The Message of Mark

The Bible Speaks Today: New Testament

by Donald English

The fast-paced vitality of Mark's narrative of Jesus wins the hearts of modern readers on its own terms. (No small achievement for a Greco-Roman biogragraphy of an ancient sage.) And like any great story, it unveils its meaning to those who listen attentively, who inquire patiently and who brood on its meaning and significance. Donald English has lived with Mark's story for a long time. He has now written a wise, welcoming and nontechnical guide to the narrative and the message of this smallest of the four Gospels. Whether gazing over the Evangelist's shoulder, or taking the actor's stance or adopting the audience's perspective, he writes as one who loves and understands the story. And he writes as one who has a passion to help others appreciate Mark's portrait of Jesus--Son of Man and Son of God.

Genres: Reference, Christian, Theology, Biblical

Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Shaun Marksbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great commentary.

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent book on the gospel of Mark. It wasn't as good as the first one I read, but certainly engaging. The strong points of the book are its brevity and the many points of wisdom he has drawn from the text. He is a very fair-minded, even-handed author who is not prone to theological extremes on either side. What the author's theological persuasion is I am unsure, but I am quite positive he is a conservative Armenian based on numerous passages in the book. That was a refreshing highlight.

The weaker part of the book was the cohesion of things. In his practical advice he did not always see fit to tie together the the pieces of the gospel into a unified theme. Presuming that Mark has a theme, it would be difficult to extricate it from the author's notes. I happen to think it is important to make clear the message of the book and to reinforce it often.

Outside of that it was a good book. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but I wouldn't discourage anyone from reading it either.

[Andrzej Stelmasiak · Rating 1 out of 5]

On the whole I find the BST series helpful, but I gave up on reading this one. How can one get from Jesus being in the wilderness with the wild animals to a command for us to care for creation within one sentence, with no prior warnings given.
Reading 10-12 pages only to find one sentence helpful, well, I cannot justify spending that amount of time on reading something which barely helps.
if you're looking for a short work which is much more helpful, then try Michael Wilcock or RT France's entry in The People's Bible Commentary.

[Matt Tyler · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually like to have a short commentary I can read through to prepare for deeper study. This series is one of my go to.

This book is okay, but I didn’t find it as helpful as others in the same series.

[Nick Roark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay

[Lh Sanga · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book

[David Cowpar · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very good expositional commentary on the Gospel of Mark.

A number of years ago the Christian Union I was involved with in Cork were involved in IFES Ireland's Free Gospel Project, which was based around the Gospel of Mark.
We did Bible studies for Christians (one on each chapter) and also for seekers (not one on each chapter).

In all that time the idea that Mark may have been writing to let us know what it means to be a disciple was never discussed. We struggled with why Jesus had people remain silent and, at random times, such as with Legion, He allows people to tell of Him.

This commentary, and Donald English of course, hit the nail on the head when he discusses the different reasons Jesus allowed Himself to be fully revealed.

I think this is a wonderful commentary, and besides for chapter 8 being covered a little sparsely, which is surprising considering a lot of what English draws from the text is what it would mean for disciples in Jesus' day, Mark's day and our day. That chapter has Peter reveal Jesus as the Christ and Jesus first speak of His suffering and tells others to follow Him they have to take up their cross.

Discipleship as one of the key elements in Mark is just inspired.

[Xing Yi Ngiam · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are good analyses of the text, but it can get more confusing than helpful at times. It's also greatly lacking in helping the reader to understand the Markan Sandwiches, which is key to this gospel.

[Jonathan]

None

[Danmcgohan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of "The Bible Speaks Today" series. Narrative of the Book of Mark.The least favorite of the Gospels. Shortest Gospel. Some information of the Gospel not previously known.