Originally delivered as one of the Jowett Lectures for 1906, the contents of this booklet emerged during the first quest for the historical Jesus. Somewhat surprisingly, Burkitt discovered that historical criticism increased the historical credibility of the Synoptic Gospels in his estimation. This first lecture in the series addresses the literary originality of the Gospel of Mark . Here Burkitt surveys the priority of Mark , the shared Synoptic material, and the literary unique sections of Mark .