This title in the highly-respected New Studies in Biblical Theology (NSBT) series published by IVP addresses the subject of the atonement in Mark’s Gospel. Since we see this subject showing up profusly in the latest commentaries on the Book of Mark, this volume will be a great addition to your shelves on Mark.

In his Introduction, Mr. Bolt explains his reasons for why he feels this is an important subject today. He explains the great number of chapters dedicated to the Passion and the journey to the cross as being a prime consideration.  He further explains, of course, the centrality of the cross to the entire New Testament. That centrality makes the atonement an important subject everywhere it’s mentioned in any biblical book. You will find that Mr. Bolt accepts the history of Mark and seeks to draw his conclusions directly from the pages of the Gospel of Mark.

In chapter 1 we find a discussion of the cross and the “abolition of religion” that is commonly discussed in some circles. He works through that subject both in the details of Mark’s Gospel and a review of scholarly opinion and then reaches a conservative conclusion that honors a strong Christology. Chapter 2 is even better where he discusses the necessity of the cross. He uncovers a great deal of wonderful information in that chapter. In chapter 3 he discusses apocalyptic concerns while chapter 4 relates Christ’s reception among men. The final chapter adds the resurrection and our future hope to the discussion to great advantage. Be sure to notice his discussion of the effect of the Roman world on Mark’s Gospel as well as an explanation for what the Roman soldier meant at the cross when he called Jesus the Son of Man.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Eugene Boring’s commentary on the Gospel of Mark is one of the most highly regarded in the New Testament Library (NTL) series. Mr. Boring is quite respected in the scholarly world and this book is just one of several of his major titles. Though he is much less conservative than I am, he has a knack for throwing out provocative thoughts that I enjoy considering when studying a passage in Mark’s Gospel.

In his Introduction, he covers all the bases in 25 pages. There was a substantial bibliography before the Introduction began too. More than some writers, he focuses on Mark’s specific audience, and says this gospel is one to be read aloud “in the context of a worshiping congregation”. Though he sometimes confuses the Jesus of history as someone different than the Jesus that Mark writes about, he does trace beautifully the story that’s being written. He feels that genre is one of the most important aspects to getting at Mark’s meaning. Though I really can’t agree with Mr. Boring on his conclusions on sources, date, and provenance, nor his conclusions about Mark 13, he is a clear writer in stating his conclusions. He pulls out many details that you might miss within the text that can give some great thoughts. His discussions of author, purpose, text and transmission, and language, translation, interpretation, though, are all quite brief. His historical conclusions are odd, but in any event, he believes the main content of Mark’s narrative is theological.

His actual commentary is even better. This is where he sees things that others miss. Even if you don’t agree with his conclusion about what he found, you will love being able to dwell on the nuggets he dug up. The real value of this commentary is here.

This commentary is now available in a more economical paperback edition. It’s one of the more important mid-sized commentaries on the Gospel of Mark. You will enjoy checking it out.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

This book, edited by Andreas Kostenberger and Terry Wilder, collects 12 scholarly articles on the Pastoral Epistles. They cover matters similar to what you might find in the introduction of a major commentary and discussions of theological issues. The editors provide the first two articles while the others are provided by other scholars who have a good background in the Pastoral Epistles.

You will likely find some articles more interesting than others, just as I did, as a matter of personal interest. For example, I’m so convinced that the books in the New Testament are written by those they’re attributed to, that I find a discussion of pseudonymity pointless. Still, if that’s your thing, you’ll find a good article about it here.

I found the article that describes the stewardship theme of the Pastoral Epistles to be very interesting, as was the one on cohesion and structure. There is good coverage of Christology and the prevalence of salvation found in these letters. One of the very best articles was the one on ecclesiology as there are so many local church issues discussed in the Pastoral Epistles. Paul Wolfe has an article that exegetes several of the more debated versus in these epistles. In addition to ethics and mission in the pastoral epistles, well-known scholar Howard Marshall gives a detailed overview of all the recent literature on these epistles (since 1998).

This book accomplishes exactly what it sets out to do. The contributors are more conservative and the scholarship more dependable than many such books. This book is important in any major scholarly study of the Pastoral Epistles.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

I wish other scholarly books read like this one. It could make a prototype for future scholarly monographs. For one thing, he loved to read the New Testament back into these five wonderful Old Testament books. These five books – Song of Solomon, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther – became the five short Old Testament books that were sung in the great festivals of Israel. Though they are not together in our Bibles, it’s still a great idea to look at them together. Mr. Webb has hit a home run and packed an incredible amount of material in 150 pages.

Mr. Webb describes these books as sitting on the edge of the canon because they had more trouble with acceptance than any in the Old Testament. In the chapter on each of the five books he crams in much material like you might find in an introduction in a commentary, but the depth can’t hide the warm spiritual truth he uncovers for Christians.

He broke down the Song of Solomon in an incredible way. He describes the incredible statement it makes about love between a man and a woman in a tasteful way. He may not see it as a picture of the love of Christ for his church as much as I do, but he does finally conclude that there’s something of the love of God in it.

Without getting bogged down as I’ve seen so many scholars do, he broke down the episodes of the book of Ruth. He beautifully brought out the theology to be found in this amazing little book. He also discussed Ruth as salvation history, which many scholars will no longer do.

He sets the scene of suffering in the book of Lamentations and makes sense of its structure. Again, the theology was spot on. I may not have agreed with all his conclusions on Ecclesiastes, but I was intrigued by what he had to say. In the chapter on Esther he addressed the charge that it’s a secular book. He did see Esther and Mordecai as more conflicted characters than Bible characters like, say, Daniel. Again, he provided us with many avenues of study.

I enjoyed this book. I sat down and read it straight through in about two hours. I don’t see how anyone could read it without benefit. It’s an awesome book.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.