Who Wrote The Gospels?

Part 2-The Synoptic Gospels

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In the last piece, I dove into who wrote the Gospel of John, the only “non-synoptic” of The Gospels. In this piece, I will explore the possible authorship of the other three “synoptic” gospels.

If you grew up as an Evangelical as I did you were told that each of these gospels was authored by the person they’re named after, but as we’ll see the truth is not that simple.

The Gospel of Mark

The Gospel of Mark is considered the oldest of the Gospels and is traditionally attributed to John Mark, a close associate of The Apostle Peter one of the original twelve disciples of Jesus. Christian tradition also normally attributes Mark as being one of the 70 or 72 disciples sent out to spread Jesus’ message to the world, although there’s no confirmation of this anywhere.

However, in reality, this document’s author is anonymous, and there’s evidence that it wasn’t the John Mark referenced in Acts at all. The “Mark” from Acts is associated with Jerusalem, meanwhile, the guy who wrote The Gospel of Mark wrote it in Greek, and with explanations existing in the text for Jewish customs, as well as translations for parts that contain Aramaic phrases, evidence this book was written for a non-Palestinian audience, and written between 65–70 AD prior to the destruction…