Reading Mark draws attention to the literary and theological achievements of the shortest Gospel. Mark is read as an interpretation of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus in light of the theology of Isaiah and of Greco-Roman cultural expectations. Through her examination of the Gospel of Mark, Sharyn Dowd suggests what the text may have meant to its first-century audience of Gentile and Jewish Christians.
"Through Sharyn Dowd's Reading Mark admirably lives up to its subtitle, A Literary and Theological Commentary, it also shows surprising strength-especially for a commentary of limited length- in Jewish and especially Greco-Roman cultural background. Dowd puts this information to excellent interpretive use. Nor does she disappoint in tracing the flow of Mark's narrative and bringing to light his concentric and chiastic arrangements of material. Regardless of one's agreement or disagreement with her interpretation, Reading Mark not only makes Mark more readable, but also proves itself to be highly readable." -Robert H. Gundy, Scholar in Residence and Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Westmont College
Sharyn Dowd is an associate Professor of Religion at Baylor University, Waco, Texas.
