Customer Reviews:
Very Readable, if just a tad speculative. No Translation.......2007-03-26
I find it truly amazing that there is still so much lively discussion about a Gospel of the New Testament which has been a cornerstone of Christian faith for almost 2000 years; however, the more I study New Testament exegesis, the less I'm surprised. The thing that makes the dialogue over The Gospel of Mark special is not Romans' deep theological arguments. Martin Luther, for example, in his 55 volumes of works translated into English barely mentions the Gospel, while doing an entire commentary on the Gospel of John.
The primary interest lies in the fact that less than 200 years ago, the basic opinions on dating Mark changed from its being considered a copy of Matthew to being an earlier source of both Matthew and Luke. This lively discussion was enriched even further by exegesis in the last 50 years, with the founding of `redactive' analysis by Marxson in Germany.
I've surveyed five different exegeses of Mark and have found much common ground, but also many differences, lying primarily in the translations and in the extent to which they address the history of commentary on Mark. Even though some of the volumes deal much more deeply with previous scholarship than others, all limit themselves to work done in the 20th century, and even to work done in the last 50 years. One thing I must say that although there are important differences, all of these volumes represent sound work at the deepest levels of scholarship. Some are more suitable for pastoral use than others, but none are `lightweights'.
The six volumes I surveyed follow:
`The Gospel According to Mark', William L. Lane, 1974, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., `The New International Commentary on the New Testament' Series.
`Mark 1-8:26', Robert A. Guelich, 1989, Nelson Reference & Electronic, `Word Bible Commentary' Series based on the author's own translation.
`Mark 8:27-16:20', Craig A. Evans, 2001, Nelson Reference & Electronic, `Word Bible Commentary' Series based on the author's own translation.
`The Gospel of Mark', Pheme Perkins, 1995, in Volume VIII of The New Interpreter's Bible with side by side NIV and NSRV translations.
`The Gospel of Mark', R. T. France, 2002, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., The New International Greek Testament Commentary Series.
`The Gospel According to Mark', James R. Edwards, 2002, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., `The Pillar New Testament Commentary Series'.
After having read commentary volumes from most of these series on both The Epistle to the Romans and The Epistle of James, I find a lot of consistency across volumes in the same series, so if you become comfortable with the way that `The New Interpreter's Bible ` approaches things, then you are probably on solid ground if you continue with that source, especially if you invested some big bucks in the complete 12 volume set (or there is a set available in your library's reference section, as it has appeared in every library I have visited).
`The New International Commentary on the New Testament' may be the weakest of the five series, as all it's volumes use the `American Standard Version' translation of 1901, considered to be a very literal rendering of the Greek text. While I like this over the NRSV's `politically correct' translations here and there, I suspect the newer NIV may be more up to date on the latest scholarship, especially, as I said, there has been so much done over the last 50 years. William Lane's volume in particular is nicely done, especially since it relegates a lot of the details to footnotes, so you can skip a lot of the lexical stuff.
The two volumes from the `Word Bible Commentary' series by Guelich and Evans should be your first choice if you are especially interested in the literature from the last 50 years, as their bibliographies are superb. While they are also quite deep, they nicely separate the material one wants for pastoral work from the linguistic analyses. It also represents by far the largest and most detailed work of the five. Professor Evans took over work on the second volume after Professor Guelich's death, and much of the material is based on notes from Guelich. I also like these authors' outline, as it simply deals with all the individual pericopes, and does not incorporate any speculative hypotheses about what author John Mark had in mind as he wrote.
`The Gospel of Mark' by Pheme Perkins in Volume VIII of The New Interpreter's Bible may be my least favorite; however, it may be the best option for pastoral users. It raises the fewest questions and presents two of the very best modern translations (NIV and NSRV) side by side. It also offers excellent reflections on the theological use of the paragraphs.
`The Gospel of Mark', R. T. France in `The New International Greek Testament Commentary Series' is also near the bottom of my list, as the volume offers no translation of the text on which it is commenting. While this is actually a plus for many readers, it also makes a point of not offering a lot of commentary on other interpreters' writings, even though it does have a lot to say on other writers' opinions on the structure of `Mark'.
`The Gospel According to Mark' by James R. Edwards in `The Pillar New Testament Commentary Series' is a step down from the quality of Douglas Moo's commentary on James in the same series. And, unlike Moo, Edwards offers no translation. He also seems to have the most speculations about the intentions of author Mark in pointing out irony and structural details. Edwards and France may be the two most enjoyable to read; however I suggest you buffer your reading of these authors with copies of Guelich and Evans at your elbow.
Guelich and Evans together is my favorite for serious study. France and Edwards may be the best modern introductions, if you don't mind having a copy of the Gospel open to follow their commentary.
