Mark - (Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament) by Mary Ann Beavis (Paperback)

About the Book

The Paideia series offers critically acclaimed commentaries from today's top scholars. This volume exposes theological meaning in Mark by tracing its use of rhetorical strategies.

Book Synopsis

In this addition to the well-received Paideia series, Mary Ann Beavis examines cultural context and theological meaning in Mark. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by

- attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs
- showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits
- commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book
- focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text
- making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format

Students, pastors, and other readers will appreciate the insights that Beavis derives from interrogating the text through multiple perspectives.

From the Back Cover

Paideia: Critically Acclaimed Commentaries from Today's Top Scholars

"Beavis brings to this commentary ample familiarity with the text of Mark and with ancient literature more broadly. Balanced in judgment and offering numerous astute observations, this work should prove highly useful, especially to serious readers seeking a reliable introduction and companion for their study of Mark's account of Jesus's ministry."
--Larry W. Hurtado, New College, University of Edinburgh

"In this new commentary on Mark, Beavis focuses on the story told by the evangelist and what it would have meant for its earliest hearers. Building on her previous work on the Gospel, she concentrates on the 'narrative flow' as she traces the way in which Mark's story develops as a story in five acts. Students just beginning their exploration of the Gospel will find this commentary especially useful, but every reader is certain to find in it something new and illuminating."
--Morna D. Hooker, University of Cambridge

"This is exactly the kind of commentary I would want to put in the hands of students who have taken my introductory course on the Gospels and are eager to go deeper. Beavis has already established herself as a careful reader of Mark's Gospel, and here she skillfully guides less-experienced readers into an informed engagement with Mark's dramatic story of Jesus as it unfolds from beginning to end. The guidance she provides into the narrative flow of the Gospel is enriched by a variety of other elements, including maps and sidebars, insights into the first-century world, carefully chosen excerpts from commentators ancient and modern, and bracing theological reflection. Warmly recommended."
--Terence L. Donaldson, Wycliffe College, Toronto

"While deftly drawing on patterns of Greek tragedy to illuminate Mark's Gospel, this commentary is a marvelous triumph! Thoroughly engaged with ancient sources and contemporary scholarship, Beavis offers a historically rich, literarily astute, and theologically sensitive exposition of Mark, chock-full of valuable information and insight for a wide range of readers. This work provides an immensely satisfying guidebook through Mark's narrative for both introductory and more advanced students."
--F. Scott Spencer, author of Passions of the Christ

About the Author

Mary Ann Beavis (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of religion and culture at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She is the author of "Jesus and Utopia: Looking for the Kingdom of God in the Roman World "as well as numerous articles.