Mark

Marcus’s massive two-volume commentary is the most consistently stimulating and probably the most original major commentary on Mark. He combines detailed Greek exegesis with an extraordinary command of the Old Testament, Second Temple Judaism, apocalyptic traditions, Greco-Roman literature, narrative criticism and the history of interpretation, and repeatedly brings neglected parallels or fresh possibilities into view. His discussions of Mark’s scriptural world, apocalyptic outlook, transfiguration, passion and enigmatic ending are especially rich. Some reconstructions of Mark’s community, redactional history and intertextual connections strike me as more speculative than the evidence warrants, so I would not follow every proposal. Nevertheless, even when Marcus does not convince, he usually makes the reader notice something important that other commentators have missed. For advanced study of Mark he is indispensable.

This is a brilliant although sometimes idiosyncratic commentary on Mark. Marcus argues that the main motif of the Gospel is the connection between the “way of Yahweh” in Isaiah and the “way of Jesus” in Mark. This New Exodus is acted out as Jesus makes His victorious march to Jerusalem. But, as Isaiah prophesied, “The Servant’s suffering is the divinely appointed means for the realization of the dominion of God.” [Full Review]

 

Arguably the best mainline, non-conservative commentary on Mark. [Full Review]

It was a decade ago (1999) when the first volume (Mark 1–8) of Joel Marcus’s excellent commentary on the Gospel of Mark in the Anchor Bible Series was published. I reviewed it for the Journal of Theological Studies (see JTS 53 [2002]: 191–96). Since then, his second and final volume has been eagerly anticipated. In these intervening ten years, the Markan commentary industry has been in full production, with English-, French-, and German-language commentaries being published at the rate of almost one a year (e.g., those by É. Trocmé, É. Cuvillier, J. R. Donahue and D. J. Harrington, J. R. Edwards, R. T. France, F. J. Moloney, C. Focant, C. S. Rodd, L. Schenke, M. E. Boring). Given the competition, then, as well as the dedication, perseverance, consistency, and informed scholarship that such a long-term project entails, it is a great pleasure to report that this concluding volume by Marcus, now Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Duke Divinity School, lives up to all expectations, preserves its place as one of the foremost English-language commentaries on this fascinating but enigmatic Gospel, and commendably carries forward the aims of the prestigious series in which it appears. Under the wing of Yale University Press since 2007, and with John J. Collins as general editor, the Anchor Yale Bible series seeks to bring the most recent biblical scholarship to as wide an audience as possible, and academics, pastors, and general readers are unlikely to be disappointed with this, the latest volume in the series. [Full Review]

[Full Review]