Excellent Commentary but What Happened to Inerrancy?.......2007-01-29
It may be hard to find a better commentary on Mark. The writer is extremely well-informed and he shares his learning without wasting words. Edwards obviously loves Mark's gospel, taking on all detractors and defending Mark's historicity. In fact he is so zealous about Mark's reliability he seems to show little hesitation about making the other gospels look inferior in comparison.
Some of this one-sided comparison is ok. Many of today's scholars believe Mark is the earliest gospel and the other Synoptic gospels are partially dependent on it for source material. That's alright. But if you read this commentary carefully, soon it might dawn on you that the writer sees the other gospels in a way conservative evangelicals should not.
The problem reaches a climax in Mark 14, the episode of Jesus' arrest where the ear of the high priest's servant was severed. John 18:10 names the attacker as Peter but Edwards considers this to be nothing more than unreliable "later tradition". Let me quote from the commentary (pp 438-439):
"Later tradition identified Peter as the sword-wielding assailant, but this is not as certain as is often assumed, for Mark attributes the deed not to a disciple but "to one of those standing near". This same phrase will appear in vv 69-70, where it obviously does not refer to disciples. It is far more likely that the arrest squad, and not the disciples, were armed with swords. Indeed, if the assailant were a disciple we should expect an arrest to follow. But no arrest follows, which at least suggests that the severed ear fell from the misguided valor of a henchman rather than of a disciple or Peter. Peter, of course, figures prominently in the events of chap. 14 and is likely Mark's source of much of it. If Peter were the assailant, it would be surprising for him to conceal his name here and include it in the much more discriminating denial scene."
With this, not only does the writer make John's account unhistorical but Luke is affected as well. By saying that "It is far more likely that the arrest squad, and not the disciples, were armed with swords", Luke 22:38's account of the disciples being armed with two swords before Gethsemane becomes a "far less likely" record.
Further, in a footnote on pg 438, Edwards writes:
"A comparison of the account of the arrest in the Gospels shows how some details were heightened in the retelling. Mark, the earliest evangelist, says simply that "one of those standing near" drew his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest's servant. Somewhat later Matt 26:51 sharpens the designation to "one of Jesus' companions". Later still, Luke 22:50 identifies the servant's wound as "the right ear"; and near the close of the first century John 18:10 identifies the swordsman as Peter and gives the servant's name as Malchus!"
In Edwards' mind, as time passes the writing of the gospel becomes less historically accurate as human embellishments are woven in.
If you are an evangelical whose faith in the inspiration and infallibilty of Scripture is strong, this book will do you good. Edwards loves and honours our Lord and it's infectious. But if you are currently engaged in a war against doubts about the reliabilty of the Bible, this book can careen you off the precipe.
A Good Addition for Your Library.......2006-04-21
Edwards' commentary of Mark clearly comes from an evangelical perspective, though he fully interacts with more liberal views of the first gospel. His archaeological references are very helpful, especially in considering the geography of Mark's gospel. In addition, this commentary will be a great help to pastor/teachers, in that he has some very good homiletical applications and some great one-liners that would be helpful in your sermons. I highly recommend it.
Excellent Prose and commentary.......2005-02-28
This is fine addition to the Pillar Commentary Series. I especially appreciate the introduction to the commentary. The author develops the themes that are nesessary to understand this Gospel. It is rewarding to work through the Biblical Story. Edwards is a lucid writer who communicates important Biblical cuture insights to his audience. I love to use it while preparing to teach on Mark especially to Jr. High and High school students. He helps fill the questions around the 1st centery church. I find it an important tool in Bible study.
a wonderful commentary.......2003-06-20
This is a fantastic commentary. I'm not usually the motivated type who takes the time to review a book but, I've so enjoyed Mr. Edwards work that I wanted to share my sentiments. Anyone wanting to swim into the deeper waters of Mark's Gospel will enjoy the journey. "Here's to an ever increasing faith!"
Book Description
This book offers the first sustained attempt to read the Gospel of Mark both as an ancient biography and as a form of ancient rhetoric. Ben Witherington applies to Mark the socio-rhetorical approach for which he is well known, opening a fresh new perspective on the earliest Gospel.
Written when the fledging Christian faith was experiencing a major crisis during the Jewish war, Mark provides us with the first window on how the life and teachings of Jesus were presented to a largely non-Jewish audience.
According to Witherington, the structure of Mark demonstrates that this Gospel is biographically focused on the identity of Jesus and the importance of knowing who he is—the Christ, the Son of God. This finding reveals that Christology stood at the heart of the earliest Christians' faith. It also shows how important it was to these earliest Christians to persuade others about the nature of Jesus, both as a historical figure and as the Savior of the world.
