A Date in the Forties
A Date in the Forties
A date in the forties has been proposed on the basis of historical and papyrological considerations. C. C. Torrey argues that Mark’s "abomination that causes desolation” (Mark 13:14) is a reference to the attempt in A.D. 40 of the Emperor Caligula to have his image set up in the Jerusalem temple, and he contends that the gospel was written shortly after this. 27But the identification is unlikely. Jose O’Callaghan bases his early dating of Mark on three papyrus fragments found at Qumran (7Q5; 7Q6,1, 7Q7), dated c. 50, which he claims contain, respectively, Mark 6:52-53, 4:28, and 12:17. 28But most scholars have contested the identification; 29even if it were valid, it would prove only the existence at this date of tradition that came to be incorporated into Mark. Another theory holds that Peter may have journeyed to Rome in the 40s after being freed from prison (see Acts 12:17) and that Mark may have written the gospel at that time. 30But so early a date for Mark’s gospel makes it hard to explain the silence of Paul and other New Testament writers about it, and it does not perhaps allow sufficient time for the development of the tradition behind Mark.