33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Marcus Finally Makes His Mark!, March 3, 2001
This review is from: Mark 1-8: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries) (Hardcover)
Those of us who were familiar with Joel Marcus' monograph, "The Way of The Lord", have long awaited the day he would write a commentary on the Gospel of Mark. It seems fitting that a strong commentary like this one be used to replace the astonishingly lame commentary by C.S. Mann.
The objective of the Anchor Bible commentary series is to make the Bible accessible to the modern reader by providing an exact translation, extended exposition and a reconstruction of the ancient setting. The targeted readership is the general reader with no formal training in biblical studies. Marcus' commentary does an outstanding job in reaching these objectives. His translation is fairly literal but is still readable for those of us whose first language is English. His crisp exposition also goes a long way in helping the general reader follow his arguments.
With regard to some specifics about his interprative decisions Marcus believes that the Second Gospel was written by someone named Mark but probably not the one associated with Peter as the Papian tradition would suggest. He also denies that the gospel was written for a general audience (aka Richard Bauckham) or as an evangelistic tool (aka Robert Gundry) but instead argues the pervasive opinion that Mark is addressing a particular 'Markan' community. Marcus also argues that this community probably resided in Syria. He suggests that the purpose of the Gospel was to address a community under persecution during the Jewish War and that Mark presents Jesus as a paradigm for suffering.
Undoubtedly this commentary is hefty and due serious consideration by students of the Gospel but nonetheless, I suspect, that many readers will find Marcus guilty of over-interpretation and straining to find subtle echoes of the OT where there probably is none to be found. For example, many readers may be bewildered by how Marcus can understand the author of the second Gospel to have felt on one hand the need to explain the OT Jewish custom of handwashing (7:3-4) and then on the other hand expect his readers to pick up on Jonah imagery in a storm on the lake.
Even though some may disagree with various issues of 'Introduction' and may see places where Marcus' interpretations seem strained and overworked, I suspect, it will be found useful to many studying the second Gospel.
If you are intending to study the Gospel of Mark definitly consider purchasing this book.
I would have given the book a three and three quarter stars if possible.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Messiah prophesied by Isaiah has come, April 16, 2009
Mark Chapters 1 - 8, translation and commentary by Joel Marcus
My edition is paperback, Doubleday/Anchor Bible, 2005/2007.
This is an excellent book.
First come about 80 pages of Introduction, dealing with the author, `Mark', his intended readership (the Marcan - US `Markan' - Community), date (and place) of composition, inter-gospel relationships, Mark and Paul, Mark's Christology and his apocalyptic eschatology, and especially the influence on Mark and his community of the Jewish revolt of AD 66-73 against Rome.
Secondly come 50 pages of bibliography (about 1,000 books/articles).
Then, thirdly, comes the heart of the book: the Translation, Notes and Comments, pericope by periscope, of /on 1.1 to 8.21, occupying about 380 pages. Usefully, the Note on each phrase or verse almost always includes the full original Greek text - but in an unobtrusive transliterated script, not in Greek characters.
Fourthly, 14 pages of Appendices, which are all-too-brief `excursuses' on The Scribes and the Pharisees, The Messianic Secret Motif, and The Son of Man.
Finally, a brief Glossary, and then indexes of modern authors, subjects, and biblical, extra-biblical-Jewish (Dead Sea Scrolls, rabbinical, etc.) and other ancient sources, Christian and non-Christian.
What particularly appeals to me is the power of Joel Marcus's rooting of the Marcan Jesus in the Jewish background. The key source is of course the Old Testament, but the intertestamental and rabbinic literatures are shown to contribute to authenticating almost every sentence of Mark's picture of Jesus. Marcus strongly links many Marcan texts to Genesis (especially ch.1) and Exodus (passim - the Crossing, the Mosaic role, the manna, the `temptation'). Exodus, like Gen 1, prefigures Christians: a new creation, new people of God through baptism and the manna/Marcan-bread-multiplications/Eucharist connection). Everywhere, Mark's Jesus echoes/fulfils Psalms, Isaiah (massively: proto-, deutero- and trito-), Daniel and 1 Enoch. Usefully, Marcus frequently quotes the exact words of the LXX (the pre-Christian Jewish translation of the Hebrew OT into Greek, used both by diaspora Jews and by the first Christian communities and the NT writers), words that Mark in his turn uses when describing a parallel feature of the person and activity of Jesus.