Customer Reviews:
One of the Best on Mark.......2007-04-04
This is the way a commentary should be done. Witherington has written a beautiful interpretation of Mark's Gospel that I found particularly helpful for preparing sermons. In my practical experience this is one of the better commentaries and belongs on every pastor's shelf. I only wish it were in hardback.
Product Description
Secret Mark first became known to modern scholarship in 1958 when a newly hired assistant professor at Columbia University in New York by the name of Morton Smith visited the monastery of Mar Saba near Jerusalem and photographed its fragments. Secret Mark was announced on the heels of many spectacular discoveries of ancient manuscripts in the Near East, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi gnostic corpus in the late 1940s, and promised to be just as revolutionary. Secret Mark presents what appears to be a valuable, albeit fragmentary, witness to early Christian traditions, traditions that might shed light on Jesus's most intimate behavior. In this book, Stephen C. Carlson uses state of the art science to demonstrate that Secret Mark was an elaborate hoax created by Morton Smith. Carlson's discussion places Smith s trick alongside many other hoaxes before probing the reasons why so many scholars have been taken in by it.
Customer Reviews:
God this book bored me to tears.......2007-07-22
I love detective novels about forged books, my all time favorite being, "An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth-Century Pamphlets", by John Carter, and Graham Pollard. The very best books about forgeries tell you a great deal about books and manuscripts, not just the fraud in question. I had hoped that this book would be in that vein -- cool, dry, utterly objective, facts-only, and absolutely convincing, while at the same time opening up the world of ancient manuscripts and how to reason about them.
Instead it is unconvincing and inflamed in the *weirdest* sort of way. It seems as though Stephen Carlson really wants to settle a score with Morton Smith. I was looking for an exquisitely argued piecing together of a puzzle. Instead I got a very erudite, very lengthy disquisition bundled up with a huge number of angry neurosies, not all of them Smith's by any means.
I'm not convinced.......2007-06-30
I'm just not convinced. A lot of people seem to have a very strong vested interest in seeing Morton Smith proved wrong. And yet his work passed serious academic scrutiny for decades until -- speaking of "convenient" -- after his death, at which point this guy steps up to indict him as a hoaxer.
"The Secret Gospel" is not Smith's only book-length work of Biblical history. He pursued many of the issues raised by this work in the later "Jesus the Magician," which is a fascinating and persuasive book -- more so, in my opinion, than the earlier volume -- and his arguments and analysis would seem to be valid regardless of the historical status of the "secret" gospel of Mark.
I kind of suspect a different sort of intellectual dishonesty at work here: hardcore Christianists who can't stand their core assumptions being called into question.
The Truth & Proof About The Secret Gospel of Mark.......2007-05-13
Utilizing the little-known presence of word Puzzle-like mosaics called "chiasms," nationally recognized author John Dart painstakingly reconstructs Mark's Gospel in his recent book entitled 'Decoding Mark', showing exactly how the previously removed and concealed sections of the `Secret Gospel' indubitably belong in the original, and identifying sections that were added by a later editor (redactor). Any noteworthy biblical researcher worth their salt should recognize the peculiar presence of an ancient writing device called "chiasms", and educated scholars have proposed a few dozen in the Gospel of Mark alone.
However, veteran commentator John Dart, a popular interpreter of biblical research and word-puzzle militant, reports that Mark contains within its encrypted pages more than 150 chiastic patterns, large and small! The bigger shock is that this concentric mosaic word matrix prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the barely clothed beloved young man affair from the Secret Gospel of Mark discovered by Professor Morton Smith at Mar Saba Monastery in 1958, was indeed a part of the original Gospel of Mark! Another hidden key to the Kingdom presented in Decoding Mark is an editor who deleted the original story and inserted a miracle-laden section that 'Luke' never saw. The Secret Gospel reveals the critically important lost testimonial role played by this rich young man, beloved by Jesus, as the foremost interior joint-hero -along with the risen Christ- of the original narrative core of the Gospel of Mark. This book will lead its readers into the Innermost Sanctuary itself of that Truth, which lays veiled beneath Seven. An absolute must read for any scholar on the Golden Path that leads to lifting the veil of the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.
And he says to me, "Write: Happy are they who have been called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb" ...These are the true words of God.
The Greatest Story Never Told! This book hints of a very controversial story of a long-lost disciple loved by Jesus who stays with him for six days,and on the evening of the seventh day: the young man comes to Him wearing nothing but a linen veil over his naked body for an all-night ceremonial rite where Jesus teaches him the Secret Mystery of the Kingdom of God. Dart's book details how this is by far an integral part to the original version of the Gospel of Mark.
