Abingdon New Testament Commentaries: Mark

Mark's genius lies, not in telling a story about Jesus, but in creating conditions under which the reader may experience the peculiar quality of God's good news. The Evangelist hurries one along breathlessly, "immediately," making sure that the reader lurches with the characters into one pothole after another. "What is this new teaching" that consorts with the flagrantly sinful, turning the pious homicidal, intimates into strangers, and mustard seeds into "the greatest of all ... shrubs"? Jesus' closest adherents, the Twelve, are among the most muddled. Who can blame them? They ask for an obscure parable's interpretation and receive an answer even more confounding. They are told to feed thousands with next to nothing. Their boat almost capsizes while their teacher sleeps. As they oar in rough waters, the teacher strides the waves intending to bypass them. Putting the reader in the same boat, Mark structures conversations with Jesus that make little sense, if any. The Twelve are craven, stupid, self-serving, and disobedient: meet the average Christian. Besides, "their hearts were hardened." Who hardens hearts? God. Should not God's Messiah lift the burdens of those following him? What kind of Christ heads to a cross, handing his disciples another for themselves. "Do you not yet understand?" from the Introduction

Author: C. Clifton Black
Publisher: Abingdon Press
Published: 10/01/2011
Pages: 408
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780687058419

About the Author
Black, C. Clifton: - C. Clifton Black is Otto A. Piper Professor of Biblical Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He is a contributor to the New Interpreters Bible, and is the author of the volume on Mark in the Abingdon New Testament Commentary Series.Perkins, Pheme: - Pheme Perkins is a professor in the Theology Department at Boston College, specializing Johannine materials, Paulline Epistles and Gnosticism. She is a member of and leader in several professional organizations, including the Society of Biblical Literature, the Catholic Bible Association, the Society of New Testament Studies, and the Association of Theological Schools. Recent publications include: Gnosticism and the New Testament (Fortress Press), Peter: Apostle for the Whole Church (Fortress Press), Ephesians: Abingdon New Testament Commentary (Abingdon Press), Abraham's Divided Children: Galatians and the Politics of Faith (Trinity Press International).Robbins, Vernon: - Emory University
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