Of course, all modern exegetes make such relevant connections and emphases, reading back the New Testament story into the Old Testament and reading forward the Old Testament into the New, but Marcus does it splendidly.
Marcus highlights the constant Marcan portrayal, already in Mark's chapter 1, of Jesus' mission as a conflict with Satan, constantly broadened to include two parties: Jesus, the Spirit, God acting in Jesus, good angels and righteous human beings, ranged against Satan with his demonic associates and human agents.
Marcus concludes that Mark was written between 69 and 75 AD, certainly in the context of the Jewish revolt against the Romans (66-73 AD) and the confidently prophesied or actually completed destruction of the temple in 70 AD. Its addressees would be a Christian community (in the region of Syria?) actually already enduring the sufferings of internal divisions and external persecutions resulting from this war, which broke out because of the apocalyptic dreams of `the false Messiahs and false prophets' (Mark 13) who looked for a conquering Davidic military messiah.
This leads me to suggest that Marcus's book could profitably have included an excursus discussing `the kingdom (Greek `basileia') of God'. Marcus translates the four occurrences of `basileia tou theou' in chapters 1-8 (in 1.15, 4.11, 4.26, 4.30) as `the dominion of God', which other translations render as the familiar `the kingdom of God'. Marcus's index is informative: he lists 33 references under the entry `Dominion of God', but the entry `Kingdom of God' says simply: "See `Dominion of God' "! I do not yet know how Marcus translates these words in his forthcoming book on chapters 9-16, where the expression occurs a further 10 times.
Marcus's first treatment of the Kingdom/Dominion of God is in his note on 1.15 (p. 172): "This is the first Markan reference to `he basileia tou theou', a phrase that the King James translators rendered as `the kingdom of God' but that most modern scholars have recognized as the fact [`fact' italicized by Marcus] that he rules or the power [`power' in italics again] by which he manifests his sovereignty, hence the translation `dominion of God'. This is the basic nuance of the Hebrew and Aramaic expression `dominion of heaven' ... which is reflected by the NT phrase ..."
Marcus's verdict here should itself be nuanced. Many other `nuances' need to be taken into account. Other NT texts speak of "entering the kingdom of God, reclining in the kingdom of God"; serious sinners "shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Cor 6.10, Gal 5.21); the kingdom of God is like ... "; "The kingdom of God will be taken away from you" (Matt 21.43); the disciples in Acts 1.6 say to the risen Jesus: "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" (NRSV). And so on. The New Revised Standard Version(1989) still translates 159 of the 161 occurrences of `basileia' in the whole NT as `kingdom'. The only 2 exceptions are Luke 19.12,15, where the ruler goes `to get royal power (basileia)'.
I end with a suggestion for yet another excursus, except that the subject here is really too vast for an excursus. Libraries are written on it. This would deal with Mark's treatment of Jesus' divinity. Marcus has an index entry which is headed: "Divinity/quasi-divinity of Jesus", with 14 references, also cross-referenced from the index entry " [high] Christology (with three references, then) `see also Divinity/quasi-divinity of Jesus' ". Commenting on Mk 2.6-10a, Marcus writes: "Our passage thus evidences a characteristic Markan ambiguity about whether Jesus himself is acting or whether God is acting through him; in Mark's view both perspectives contain aspects of the truth ... (p. 224)".
Not even this large volume on Mark 1-8 can deal exhaustively with every aspect of Mark's thought. But I never failed to find a thorough examination and convincing evaluation of any question that I brought to my reading of this admirable commentary.
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13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
But this book today!, July 17, 2001
This review is from: Mark 1-8: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries) (Hardcover)
This is an excellent commentary, and surely all around the best now available on Mark in English, or perhaps any language. It is up-to-date, thoroughly conversant with the primary sources and secondary literature, and often original in its exegesis. It is also well written, so that while it must, of necessity, sometimes discuss involved topics, such as the meanings of Greek words, the author's meaning is always perfectly clear. Particularly important for scholars are the keen attention paid to the scriptural subtexts beneath Mark's surface and the consistent attempt to understand Mark within the context of the Jewish war. But this is a book for pastors as well as academics, full of intimations about the possibilities of contemporary meaning. Its length is just right -- the discussions are never too long to bore, nor too short to leave one unsatisfied. In sum, this is a worthy addition to the prestigious series to which it belongs, The Anchor Bible. Buy it.
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