Author John Dart (Los Angeles Times, Christian Century), is a popular interpreter of biblical research and incorporates his intrinsic bible-decoding skills astonishingly making a solidified case that the ancient writing device known as 'chiasmus' sets the hacked story neatly back into the earliest version of the oldest biblical gospel, where it comes to rest... beautifully illuminating a rather evocative account of Jesus and a young man.
Moreover, when placed back in Mark 10:46a: "Then they come to Jericho," and 10:46b: "As he was leaving Jericho..." the place where Clement of Alexandria indicates these secret fragments occured, it fills a well-known lacuna in the Markan narrative.
This young man seems to play a rather important, yet veiled, role in Mark. Most notably, his reappearance in the empty tomb announcing 'He is not here, He has risen!'(Mk 16:5)suggest that this secret story of this young man's own ressurection served to foreshadow Jesus'.
And the Scripture was fulfilled which says:
'His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a Rich Man in His death, Because he had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in his mouth' [Is.53:9]....but that all the Writings may be fulfilled:
"And having left Him they all fled; and a certain young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his naked body, and the young men lay hold on him, and he, having left the cloth behind, did flee from them naked."
[Mark 14:50-52] Only to return and follow the Lamb wherever He goes [Rev. 14:4]. Thus, Simon Peter was following Jesus, and another disciple[Jon 18:15]. Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following; the one who laying back on His bosom at the Supper and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" [Jon. 21:20]
Jesus said, "Recognize what is in front of your face, and that which is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that won't be revealed, and nothing buried that will not be raised, and there is nothing covered up that will remain unexposed." [GrGospThom 5:1-2; 6:5-6]
The beginning of the Knowledge of the Truth is to Marvel at what is already present, laying this down as the first step toward the Knowledge of the Secret things beyond. This book is crucial proof that 'the Secret Gospel' is NOT a hoax, and never was. Among good scholars, the debates the late Professor Morton Smith's research has initiated are just 'the top of the Ark'; no doubt they will continue for decades to come.
Meanwhile, 'The Secret Gospel' invites readers to peek back behind the veil, and behold the Two Witnesses of the Testimony of God joined One to Another atop the Mercy Seat. Then, and only then, may the 'Secret of the Kingdom of God' be revealed to you; "...yet for those on the outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven." [Mark 4:10]
Jesus said, "After all, there is nothing hidden except to be brought to Light, nor anything kept Secret that won't be exposed. If anyone here has two good ears, use them!"
[Mark 4:22-23]
And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which even if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that were written.
[Jon. 21:25]
Decoding Mark
The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark
A HILARIOUS pack of LIES.......2007-04-04
If Carlson *truly* believed that Secret Mark was a modern forgery, he would simply track down the manuscript and carbon-date the parchment/ink.
However, since he knows it's genuine, (but doesn't fit with his version of Christianity) his only option is embarrass himself with his feeble arguments about how Morton Smith "forged" it: Clement is TOO much like Clement. The Morton Salt theory (hilarious). Etc.
Bottom Line: Don't waste your time or your money.
Morton Smith among the Lilliputians, Part I.......2007-01-23
Given the breathless cover blurbs by Mark Goodacre and Larry Hurtado, one might expect that Stephen Carlson had uncovered some previously unknown and utterly spectacular new manuscript evidence or made a similarly startling scholarly breakthrough on the subject of the Secret Gospel of Mark. Instead, Gospel Hoax is a tendentious, lawyerly daisy chain of micro-arguments that forcibly reminded me of Kierkegaard's complaint about being trampled by geese. Carlson comes to the question of authenticity already convinced that Secret Mark has been falsified and announces in his preface, "Now that I knew what to look for and where to look for it, all I had to do was find it." (xviii) If there is anything axiomatic in New Testament studies, it is that a priori conclusions are always confirmed by "evidence" and Carlson's hoax has become the most recent Exhibit A of this sad fact.
Much of Carlson's evidence for forgery revolves upon the flimsy spindle of handwriting analysis. Mr. Carlson, to the best of my knowledge, has no particular training in paleography or document verification, has never published in this field, nor has his work been vetted by disinterested experts. The inadequacy of this amateur exercise has been thoroughly revealed by Scott Brown in "Factualizing the Folklore: Stephen Carlson's Case Against Morton Smith" in the Harvard Theological Review (99:291, ff).
A close reading of the supposed evidence for forgery shows that Carlson actually negates much of his own argument. The features of supposed forgery cited by Carlson "can be attributed to the writer's age, fatigue, stress level, or other causes for a loss of fine motor control." (26) A further objection which readily comes to mind is the fact that the text in question was copied in a small cursive hand into the end pages of a small book. Did the copyist have the luxury of placing the book on a steady surface, or did he hold it in his lap? Questions of this kind could be multiplied, but there is obviously no way to answer them. Indeed, the apparent strength of Carlson's arguments disappears once it is pointed out that they are, in the final analysis, speculative and can therefore never be either proven or disconfirmed.
