egypt planting churches.

Who is this person named Mark?

The extant testimony of the early church is unanimous that it was written by Mark, a person taken to be John Mark, the associate of Barnabas and Paul on the 1MJ.

One factor in favor of this being correct, notes Daniel Wallace, is that Mark is “by no means a major player in the New Testament.”1

The author identified as Mark is widely accepted as the person named John Mark that we find referenced throughout the NT.

In The New Testament in Its World, affirms that no alterative person has ever been suggested as the author.

Certainty is impossible, but John Mark is probably the best candidate, not least because his name, as a younger and less well-known early Christian, would not naturally occur to second-century Christians when seeking to name the book. No alternative figure has ever warranted consideration. 2

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Blogging thru On the Incarnation: 5 things we learn about Providence

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This is part 6 of the series blogging through the book On the Incarnation by Athanasius. You might want to start with part 1 and work your way through the series.

In the opening chapter of On the Incarnation, Athanasius referred to his prequel noting that he had “sufficiently treated a few points regarding the error of the Gentiles concerning idols”. We have been examining those points in the last few posts. These were important because it sets the stage for the more popular work that followed.

The next thing Athanasius tells us in the introduction is that in the prequel he covered a “few points regarding the divinity of the Word of the Father and his providence and power in all things”. 1

Athanasius goes on to list three things we learn about God’s providence.

  • through [the Word] the good Father arranges all things
  • by him all things are moved
  • and in him are given life
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Blogging thru On the Incarnation: Athanasius’ Teleological Argument (part 5)

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This is part 5 of the series blogging through the book On the Incarnation by Athanasius. You might want to start with part 1 and work your way through the series.

In this post we are going to jump right in, picking up where we left off in part 4. We will be looking at the second major argument Athanasius presents in Against the Gentiles related to how creation points to a Creator. And yes, we will eventually get back to On the Incarnation.

Why do we find a Universe that has Order and Harmony?

In the second major argument advanced by Athanasius, we find him making a teleological argument. A teleological argument is one that makes an appeal to what is known of the universe and then moves to argue that it shows evidence of design and purpose. It then asserts that this is evidence for a Designer.

The Fine-Tuning Argument

A popular and modern version of a teleological argument would be the fine tuning argument.

The laws of physics, the shape of the universe and the values of numerous constants appear to be so finely tuned that a slight change in any one of them could radically change how the universe looks and whether it could support life.1 These observations leave physicists, and all of us, to grapple with whether our universe was designed to support life or whether it was something else that brought about the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

In A Brief History of Time, the famous physicist Stephen Hawking writes:

The laws of science, as we know them at present, contain many fundamental numbers, like the size of the electric charge of the electron and the ratio of the masses of the proton and the electron. We cannot, at the moment at least, predict the values of these numbers from theory – we have to find them by observation. It may be that one day we shall discover a complete unified theory that predicts them all, but it is also possible that some or all of them vary from universe to universe or within a single universe. The remarkable fact is that the values of these numbers seem to have been very finely adjusted to make possible the development of life. … it seems clear that there are relatively few ranges of values for the numbers that would allow the development of any form of intelligent life. Most sets of values would give rise to universes, that, although they might be very beautiful, would contain no one able to wonder at that beauty. One can take this either as evidence of a divine purpose in Creation and the choice of the laws of science or as support for the strong anthropic principle. (emphasis added) 2

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