Do the Gospels of Mark and John have detailed birth narratives?

A:No, there is nothing about the birth of Jesus in either Markor John.

Writing some years before Matthew and Luke were written, theauthor of Mark simply knew nothing about the nativity traditions. John Shelby Spong (Born of a Woman: A Bishop Rethinks the Birth of Jesus) says that in his view, neither birth story, in Matthew and Luke, contains any historical truth. In the case of John's Gospel, which was loosely based on Luke's Gospel, it appears that the author omitted Luke's birth story simply because he did not accept it to be factual.