A second major claim of this very minor book is that the overweening Smith planted references to himself within the Clement letter to tweak the noses of his fellow academics. Only a very clever person indeed would be able to identify these hidden signatures and Carlson imagines himself to be that very person, a delusion which may account for the smirking, self-congratulatory tone of his writing. The silliness of this project culminates in the identification of a passing mention of salt --"even the salt loses its flavor"-- as a reference to Morton Smith (Morton Smith = Morton Salt). A critique of this bizarre line of argumentation has been written by Kyle Smith (no relation to Morton) of Duke University, "Mixed with Inventions: Salt and Metaphor in Secret Mark" (available online on Wieland Willker's New Testament homepage). Kyle Smith concludes, "...by my reckoning, Carlson is down 0-1."
Naturally Carlson does not fail to raise the non-issue of Smith's sexuality. In point of fact one must wonder if this is part of the reason the book was released by Baylor University Press, the publishing arm of the notoriously homophobic Baylor University which has the dubious distinction of being the world's largest, and no doubt grandest, Baptist school. I supply this bit of information lest the unsuspecting reader assume that Baylor represents a source of reasoned inquiry. The intellectual universe of Baylor University is in fact one of the outer planets of the Bible Belt and closely reflects denominational prejudice and hostility to contrary opinion. On this question the interested reader is referred to Scott Brown's refutation of The Hoax, "The Question of Motive in the Case against Morton Smith," in the Journal of Biblical Literature (125:351,ff)
It is quite ironic that Carlson castigates Smith for cluttering the presentation of his evidence with "historically worthless testimonia" (88) which Carlson has decreed to have no relevance to the authenticity of Secret Mark, but uses up 23 pages (by my count) of his slender volume to expatiate on such subjects as faked artifacts, Piltdown Man, Pfaff's forgery of Irenaeus, the Coleman-Norton agraphon, and how CBS supposedly got it all wrong about George Bush's exit strategy from Vietnam. In Stephen Carlson's parallel universe these wildly disparate subjects apparently have some material bearing on the letter of Clement.
There is little point in cataloging each and every claim made in Gospel Hoax, claims which are already being examined and dismantled on a regular basis. In fact, I predict that Carlson's hoax will catalyze a more sober and thorough examination of the evidence and will in fact result in the publication of additional opinion favoring the authenticity of Secret Mark. Contrary to Carlson's intent, this book has not buried the longer gospel of Mark, but instead helped to raise the whole matter once again. Having served this purpose, the book will be retired to the science fiction section of Christian bookstores.
For those readers in search of intelligent discussions of Secret Mark and the ways in which it may illuminate our understanding of Jesus' life and career, the following are recommended (with some reservations): Crossan's Four Other Gospels: Shadows on the Contours of Canon, Meyer's Secret Gospels: Essays on Thomas and the Secret Gospel of Mark, Brown's Mark's Other Gospel, and my own Jesus the Sorcerer: Exorcist and Prophet of the Apocalypse. Dr. Wieland Willker's home page has an excellent section on the Secret Gospel of Mark with links to a number of important and informative articles.
On cross examination Carlson's Hoax fails in each and every particular argument. In short, it is a painful book to read, but at least the pain is over quickly.
Robert Conner
Customer Reviews:
Excellent resource.......2007-09-17
I found it to be a very thorough exegesis of the text and helpful in seeing the organic structure native to Mark. Worth having and working through.
Excellent ! .......2007-07-13
Simply put- this is an outstanding work on Mark's gospel. This is just a must use study tool for Mark's gospel. Explains and unpacks the meaning of the text, section by section, line by line. Gets both the details and the big picture. One of the best for sure. For serious students of the new testament. this one easily replaces all the other junk I have on Mark. wish I just would have got this in the first place.
Dated, But Still Worth the Effort to Read.......2007-04-04
Scholarship has moved on since this commentary was published. However, do not rush to newer, fancier looking commentaries--quite yet. William Lane has much to teach in this commentary and it is still worth the effort to carefully work through his reflections on Mark's gospel. I have used this commentary regularly in the years that I have been preparing sermons on the gospel of Mark and it has been a trusted and trustworthy companion. This is one of those books that the pastor could purchase and use with benefit to the congregation. I only wish it could be updated a bit.
Excellent Scholarship, but not the most recent Translation.......2007-03-26
I find it truly amazing that there is still so much lively discussion about a Gospel of the New Testament which has been a cornerstone of Christian faith for almost 2000 years; however, the more I study New Testament exegesis, the less I'm surprised. The thing that makes the dialogue over The Gospel of Mark special is not Romans' deep theological arguments. Martin Luther, for example, in his 55 volumes of works translated into English barely mentions the Gospel, while doing an entire commentary on the Gospel of John.
