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Ben Witherington
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The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary Paperback – January 8, 2001

by Ben Witherington III (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 36 ratings
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This book offers the first sustained attempt to read the Gospel of Mark both as an ancient biography and as a form of ancient rhetoric. Ben Witherington applies to Mark the socio-rhetorical approach for which he is well known, opening a fresh new perspective on the earliest Gospel.

Written when the fledging Christian faith was experiencing a major crisis during the Jewish war, Mark provides us with the first window on how the life and teachings of Jesus were presented to a largely non-Jewish audience.

According to Witherington, the structure of Mark demonstrates that this Gospel is biographically focused on the identity of Jesus and the importance of knowing who he is--the Christ, the Son of God. This finding reveals that Christology stood at the heart of the earliest Christians' faith. It also shows how important it was to these earliest Christians to persuade others about the nature of Jesus, both as a historical figure and as the Savior of the world.
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  1. Print length
    487 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
  4. Publication date
    January 8, 2001
  5. Dimensions
    6.14 x 1.03 x 9.21 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0802845037
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0802845030
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Religious Studies Review
"Witherington intersperses homiletic asides within the flow of a clear, scientific treatise. . . His work deserves wide circulation."

Mark Allan Powell
"An impressive, reliable, and often surprising commentary on the Gospel of Mark."

About the Author

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Ben Witherington

Ben Witherington

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Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies.

Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt.

Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website.

Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
36 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Narrowminded1
5.0 out of 5 stars The Historical Jesus Magnified!
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2012
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As always, Witherington's easy-to-follow writing style makes reading Bible commentaries fun and exciting. Before reading this, my opinion of the Gospel of Mark was uh...okay, only a less detailed version of Matthew and Luke. Witherington brings out the rhetorical function and purpose of Mark/Peter, and demonstrates how the Greek text describes Jesus as a radical and even emotional teacher who stirred the hearts of His listeners. Mark especially, is very critical of Jesus' disciples' lack of understanding and the Messianic Secret is kept until the very end in its fulness. I like how Witherington suggests that after 16:8, it is likely that the end of the scroll had rubbed off and was unreadable, and that later redactors summarized the end according to tradition (I still wish Witherington would have commented on 16:9-20, just for kicks). BWIII also does an excellent job against the critics who doubt Markan authorship or even early authorship. Mark was written in a primitive Greek (obviously not the first language of the author), and why would a psuedo-author use an ambiguous person like Mark as a title? In short, this is a must-have commentary for the student/teacher of the Gospels.
7 people found this helpful
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Mercy Vineyard
5.0 out of 5 stars Text and Kindle formatting are great
Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2014
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The text is academic without being wooden, and the Kindle table of contents allows me to skip directly to the sections I am preaching on. Thanks!
3 people found this helpful
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jamie
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2018
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I found this to be a very helpful resource for teaching through Mark.
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Dr. Z
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2018
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Excellent book by Dr. Witherington
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David VanDomelen
5.0 out of 5 stars I love every page!
Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2014
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The scriptures are so important to have a good knowledge of, especially as a Jesus follower! This commentary is solid!
One person found this helpful
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Rio Betz Parfrey
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2016
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Great book.
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Andy
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2015
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great book
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Mrjdobbs
4.0 out of 5 stars Big words. Obscure sources, but great content
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2014
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Don't care for having to have a dictionary next to me as I read a book, but even though it reads that way there is still a lot of great information to glean from this commentary.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Doug Barnett
5.0 out of 5 stars Deals with Greek text in light of culture
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2018
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Excellent cometary on Gospel
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K McKee
5.0 out of 5 stars Number One Commentary on Mark!
Reviewed in Canada on September 24, 2015
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An excellentbook I am using it weekly in prepping for a series of sermons on Mark it is exceptional and readable
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Tim Taylor
4.0 out of 5 stars Good book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2016
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Good book it is what I ordered
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