Customer Reviews

Stumbling on God: Faith and Vision in Mark's Gospel

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This is the best book on Mark I have ever read. Brudon's style and insights make this book more valuable than any commentary for understanding Mark's themes. This book may well revolutionize your understanding of God and our place as his disciples

Burdon's work will not domesticate Jesus, like so much modern talk of a "personal Lord and Savior." The Jews of Temple and Synagogue have domesticated religion, but Jesus is a man of the wilderness--shorelines and seas, wilderness and desert, mountain, and cross--Jesus gets in trouble in Mark's gospel whenever he enters homes, temples and synagogues--churches now too. Burdon lays out this dichotomy with great attention to Mark's account. Two quotes:

"The desert is where the good news begins, and however much Jesus is barricaded by crowds and bound by his enemies, he remains apart from the human world, the one who companies with beasts and angels. We want a man of the fireside or the pub or the family service; but we are met by a man of the wilderness."

And

"In the end, there are two ways of dealing with the gospel according to Mark: either we throw the book away and opt for a gentler religion, or we act on it and attempt to follow this man through glory and through terror."