The primary interest lies in the fact that less than 200 years ago, the basic opinions on dating Mark changed from its being considered a copy of Matthew to being an earlier source of both Matthew and Luke. This lively discussion was enriched even further by exegesis in the last 50 years, with the founding of `redactive' analysis by Marxson in Germany.
I've surveyed five different exegeses of Mark and have found much common ground, but also many differences, lying primarily in the translations and in the extent to which they address the history of commentary on Mark. Even though some of the volumes deal much more deeply with previous scholarship than others, all limit themselves to work done in the 20th century, and even to work done in the last 50 years. One thing I must say that although there are important differences, all of these volumes represent sound work at the deepest levels of scholarship. Some are more suitable for pastoral use than others, but none are `lightweights'.
The six volumes I surveyed follow:
`The Gospel According to Mark', William L. Lane, 1974, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., `The New International Commentary on the New Testament' Series.
`Mark 1-8:26', Robert A. Guelich, 1989, Nelson Reference & Electronic, `Word Bible Commentary' Series based on the author's own translation.
`Mark 8:27-16:20', Craig A. Evans, 2001, Nelson Reference & Electronic, `Word Bible Commentary' Series based on the author's own translation.
`The Gospel of Mark', Pheme Perkins, 1995, in Volume VIII of The New Interpreter's Bible with side by side NIV and NSRV translations.
`The Gospel of Mark', R. T. France, 2002, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., The New International Greek Testament Commentary Series.
`The Gospel According to Mark', James R. Edwards, 2002, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., `The Pillar New Testament Commentary Series'.
After having read commentary volumes from most of these series on both The Epistle to the Romans and The Epistle of James, I find a lot of consistency across volumes in the same series, so if you become comfortable with the way that `The New Interpreter's Bible ` approaches things, then you are probably on solid ground if you continue with that source, especially if you invested some big bucks in the complete 12 volume set (or there is a set available in your library's reference section, as it has appeared in every library I have visited).
`The New International Commentary on the New Testament' may be the weakest of the five series, as all it's volumes use the `American Standard Version' translation of 1901, considered to be a very literal rendering of the Greek text. While I like this over the NRSV's `politically correct' translations here and there, I suspect the newer NIV may be more up to date on the latest scholarship, especially, as I said, there has been so much done over the last 50 years. William Lane's volume in particular is nicely done, especially since it relegates a lot of the details to footnotes, so you can skip a lot of the lexical stuff.
The two volumes from the `Word Bible Commentary' series by Guelich and Evans should be your first choice if you are especially interested in the literature from the last 50 years, as their bibliographies are superb. While they are also quite deep, they nicely separate the material one wants for pastoral work from the linguistic analyses. It also represents by far the largest and most detailed work of the five. Professor Evans took over work on the second volume after Professor Guelich's death, and much of the material is based on notes from Guelich. I also like these authors' outline, as it simply deals with all the individual pericopes, and does not incorporate any speculative hypotheses about what author John Mark had in mind as he wrote.
`The Gospel of Mark' by Pheme Perkins in Volume VIII of The New Interpreter's Bible may be my least favorite; however, it may be the best option for pastoral users. It raises the fewest questions and presents two of the very best modern translations (NIV and NSRV) side by side. It also offers excellent reflections on the theological use of the paragraphs.
`The Gospel of Mark', R. T. France in `The New International Greek Testament Commentary Series' is also near the bottom of my list, as the volume offers no translation of the text on which it is commenting. While this is actually a plus for many readers, it also makes a point of not offering a lot of commentary on other interpreters' writings, even though it does have a lot to say on other writers' opinions on the structure of `Mark'.
`The Gospel According to Mark' by James R. Edwards in `The Pillar New Testament Commentary Series' is a step down from the quality of Douglas Moo's commentary on James in the same series. And, unlike Moo, Edwards offers no translation. He also seems to have the most speculations about the intentions of author Mark in pointing out irony and structural details. Edwards and France may be the two most enjoyable to read; however I suggest you buffer your reading of these authors with copies of Guelich and Evans at your elbow.
Guelich and Evans together is my favorite for serious study. France and Edwards may be the best modern introductions, if you don't mind having a copy of the Gospel open to follow their commentary.
Great resource for understanding both content and structure of Mark.......2006-11-10
I, like others in my position, frequently lead group studies of Mark using the inductive bible study method. The gospel of Mark is both rich in content and extremely thoughtful in the arrangement of stories and use of particular language. This commentary does an above average job of treating seriously (1) the content of Jesus words and actions AND (2) the role of Mark at a theological redactor, who was divinely inspired to choose, collate and write the text in such a way as to get his full message across as God intended.
