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Title: A fine and helpful introduction to Mark's structure and narrative!
Review: Veteran Dutch scholar Bas van Iersel has provided a fine introduction for readers of Mark's Gospel. His analysis of Mark's overall structure is oft-quoted, and I find it persuasive, even though, like many others, I am not always convinced by his attempts to find similar concentric structure within various sections.Van Iersel has obviously given years of attention to Mark, and this work is full of helpful observations on and about it, that beginners and scholars alike will find helpful. He expanded the work in his laterMark (Academic Paperback), which is much longer and more technical. I have yet to read the whole.Again, this is a fine, accessible, and enormously helpful introduction to Mark as narrative, from a real 'Dutch master.' Highly recommended!
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