Loosing the Lion: Proclaiming the Gospel of Mark

by Leroy A. Huizenga

Drama. Irony. Betrayal. Miracles. A holy war with the whole world at stake. And it's all packed into the shortest of the four Gospels. Written in an engaging, lively, oral style, Loosing the Lion tells us how, despite being misunderstood and neglected throughout most of history, the Gospel of Mark has recently been experiencing a scholarly revival. Theologians are beginning to see how it is actually an intense, wild, impossible story told at a breakneck pace with twists and turns that shock and surprise those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Readers will be captivated by the Gospel's literary brilliance, which brings us to the threshold of an encounter with the living Jesus, who reveals his mysteries, and ultimately himself, to those who approach him and dwell in his presence. And when we do encounter him, "The proper response is repentance, joining God's army to be liberated, and once liberated, advancing the liberation of the whole cosmos, which, ultimately, is the content of the Gospel Jesus calls us to believe in. Liberation is coming. Join the resistance "

326 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2017

Reviews

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The shortest of the four Gospels is The Gospel According to Mark, weighing in at a "mere" sixteen chapters. However, don't let that short length fool you. It packs just as much a punch as the other three, if not more, due to the urgency of the way its message is delivered. With the current Liturgical Year being Year B, the Catholic Church's Sunday Gospels are read primarily from The Gospel According to Mark. That made this the perfect year for Emmaus Road Publishing to release the book Loosing the Lion: Proclaiming the Gospel of Mark. The book is divided into three main parts - Preaching the Gospel of Mark, The Gospel of Mark in the Lectionary, and Resources for Further Study. Since we all know what type of content is in Part Three, I would like to focus solely on the first two parts in this review.

Part One begins by talking about the modern age and how we have grown numb in a post-Christian culture. There is also the problem of accommodation and moralism. We try too hard to make the Gospel approachable, but in doing so, we lose the beauty of it. This leads to how pastors should preach the Gospel using the fourfold sense method, which involves literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical. This method is designed to make saints and gives us the true story of salvation history. Dr. Leroy Huizenga goes on to suggest that The Gospel According to Mark is "an ancient biography, an index of Jesus, and a sacramental narrative icon." Lastly, Part One provides us with a brief summary of Mark's Gospel, which includes how it was written and the theological themes and motifs the author used. Part Two is the meat of this book, and is broken into eight thematic chapters that walk us through the entire book of Mark. What I found most helpful in Part Two was the Table of Contents. Each section of Scripture tells us the day and week of the Liturgical Calendar where this section of the Gospel is read.

One could argue that this book is merely a commentary on The Gospel According to Mark, and while it is that, it is so much more than that. Dr. Huizenga goes into such great detail on each section of Mark, but does so in an approachable way. There are times you read through this book and you have to go back and read what you just read, but that is because you are not used to reading Mark this way. However, on a second reading of the text, the message clicks and makes sense. There are two ways you can read this book, and I'd honestly recommend both ways. The first is to read through the book cover to cover, thus reading through Mark from beginning to end. The second way is to follow along with the Liturgical Calendar. This way will require some skipping around of chapters and sections, but if you are in Year B, I honestly think it is a great way to read this book. This book offered me a lot of thought-provoking insight into Mark's Gospel and caused me to slow down reading and appreciate the words in a way I have never done before. I highly recommend this book.

[Patrick O'Hannigan · Rating 5 out of 5]

My late father had the habit of highlighting favorite passages in the books he read, often more than once, so that a forensic look at anything in his personal library might reveal re-readings in approximately the same way that rings in a tree trunk are markers for the tree's age.

Dad did not pass that habit down to me, but this book might just tip me into the highlighter camp. Right now, my copy of Loosing the Lion has checkmarks in the margins every 4 pages or so.

I'm no theologian; I'm just an attentive Christian layman convinced that learning more about my religious faith is a worthwhile endeavor. Huizenga's tour of the shortest and least-known of the four gospels taught me a lot.

Huizinga repeats himself a few times. In one or two places where he talked about "Markan sandwiches," I rolled my eyes (the phrase describes a literary device, not a deli recipe, but still...). Last but not least on the "coulda been a contenduh" side of the ledger, I'm not as convinced as Huizinga is that the Roman centurion's confession of faith after the crucifixion was sarcastic.

But I can't be all that critical of yeoman work by a refreshingly accessible academic who is passionate about important subjects -- and it doesn't get any bigger or better than salvation through Jesus, which of course is what each of the gospel writers was pointing at, none more dramatically than Mark.

This paragraph from near the end of the book is a fair approximation of Dr. Huizinga's tone throughout the work:

"Men and women will fail, but God will not. And for Mark, God is the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is not merely some static triune substance above the skies, an object of intellectual assent and theological reflection. For Mark, God is on the loose. At the Baptism of Our Lord, the Holy Spirit busted out of heaven through the tear in the cosmic fabric. At the crucifixion of Our Lord, the Father busted out of the Temple's Holy of Holies through the tear in the veil's fabric. And, at the Resurrection of Our Lord, the Son busted out of the tomb, raised by the Father in the power of the Spirit."

I warmly recommend Loosing the Lion to any Christian who wants a better-informed faith, or takes the exhortation in 1 Peter 3:15 seriously ("...be ready always to satisfy everyone that asks you a reason for the hope that is in you").

This is nonfiction reading that you'll want to revisit over time.

[Robert Hearnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed much of this book, and it is very conveniently set up for preachers by following the current lectionary, but there were certain aspects that I did not like. Huizenga occasionally gets up on soapboxes in the text, and I found myself asking, "Could we get back to the Gospel or Mark?" Examples would be how he felt about Amoris Laetitia or how it is sinful to predict the end of the world. Lastly, there were just a couple things I didn't agree with, such as his belief that the centurion's words concerning the crucified Christ were sarcastic.

I still enjoyed this book, and I look forward to having it as an aid in the future, but 3 stars.

[Jessica Foley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting this to be a smoother read from cover to cover. There's more repetition than I would have preferred, perhaps because Huizenga intends it more to be used as a reference book for pastors/homilists.

[Shane Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb literary and theological analysis.

[Cindy Engelkamp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend.

Most highlighted book I have ever read! It totally brought the Gospel of Mark to life. Highly recommend reading it.

[José Armando Leyva Martínez · Rating 5 out of 5]

The very best book that I've ever read about the Gospel of Mark in my life!!