The beginning...

If we take the opening words of Mark's Gospel to mean something like, "[This is] the beginning of [my account of] the good news of Jesus Christ", it strike he that's a very wierd way to begin a book. Relatively few of the books on my shelves begin:

"This is the beginning of a history of England..."

or

"This is the beginning of a novel set in 1950s New York..."

or whatever.

What might Mark be saying?

That here is God doing something new and decisive.

Perhaps (as with John 1:1) there is an echo of Genesis 1:1's "beginning" (LXX, arhce). The Gospel is about New Creation: new life for individuals and for the cosmos.

Also,

There’s an inscription from 29BC about the birth of the Emperor Augustus that says:

“the birthday of the god [i.e. Augustus] marked for the world the beginning of good news [gospel] through his coming.”

Maybe Mark is deliberately echoing those strikingly similar words.

Here’s the beginning of the good news, not about Augustus, but about Jesus.

Mark wants us to know that Jesus, not the Roman Emperor, is the world’s true king!