Dear Mark,

Here is an abstract from a dissertation written recently here at Harvard
on the Acts of Mark, I hope it helps. If you want more detail, I can
look at the thesis, as it is in the library (unless checked out!).
There are also other items of literature listed below.

A.D.Callahan 'The Acts of Saint Mark : an introduction and commentary'

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Harvard University, 1992

According to the Church's most venerable traditions, it was the
evangelist reputed to have written the Second Gospel who was first to
proclaim the Christian message in the Nile Valley; Mark the Evangelist
was Alexandria's first bishop and first martyr, his miracles, prodigies
and passion recorded in the so-called Acts of Saint Mark (AM). The AM
probably existed in some literary form by the late fourth century. The
age of the underlying traditions, of course, remains an open question.
Such a dating puts the AM in the same historical continuum as other of
the so-called apocryphal Acts, yet it is little known and virtually
ignored by modern Western scholarship. The memory of the Evangelist's
Egyptian mission is preserved in a number of versions. The AM comes down
to us in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic languages, in addition to
some Coptic fragments published well after Lipsius' landmark study of
apocryphal Acts at the turn of the century. Though the date of Mark's
martyrdom has been accorded a place of honor in ecclesiastical calendars
in both the East and West, Saint Mark the Evangelist remains an obscure
figure to modern historians of early Christianity. The tradition that
Mark the Evangelist was the Nile's first missionary has been treated on
the whole by modern scholars with extreme caution or outright
incredulity. In the early tradition that preceded the hagiographical
deference of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Saint Mark's status is somewhat
diminutive: Papias plainly states that Mark was not an eyewitness to the
Lord (Eusebius H. E. 3.39.15-16). At best Saint Mark was a junior
colleague of the apostle Peter. Further, the preponderence of early
testimonies assert that Saint Mark wrote his gospel in Italy; indeed
there is even sixth century inscriptional evidence in Egypt to this
effect. Modern commentators with rare accord are at a loss to explain
the 'selection' of Saint Mark as the founder of the Alexandrian church.
Yet this tradition of the foundation of the church of Alexandria is
universally attested, both in the East and the West, by the fourth
century, that is, at least as early as Eusebius or his sources. Perhaps
a closer look at the one body of traditions that purports to explain
this 'choice' may contribute to adumbrating how Mark the Evangelist came
to be regarded as the first bishop of one of the most powerful sees of
ancient Christendom.


Other literature:
A.D. Callahan 'The Acts of Mark : tradition, transmission, and
translation of the Arabic version' in Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
Francois Bovon ed. (Boston : Harvard Univ Pr, 1999) pp. 63-85

B.Pearson 'Ancient Alexandria in the Acts of Mark' in Society of
Biblical Literature : 1997 seminar papers (Atlanta : Scholars Pr, 1997)
pp. 273-284.

A.D.Callahan 'The Acts of Saint Mark : an introduction and translation'
Coptic Church Review 14 (Spr 1993), p. 3-10.

All good wishes,

Philip

Philip McCosker
Apt 1,
258 Beacon Street,
Somerville,
MA - 02143, USA
617-493-4760


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-synoptic-l@... [mailto:owner-synoptic-l@...]
On Behalf Of Mark Goodacre
Sent: 03 April 2002 20:07
To: ELENCHUS@...; Synoptic-L@...
Subject: [Synoptic-L] Acts of Mark

Does anyone happen to know anything about the Acts of Mark, e.g.
date, text, language, provenance? It doesn't appear to be in any of
the standard editions of NT apocrypha. Are there any good
introductory and / or general studies?

Many thanks for any help
Mark
-----------------------------
Dr Mark Goodacre mailto:M.S.Goodacre@...
Dept of Theology tel: +44 121 414 7512
University of Birmingham fax: +44 121 414 4381
Birmingham B15 2TT UK

http://www.bham.ac.uk/theology/goodacre
http://NTGateway.com


Synoptic-L Homepage: http://www.bham.ac.uk/theology/synoptic-l
List Owner: Synoptic-L-Owner@...


Synoptic-L Homepage: http://www.bham.ac.uk/theology/synoptic-l
List Owner: Synoptic-L-Owner@...