About the Course

This course examines the oldest and the shortest Gospel in the New Testament, recorded for us by Mark. You are invited to study the life of Jesus and the Good News he both announced and enacted. Join Prof. N.T. Wright as he teaches and guides you to look through Mark at Jesus. Come find out what makes this Gospel distinct from Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts. Learn the reasons Mark selected and arranged his material in the particular way that he did. Discern the ways in which Mark may have launched a new literary genre for his time. Explore what Mark has to say about what God has done in and through Jesus. Discover the remarkable achievement of Jesus, and how Jesus calls people to be his followers as a result.

Students in this course will examine the Gospel of Mark through the following frameworks:

• A ‘biography’ of Jesus.
• A book about how Israel’s scriptures and narrative came to fulfillment. 
• A book about how God’s Kingdom ‘on earth as in heaven’–the place where God reigns over his world in a new way–was launched in and through Jesus.
• A community-forming narrative about a new mode of being, a new epoch of world history, and a new people.
• An action-packed story of confrontation between Jesus and opposing powers, both worldly and spiritual.
• A book which invites readers to become part of the story themselves.

This course contains 27 lectures by Prof. N.T. Wright, corresponding quizzes for you to check your comprehension, and discussion questions to help you reflect on and practise what you are learning.

What students will learn in this course:

• Identify Mark’s style of writing, what he chose to emphasise, and why he arranged his material in the way that he did.
• Interpret what makes Mark unique from the other Gospels.
• Investigate the ways in which Mark is a multi-layered account of the Good News of Jesus.
• Discover how Mark portrays Jesus as Messiah and Son of God.
• Examine how the Gospel of Mark can be considered an ‘apocalypse’.
• Discern where YOU fit into the story that Mark is telling.

This course is for:

• Anyone interested in studying the life and ministry of Jesus through the lens of Mark.
• Students who wish to dig deeper into Mark’s ‘rapid-fire’ pace and style.
• Church leaders who hope to apply Jesus’ life, teachings, and parables to the joys and challenges of ministry.
• Bible teachers wondering how to explain Mark’s lack of a prolonged birth narrative and account of the risen Jesus.
• Believers with questions about how their life fits into the story Mark is telling about the Good News of Jesus.

Registered 501c3 non-profit organization
Courses developed for N.T. Wright Online are made possible by the generous donations of people who support the Wisconsin Center for Christian Studies, Inc., a registered 501c3 non-profit organization. Tuition paid enables us to provide scholarships for those in need and allows us to fund new courses and translations of existing courses, and we are able to offer courses at significant discounts.