Hitchhiking Through Mark

This is a review of a book. Mark Through Old Testament Eyes The author is Andrew T. Le Peau. I had never heard of him but two things caught my attention.

1) He has taught the book of Mark for over 10 years at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. 

2) The offer of reading intertextually, seeing how the Old Testament can illuminate the New Testament.

I can best describe my experience reading this book with a couple of analogies. 

1) Hitchhiking. While traveling dependent upon the goodwill of fellow travelers you are sometimes stuck in places where there has been little traffic. In these places previous hitchhikers inscribe their thoughts and ponderings on the backside of street signs. These texts tell you if you should wait or push off on foot. They give you a sense of not being alone, others have traveled this way before. 

2) Postcards. Everyplace I have visited I like to pick up postcards. They remind me of my visit and they are images I can share with others who have not been to those places.

The book is not technical and not quite devotional. It is a guide for learning and teaching Mark’s Gospel. More of a map with multiple points of interest noted nicely in tables and sidebars. I knew I was traveling in Mark but I didn't know there was so much to see along the way.

The notes the author has built into this commentary are informative and refreshing. You will go through the Gospel verse by verse for the most part. The brilliance of this author is the way he uses the many iterations of his teaching to pass on to the reader a rich experience. It shows. He points out Old Testament references a lot. Some of them I really appreciated, some of them I still need to ponder. All of them are worthwhile. You won’t feel like you've wasted your time with this book. Le Peau pays attention to the structure and passes on his insights. I found this really refreshing.

His bibliography is four and a half pages. Names with more than one entry are Kenneth Bailey, G. K. Beal, Craig Blomberg, Walter Bruggemann, R T France, John Gondingay, Richard Hays, Derek Kidner, Temper Longman, Alec Motyer, Rodney Stark, Mark Strauss, Willard Swartley John Walton, Christopher Writght, and N. T. Wright. As you can see the author has done his homework. My thanks and appreciation to Kregel Academic for providing me with a copy of this book for an unbiased review.

I recommend this work to students, teachers, pastors or anyone wishing to study/travel through Mark. The author, Andrew T. Le Peau, is an excellent teacher/guide. I look forward to future volumes in this series. Like postcards they will be worth collecting and showing to others who wish to travel this journey.