We are doing a series on NT commentaries, and I have to confess that I forgot about it ... so here is the Gospel of Mark. Our goals is to provide for pastors and students and serious Bible students a listing of the top commentaries. There is an abundance, and I'm happy to hear about the ones you really like.Probably the most intense, complete, and scholarly commentary on Mark is by Adela Yarbro Collins, Mark: A Commentary (Hermeneia: a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible)
.We can lighten up here with a theologically sound commentary, and an old one that I still get lots from: William Lane: The Gospel According to Mark: The English Text With Introduction, Exposition, and Notes (New International Commentary on the New Testament)
.Next I consult R.T. France, who has the capacity to write sound commentaries and the efficiency to get it done -- without it become an exercise in bibliographic endlessness -- I've learned lots from France: The Gospel of Mark: New International Commentary on the Greek Testament (New International Greek Testament Commentary)
.The next commentary is intense and complete, but it's incomplete in this sense: Bob Guelich, who died way too soon, began the commentary and then Craig Evans finished it: Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 34b, Mark 8:27-16:20
; the first volume by Guelich: Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 34a, Mark 1-8:26 (guelich), 498pp
.And, I really like Morna Hooker's commentary on Mark; Professor Hooker can write a commentary and just keep her readers in the text and not become aware of how much she knows -- and she knows this stuff very well. Her commentary is a steal: The Gospel According to Saint Mark
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I’ll second R.T. France on Mark in the NIGTC series, incredible commentary.
I actually started an email to you Scot, just yesterday, asking about when this series would resume. Thanks for doing this series.
I've been using Lamar Williamson's Interpretation volume and finding it succinct and usually probing. I have the shorter version of Ched Myers -- Say to this mountain -- which works for getting the main points, and helpful as i lead a small campus study on Mark. And i still consult Barclay, who isn't always up on the latest scholarship but who still often has a great view on some point or another, and always a pastoral heart. (And for those of us who try to buy used whenever possible -- a great buy often at thrift shops, used book stores, etc.)
blessings,
Scot,
What do you think of Witherington's work on Mark? I have seen it get a lot of buzz around the blogs and such, and I haven't been able to look at it yet, so i'd love to see what you have to say about it. I really respect a lot of his other work and am actually considering going to Asbury to do my doctoral work with him.
W.Lane is getting a little dated but since I still use H.B.Swete, H.Alford and H.A.W.Meyer ...
R.T. France Mark NIGTC is a a model of what a greek text commentary should be at the opposite end of the spectrum is Thiselton's 1Cor which is an anthology of other peoples ideas and spend only a nanosecond in the Greek before he jumps to English. Fee's 1Cor is much better.
Though not meant to be a commentary, the most powerful book I have read on Mark is Stumbling on God by Christopher Burdon.
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