Dr. Amy-Jill Levine Releases Book on 'The Gospel of Mark'

Dr. Amy-Jill Levine, HIU's Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, has a new book out titled The Gospel of Mark: A Beginner's Guide to the Good News.

“The Gospel of Mark engages me because it consistently keeps me off balance,” Dr. Levine said. “ It does not give me a Christmas story, so I don't know where Jesus came from. It does not have at least in its earliest manuscript attestations a resurrection appearance just an empty tomb.”

The publisher describes it this way: “Walk through the Bible’s earliest source for the life of Jesus with scholar Amy-Jill Levine as she examines John the Baptizer, the Little Apocalypse, the Transfiguration, and several of Jesus's most notable stories and parables. The Good News of the gospel message comes alive in this book as readers see Jesus as divine and human, powerful and weak, approachable yet mysterious. The book features an in-depth study of select passages and illuminates the Gospel in its historical context and as a source for the other gospels.”

“Join me as we explore the gospel of Mark together,” Dr. Levine said. “Mark is inexhaustible in the questions that it asks and indeed the answers that we will give as we attend to those questions.”

Josh Scott, Lead Pastor at GracePointe Church and author of Bible Stories for Grown-Ups: Reading Scripture with New Eyes, gave one of several endorsements for the book: "AJ Levine has once again, through her brilliant, accessible scholarship, opened up the Bible in fresh and exciting ways. I was amazed at how many times I was taken by surprise by a detail or observation that I just hadn’t seen before. You’ll want a highlighter on hand when you read this book!”

Additional components for this book include a comprehensive Leader Guide and DVD featuring Amy-Jill Levine.

Congratulations, AJ!