Book Description
The product of a number of years of reflection on the Gospel of Mark, this book explains in a clear and understandable way the contribution that the evangelist has made to the theology of the developing Jesus tradition. Joining forces with those who see Mark as a theologian of some considerable creativity, Dr. Telford emphasizes the importance of context (the historical and the contemporary) and method (the historical-critical approach with insights drawn from the newer literary approaches) for the proper understanding of Mark.
Customer Reviews:
The Theology of W. R. Telford.......2003-03-21
Telford's treatment of the theology of Mark's gospel follows an expected pattern - introduction, theology, place in canon, relevance for today - but seems to entirely miss the point of the series of books of which this one is a part.
Telford's style and format are excellent. He constantly moves in linear progression from one thought to the next, building his arugments and then summarizing where he has just taken the reader before tranisitioning to the next topic. By far he has done a much better job of maintaining focus and coherency than many other writings in this series. And for this reason he gets two stars and not one.
Professor Telford seems to exemplify what Kierkergaard wrote concerning the biblical scholars of his day - that most scholarship is an attempt not to know and understand the NT more intimately but instead to put more and more padding between it and oneself. Telford seems to make all the right arugments concerning Mark's composition, theology and place in the canon and yet seems so far from the message that Mark has to give. It is as if Telford were constructing an enormous jigsaw puzzle but, when completed, didn't care for the picture it created.
Telford's overriding thurst is that Mark's gospel was written to combat what the author saw as errant christologies by replacing it with a Son of God Christology. The use of the secret motif, the debate with the Jewish opponents, and the disciples inability are all supposed to point to this supreme center.
However, I find Telford's construction tedious at best. Assuming that literary criticism and redactional methods (among other tools) enable historical truth, he makes assumptions that I find hard to maintain. The confidence he places in viewing so much of Mark through his christological lens, for example, is found wanting when he makes virtually no effort to explain his preponderance for assuming not only the existence of Q - the hypothetical source that he admits is hypothetical - but also its exact content to the extent that it can be compared with Mark's final product. Furthermore, his insistence on "the historical Jesus" over and against the evangelist's presentation comes across as veiled smugness that anyone would believe such mythic nonsense.
In reality, it is not hard to see why Telford has so little interest is Jesus - historical or otherwise. His specialty is in Christian Origins and he treats the whole of this book as though he were writing the history of the early church. It is utterly apparent that Telford has a strong inclination toward seeing not only a competing Jewish/Gentile Christianity (no doubt reminsicent of Bauer's theory) but to a clash of nearly every early Christian movement with another. His treatment on Mark in the canon is no less than a thorough look at every book in the NT (with little real interest in comparing it with Mark) and how they all compete with one another. Telford is doing Christian Origins in this book!
Finally, his treatment on Mark's relevance for today is laughable. On staff with a church I find his input completely useless. In fact, he hardly refers to the church at all, maintaining that since Mark was written in such an alien environment it has little bearing on today's world. Moving on to the secular world he does little more than ask questions and provide no answer. Does Mark promote or denigrate women? Well, we don't know. Does Mark promote anti-Semitism? Well, who's to say? Does Mark promote non-violent resistance? Too hard to tell. It is clear that Telford has no interest in Mark's message at all apart from what it can tell him about the schematization of early Christianity.
In the end it is clear that the academy's insights to church documents provide little in the way of help to the church itself when the academy is indifferent (or hostile) to the message of the church. As should be clear, I would not suggest this book and will only keep it to have a complete collection of the New Testament Theology series which as otherwise proved very good overall so far.
Customer Reviews:
Christ.......2007-09-30
This is a book that is easy to read and puts forth information in a clear manner. The pictures and charts help to make the process of gaining knowledge easier and more colorful. I especially enjoy the facts that are pointed out about certain passages. If you want to take a closer look at Christ's life I would recommend this book to you. If you are wanting to take a scholarly look at Christ's life this would be a great starting point for you as well.
Salt and Light
Silver
Best Evangelical treatment on the Gospels.......2007-07-09
Having personally taught the Gospels at the Christian college level, I obviously have had to look over a number of appropriate texts before choosing only one to assign my students. Well, starting with the next time I teach the Gospels, I now have a new book to assign. Mark Strauss does an excellent job in Four Portraits, covering the important issues related to the Gospels. His writing style is smooth, lacking an "Ivory Tower" feel that could easily alienate potential learners, yet it is obvious throughout that Dr. Strauss is no academic slouch. Definitions are readily provided to new terms that are bold-faced, as he assumes nothing when it comes to the language of the New Testament. Even lay-learners outside the classroom setting would benefit greatly from this book--of course, an educational institution is not a requirement for reading and learning!
