Mark for Everyone (New Testament for Everyone) [Paperback]

Tom Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2004 | Series: New Testament for Everyone

N.T. Wright has undertaken a tremendous task: to provide guides to all the books of the New Testament, and to include in them his own translation of the entire text. Each short passage is followed by a highly readable discussion, with background information, useful explanations and suggestions, and thoughts as to how the text can be relevant to our lives today. A glossary is included at the back of the book. The series is suitable for group study, personal study, or daily devotions.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In this series [Wright] excels as a communicator, making this the most exciting study guide since Barclay's Daily Study Bible. -- Expository Times
If you wish to meet the Jesus who broke into people's lives while on earth, I heartily recommend these guides. -- The Christian Herald
In this series [Wright] excels as a communicator, making this the most exciting study guide since Barclay's Daily Study Bible. -- Expository Times
If you wish to meet the Jesus who broke into people's lives while on earth, I heartily recommend these guides. -- The Christian Herald
Pastors, evangelists, and Sunday school teachers will love this ... -- CBA Marketplace, March 2004
Wright writes well and with an easy style. The short commentaries tackle New Testament books without being weighed down ... --Publishers Weekly --Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

"A rare event: a commentary that is learned without being stuffy, accessible without being reductionist. Tom Wright joins us in our homes and workplaces, our sanctuaries and classrooms, in genial, prayerful conversation over this text that forms our lives, the New Testament scriptures." Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, and author of The Message

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press (January 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 066422783X
• ISBN-13: 978-0664227838
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #27,330 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

N.T. Wright is Bishop of Durham and was formerly Canon Theologian of Westminster Abbey and dean of Lichfield Cathedral. He taught New Testament studies for twenty years at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities. Wright's full-scale works The New Testament and the People of God, Jesus and the Victory of God, and The Resurrection of the Son of God are part of a projected six-volume series entitled Christian Origins and the Question of God. Among his many other published works are The Original Jesus, What Saint Paul Really Said and The Climax of the Covenant. He is also coauthor with Marcus Borg of The Meaning of Jesus: Two Visions and the volume on Colossians and Philemon in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best interpretation on Mark, June 1, 2006

By 

DarrenGJohnson "DarrenGJohnson" (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mark for Everyone (New Testament for Everyone) (Paperback)

Tom Wright has scored perfect on his interpretation of Mark's gospel. He follows the thought from beginning to the end and does so with no anachronistic readings of the text. I know this was meant to be a commentary for everyone to read, but Wright has actually crafted something that deserves to be looked at by scholars as well as everyone. The anecdotes found throughout the series are excellent and help draw the reader into the discussion and meaning of the text of Mark.

The glossary at the end is helpful and also very helpful and refreshing is Wright's translation of the text itself. As a pastor I would recomment Wright's Everyone series about every other commentary series on the market. His writing style is lucid, clear, and engaging.

Wright recognizes the metanarrative and expectations of the Jewish world of the first century and correctly sees the actions of Jesus as being the reconstitution of Israel in the son of David who is Israel's true representative. His interpretation of the Temple shows that Jesus did not come to simply cleanse the Temple, but to declare it bankrupt and to announce its coming destruction. Wright handles well OT allusions and quotations, picking up on a quotes entire context and avoids assuming that Mark glossed over or handled glibbly his quotes without picking up on the overall story that Jesus himself is bringing to fulfillment. One such example is Mark 13, which speaks of the coming of the Son of Man. Wright maintains that this allusion to Daniel 7 shows the Son of Man coming to the ancient of days and therefore when used by Jesus is more a reference to the ascension of Jesus to the right hand of the Father and not to the second coming of Jesus from Heaven back to earth. If you only buy one commentary out of the Everyone Series you cannot go wrong with Mark.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wright has the right touch, October 12, 2005

By 

B. F. Mooney "biologist" (Mooresville, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mark for Everyone (New Testament for Everyone) (Paperback)

This is a book which should find wide appeal. Tom Wright gives us a highly readable and quite enjoyable introduction to the gospel of Mark, informed by both his deep New Testament scholarship and his wide pastoral experience and perspective. This is Mark, truly for everyone. While there won't be much here that is new for those well-acquainted with current NT research, Wright plainly illuminates Mark's themes and places them properly in the context of the times. Wright's own translations of the original text are clear and contemporary to the right degree. For his intended audience - the general educated reader - Wright is on target. This would be a good pick for a teen or adult NT study group. Read it, and your faith will be even better secured on a firm foundation of understanding. Wright knows how to go after the very core, the kernel, of faith.

Reading it, it is easy to hear Tom Wright's baritone voice in his adept prose; he is so effortless to read that it is easy to overlook how good a writer he in fact is. The medium is properly transparent and subordinate to the message.

This series reminds me of the one authored years ago by William Barclay; each author has his own strengths and appeal and both could be read with profit by the Christian wishing to better understand the New Testament. If I had to recommend just one, it would be Wright, without question. But that would be to ignore the often top-notch pastoral sermon aspects - albeit old-fashioned- of Barclay's writings.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Joy of Bible Study, July 26, 2004

By 

Bozemaniac - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mark for Everyone (New Testament Guides for Everyone) (Paperback)

Tom Wright has done exactly what is needed: given us a look at the gospels that is both deep and accessible. This book is easy to read, quite thought-provoking, and informed by both scholarship and faith. Wright knows and uses the latest academic information, but in a delightful manner.

By far the best thing of its kind.