Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to evaluate the article by Richard Bauckham, in which he
challenges the current consensus in New Testament scholarship that the gospels
were written for and addressed to specific believing communities. The thesis that
Bauckham puts forward is that the gospels were written with the intention of being
circulated as widely as possible - it was written for every Christian community of
the late first century where the gospels might circulate. First, a Wirkungsgeschichte
of Mark's gospel in terms of the possible localities of origin and the possible theological intentions for writing the Gospel, that is, of the results of the
current consensus in New Testament scholarship, is given. Bauckham's theory is
then put on the table and evaluated.
