Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.
This brief study is intended primarily for theological students, and perhaps also for ministers who wish to update their scholarship. It seeks to show the issues facing those who seek to study Ephesia
The aim of this book is to illuminate the manner in which Mark understood Jesus' death. That death forms the climax of the Gospel, and is all-important for the evangelist. Since it is central to every form of Christianity, much has already been written on the significance Jesus' death had for Mark. Most previous studies, like the first edition of this book, used redaction criticism to interpret Mark's viewpoint from the alterations he made to the form of the Passion narrative as he had received it from tradition. More recently the Gospels have been examined as continuous stories, and the author adopts this approach in the additional material of his new edition. By examining the general sweep of the narrative, and in particular of its last chapters, Professor Best attempts to show how Mark saw Jesus' death as both an atonement for sin and as creative of the new community of the Church.
This series of commentaries on the New English Bible is designed for use in schools and colleges, and for the minister and the layman. Each volume comments on one book, or part, of the Bible. In each the text is given in full. Sections of text and commentary alternate, so that the reader does not have to keep two books open, or turn from one part of the book to the other, or refer to a commentary in small type at the foot of the page. Great care has been taken to see that the commentary is suitable for the student and the layman: there is no Greek or Hebrew, and no strings of biblical references. The general editors all have experience of teaching or examining in school and working with adults. Commentaries on all the books of the Old Testament, New Testament and Apocrypha have been published, together with introductory volumes and books of illustrations to accompany each Testament.
