Connecting with the History and Culture of the Gospel of Mark 1:1-8 The Bible is an ancient book. It’s been translated into English so we can read it well enough. But reading it doesn’t mean we understand it. We need to do historical background research for any book that’s been around for hundreds of years. The goal is to understand the manners, customs and geography of the time when the book was written. This is true for Greek literature by Homer, English literature by Shakespeare or the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Bible. [Tweet “Historical background research explains manners and customs ...