Mark

by Ralph P. Martin

Book by Martin, Ralph P.

98 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1981

About the author

Ralph Martin (1925-2013) was a distinguished New Testament scholar and a significant figure in the post-World War 2 resurgence of British evangelical scholarship. Born in Anfield, Liverpool, England, his early education was interrupted in 1939 by the war, and he was conscripted to work in the coal mines of Lancashire. After the war he pursued ministerial training at Manchester Baptist College and in 1949 earned his B.A. at the University of Manchester. In 1963 he completed his Ph.D. at King’s College, University of London. In 1969 Martin joined the faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, where he would serve as professor of New Testament from 1969 to 1988, and director of the graduate studies program beginning in 1979. He resumed his teaching there in 1995 as Distinguished Scholar in Residence. Throughout his academic career he stayed involved in preaching, teaching laypeople and other pastoral ministry. He was the author of numerous studies and commentaries on the New Testament, including Worship in the Early Church, the volume on Philippians in The Tyndale New Testament Commentary series, and 2 Corinthians and James in the Word Biblical Commentary, for which he also served as New Testament editor.

Reviews

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t usually read “preaching guides” with suggested sermons in them, but my experience with the Knox Preaching Guides: Mark was quite a surprise. Despite being a short volume, Ralph P. Martin provides scholarly backgrounds on passages in summary form, occasional poems and quotations which may be useful in expressing the theme of a passage, suggested building blocks for sermons, and provocative ideas.

One provocative idea is that the entire gospel of Mark is about temptation (p. 10). Another is a consideration of how some might have been trying to insult Jesus by calling Him the “son of Mary” (p. 35). He offers a solid discussion of the promise and problem of the Son of Man (p. 47). After Jesus’ sternest warnings, he introduces three stages of faith: Jesus, testing, and practice (p. 56). I never thought of the idea he cited from C. H. Dodd about the cleansing of the temple being for, as opposed to, from Gentiles (p. 68). I loved his clear explanation of the three lenses of apocalyptic literature regarding Mark 13 (p. 76). I liked his consideration of the lack of resurrection appearances in Mark (p. 95).

In short, I found useful material throughout Knox Preaching Guides: Mark. I promise not to be so snooty with regard to preaching guides in the future (at least, when written by a scholar that I know and respect).