Customer Reviews

The Gospel of Mark (Sacra Pagina Series)

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As the final gospel commentary in this series (Sacra Pagina) this volume will serve as a very helpful commentary to many who are pursuing a study of the Marcan text. This series stands between the highly critical, scholarly commentaries which many find intimidating or excessive and those commentaries which leave many wanting more.
After nearly fifty pages of introductory material, the authors, in following the design of the series, provide commentary and exegesis for each successive pericope in the text. Their information will be helpful to preachers, teachers, students and anyone who wants to do a careful examination of the Marcan text.
I am currently using it as a primary resource for my class notes for an eleventh grade honors course in Scripture Studies and most of the material is accessible to my students.
The scholarship is solid and the bibliographies are very helpful for anyone who wants to pursue a particular topic to a further depth.

This volume of the Sacra Pagina series is extremely well researched and well written. For the preacher, both the interpretation and the verse notes are very helpful. I use the text for my own sermon preparation and find that the notes almost always provide challenges I can offer the congregation. One minor negative for the preacher is the authors' tendency to cite their differences in interpretation with other texts - although this might be just what is wanted by a Bible student.

The Sacra Pagina series on the New Testament is an outstanding reference work for any student of the New Testament. The book on the Gospel of Mark is written by John Donahue and Daniel Harrington. I was introduced to this series when I took a graduate level course in the New Testament. The professor recommended this series as excellent New Testament reference books. I lead a weekly bible discussion group and I have found this series to be of immense help. I am able to review Mark's gospel line by line and receive the benefit of knowledgeable Catholic bible experts. I may not share the same views as the author on every passage but I can review his analysis and he also points me to other sources. If you needed one book as a guide to Mark this is it.

Donahue and Harrington's The Gospel of Mark is an instalment in the recent Sacra Pagina series of Catholic biblical commentaries. While technically a Catholic commentary this work is solidly situated in the modern critical tradition of New Testament studies. Indeed one would need a fine eye to identify a particular Catholic perspective - much as with the writing of Raymond Brown.

The text is structured in the standard format for contemporary commentaries; an introduction to situate the work and the author's approach, followed by a section-by-section analysis of the text with detailed notes discussing translation issues, textual variants and current interpretive questions. Given that the text is aimed at academics and professional clergy much of the text's value is in the notes.

While I read extensively in this area, and, will likely continue to do so, I often wonder about the value of the modern critical approach. I respect its intention to be objective; however, it seems ill-fitted to determining the truth of Christianity. That is, at the end of the day, textual criticism remains a highly speculative field that has borne little enduring fruit. Notwithstanding the efforts of innumerable scholars over the last 2-3 hundred years even basic questions about the Gospels remain open. For instance, despite the claims of certain contemporary scholars traditional views of authorship and dating have not been displaced in any convincing manner. I believe it was Barth that once remarked that when looking down the well of time it is not surprising to find one's reflection at the bottom.

Overall this is a good commentary at a modest price. It is well written and recommended for readers seeking a modern critical examination of the Gospel of Mark.

This is probably the best Commentary on Mark since Nineham (1963) or maybe even Taylor (1952). Harrington and Donahue are attentive to the "Jewish" (and apparently anti-Jewish) issues, an emphasis not always found in Markan commentaries. Issues relative to the historical Jesus and the early church also receive adequate attention. The availability of this pb edition makes the book more affordable, and increases its attractiveness. A fine commentary, clearly written and, where appropriate, persuasively argued, by two veteran and sensitive scholars.

The Sacra Pagina series is a very reliable and accessible resource I use when preparing a sermon or bible study. It would be on the 'conservative' or 'traditional' side and is an excellent addition to one's library. Whatever New Testament lesson I am to work on, it is the first commentary to which I turn.

This is a fantastic Catholic resource for a study of the Gospel of Mark. For the most part, it is user-friendly, but also contains a great deal of information for the more serious student of the Gospel. It is a great tool for homilists or scripture students, as well as a wonderful resource for the person merely seeking to grow in their knowledge of scripture.