Mark’s Gospel as Literature and History

As a theological student at Oxford, even though he was taught by some of the most distinguished New Testament scholars of his day, David Bruce Taylor was dissatisfied by what he learned. It was not that the teaching was too critical; it was not critical enough, particularly in following issues through to a conclusion. This was particularly the case with study of the Gospels. So he began to write a commentary on the Gospel of Mark of the kind that he himself would have found useful, and after a long period of maturing it now appears to provide help for new generations of students, for clergy and anyone interested in a clear, critical and uncluttered approach to one of the most fascinating of books. In his preface, John Fenton writes: Most commentaries on the Gospels assume too much; the unfortunate result is that the reader misses the important things that the evangelist is saying. This commentary on Mark does not make that mistake; nor will the author collude with us in making any assumptions that a lazy piety might encourage us to adopt. Our familiarity with the stories in the Gospels is the veil that has to be removed, and David Bruce Taylor does so, superbly well, combining necessary criticism with constructive writing.