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CONGRUITIES AND INCONGRUITIES BETWEEN THE BIBLE AND THE QUR'AN |
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The Gospel according to St. Mark was chronologically first to be committed to paper; circa 58 A.D. according to Christian sources. Biblical scholars and Mircea Eliade claim that it had been written some three decades later, in 70 A.D. Although its author cannot be exactly identified Papios, a Church Father, in his letter written in 140 A.D. had declared that this Gospel had been written by St. Mark, assistant to the Apostle St. Peter. This assertion was officially accepted by Christian scholars.
Paula Frederiksen says that Christ's words available in Greek had been collected to form the 'Q' Gospel. On the other hand, oral traditions consisting of miracles, parables, legends, etc. had been compiled by various Christian communities; the body of these writings grew in size as time went by and circulated among the population. Some of these had been committed to paper in 70. However, the scribes were not professional authors. They merely put them on black and white haphazardly, which made up today the Gospel according to St. Mark.
St. Mark had joined Paul and his uncle Barnabas in their mission to spread the Christianity. « And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark. »(Acts 2/25) Mark had shared Paul's fate and been imprisoned with him and been in his service. « There salute thee Epaphras, my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus; Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellowlabourers. »(Philemon 23, 24) Mark had joined Peter in his travels and earned his affection. « The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.» (1 Peter 5,13)
« Father Kannengisser makes the following comments on the ending: “The last verses must have been suppressed when his work was officially received (or the popular version of it) in the community that guaranteed its validity. Neither Matthew, Luke or a fortiori John saw the missing section. Nevertheless the gap was unacceptable. A long time afterwards, when the writings of Matthew, Luke and John, all of them similar, had been in circulation, a worthy ending to Mark was composed. »(Bucaille, ibid p.65)
The authors of the Gospels had also benefited of written material just like from the oral tradition. Mark is acknowledged to have used as a reference the Q Gospel no longer existent of the Nazarenes in addition to the doctrine of the Apostle Peter. He had also made use of the letters of Paul, his travel and prison companion. According to the contemporary biblical scholars, the author of the Gospels used the oral and verbal sources which they interpreted according to their own view points to which they made additions.
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO St. LUKE