One thing that will be enjoyable for the reader is that this is a user-friendly book; it has plenty of fascinating pictures, charts, and short blurbs that will help keep the interest of even the most disinterested person. His charts (labeled "figures" in the book) are outstanding; he and the publisher worked very well together to produce some visual-learner tools that will be meaningful, even when the text hasn't been fully read or comprehended.
While Strauss obviously comes from an Evangelical position and shares his opinions throughout, there is not a feel that he is being overly dogmatic. He presents all sides of the issues in a very objective way. Several times I would have liked him to have been more opinionated. (For instance, he declines to give his final opinion for the dating of the individual gospels.) But perhaps this aspect should be considered a strength. Too often writers of overview books share too much of their opinions and end up creating straw men fallacies and biased information when they explain the viewpoints contrary to their own.
In addition, it is apparent that Dr. Strauss is a good educator, as he uses educational tools to make sure the reader understands each chapter. There are overviews and objectives at the beginning of each chapter, and he concludes with summary bullet points, key terms (maybe definitions for these terms could be included in future editions?--though I can see value in assigning students to write out the definitions themselves), and discussion and study questions. (The questions would make for an easy-to-assign task, especially if the professor is assigning two chapters a week for a quarter, as there are 20 total chapters--very convenient!) Each chapter also includes a bibliography of layperson's sources as well as more scholarly sources.
Whether a reader is liberal or conservative, there would be great benefit in using this book to overview the gospels. I encourage college and seminary professors to consider using this text for their classrooms, as I believe the students will learn to love this text. And, finally, I conclude by saying that Dr. Strauss should continue his good work and produce a similar book on the rest of the New Testament, because what he has done here will be useful for many years to come!
Excellent textbook!!! Intelligent and informed !.......2007-04-13
This 500+ page textbook on Jesus and the gospels is superb! Deals with the four written gospel accounts of Jesus in the new testament; their literary genre, date of composition, themes, historical context, development and more! Also covers historical Jesus studies; the various "quests" for the historical Jesus, methods for studying Jesus, results, etc. The main themes of Jesus' meaning and teachings are covered as well; his teaching on the law for instance, the miracles of Jesus, the purpose of Jesus in bringing about the Kingdom of God and salvation from sin, the resurrection of Jesus and more. This book is loaded with information, up to date, it is very clearly written, and very useful in it's format. The table of contents are laid out quite well. Comes from a conservative perspective, but not a fundamentalist one by any means, this work interacts with many perspectives and embraces a cautious but open use of historical criticism. Also, this book does a fine job of understanding Jesus in his historical and cultural context!Just a superb new textbook on the subject for educating oneself in Jesus and the gospels studies! Comes with recommendations by some top New Test. scholars; Dr.'s R.T. France, Craig Keener and Frank Thielman. Thanks Dr. Strauss for this useful and fine work!
Average customer rating:
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The Beginning of the Gospel: Probings of Mark in Context
Adela Yarbro Collins
Manufacturer: Fortress Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 New Testament
| Commentaries
| Reference
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
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New Testament
| Criticism & Interpretation
| Reference
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
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General
| Reference
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
New Testament
| Bibles
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
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General
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
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General
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ASIN: 0800626222 |
Customer Reviews:
First-rate scholarship.......2007-03-21
Iverson has added a first-rate work to the growing corpus of Markan scholarship with this fine release from T & T Clark. His focus on "gentile inclusion" helps mark the parameters by which the first readers would have seen fit to welcome non-Jews into The Way. Especially welcome is Iverson's in-depth usage of Greek grammar and syntax, his critical interaction with the other major Markan texts, and his conservative, sometimes cautious, approach. Iverson never plays fast and loose with the Second Gospel, instead treating it with the academic respect it deserves as both a literary endeavor and a life-changing story of the spreading "good news." All Markan scholars, make that all NT scholars, will be glad they added this fresh work to their biblical libraries.
Books:
- The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus
- The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus
- The Illustrated World's Religions: Guide to Our Wisdom Traditions, A
- The Indian Way: An Introduction to the Philosophies & Religions of India (2nd Edition)
- The Inspired Aquarium: Ideas and Instruction for Living with Aquariums
- The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
- The Man Who Heard Voices: Or, How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairy Tale
- The Meditative Mind
- The Osha: Secrets of the Yoruba-Lucumi-Santeria Religion in the United States and the Americas : Initiation, Rituals, Ceremonies, Orishas, Divination, Plants, s
- The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict
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The Gospel of Mark: New International Commentary on the Greek Testament (New International Greek Testament Commentary)
The Gospel According to Mark: The English Text With Introduction, Exposition, and Notes (New International Commentary on New Test)
The Letters to the Thessalonians (Pillar New Testament Commentary)
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The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary
