Fortress Press

"In this delightful book, David Rhoads brings together the labors of many years. He combines narrative analysis of key Markan passages and themes with social analysis of Mark's narrative world, to demonstrate an inclusive Gospel vision. He then offers examples of the use of social-science analysis. The capstone is his reflection on many years of oral performance and what it has taught him and his students. With these approaches, both Mark and David Rhoads are revealed to be about open hospitality and energy for mission."
— Carolyn Osiek, Brite Divinity School, author of The Shepherd of Hermas

"Reading Mark, Engaging the Gospel would make an excellent textbook for courses intended to supplement and enrich the standard historical and literary approaches to the New Testament."
— Adela Yarbro Collins, Yale Divinity School, author of The Beginning of the Gospel

"An excellent introduction to major developments in recent New Testament studies."
— Robert C. Tannehill, author of The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts

"Both in his writings on Mark and performance of that gospel, Rhoads makes people hear Mark again for the first time. This is a book that students, pastors and all lovers of Jesus will treasure." — James Chukwuma Okoye, C.S.Sp., Catholic Theological Union, Chicago.

Introduction


1. Narrative Criticism and the Gospel of Mark
2. Narrative Criticism: Practices and Prospects
3. Losing Life for Others in the Face of Death: Mark's Standards of Judgment
4. Jesus and the Syrophoenician Woman in Mark: A Narrative-Critical Study
5. Network for Mission: The Social System of the Jesus Movement as Depicted in the Narrative of the Gospel of Mark
6. Crossing Boundaries: Purity and Defilement in Mark
7. Performing the Gospel of Mark