Mark: The Servant King

Reading the Bible Today Series

by Paul Barnett

Mark is the shortest of the Gospels and the most action-filled. Paul Barnett's explanation of it helps readers to understand the world of Jesus more clearly and to respond to his claims on their lives with greater energy.

Genres: Biblical Studies, Christian

283 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Paul Barnett, former Anglican Bishop of North Sydney, Australia, is a Visiting Fellow in Ancient History at Macquarie University and Teaching Fellow at Regent College, Vancouver and Moore College, Sydney. He is a frequent traveler to Israel, where Christianity began, and to Turkey and Greece, to which it rapidly spread.

Reviews

[Bill Forgeard · Rating 4 out of 5]

A readable, non-technical, concise commentary on Mark. For our church's preaching series on Mark, the preachers have referred to this (alongside the more technical commentaries) and all the small group Bible study leaders have used this week by week to aid their preparation -- it's ideal for this purpose. Paul Barnett has written various academic commentaries in other series, so he is well qualified. I'm impressed by the way be distills thorough knowledge of the text into a very readable form, without missing too much of importance. He moves through the passages with an overview style, pausing to comment on significant issues. The questions at the end of each chapters are helpful for small group study, although probably not practical enough to be used on their own. A great balance of accessibility and thoroughness.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Barnett's commentary on Mark is more than just a commentary. It a good read as well. The chapters are broken up into nice chunks and filled with helpful information on the original Greek as well as historical and cultural background. Barnett is very good at reminding the reader of the general themes that are carried through Mark, bringing out significance in the context of the book and in the bible as a whole. The questions at the end of each chapter are actually really helpful (so many books with questions are just pointless) and it will be great to turn back to whenever I study Mark in the future.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to study deeper into Mark. Very good, will buy more books in this series.

[Glenn Crouch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I must say I am always partial to an Aussie Author - and I have enjoyed many of Paul Barnett other works - so probably no surprise that I found his commentary on Mark to my liking.

This is a good coverage of Mark and I recommend it for use in Bible Study - both personal and small group. The Author has many good insights and at just under 300 pages is not a bad length for an introductory level commentary.

I find Barnett very easy to read - and useful in Sermon Prep :)