Peter Bolt explores the impact of Mark's Gospel on early readers in the first-century Graeco-Roman world. Focusing upon the thirteen characters in Mark who come to Jesus for healing or exorcism, Bolt analyzes their crucial role in the communication of the Gospel. Enlisting a variety of ancient literary and non-literary sources, this book recreates the first-century world of illness, magic and Roman imperialism. This new approach to Mark combines reader-response criticism with social history.

"They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha. . . . And they crucified him. . . . Some women were watching from a distance." (Mark 15:22, 24, 40). At the climax of Mark's Gospel, Jesus of Nazareth is put to death on a Roman cross. The text tells us that, in that lonely hour, a group of women were watching the crucifixion "from a distance." In a sense, they are given a stance toward the cross that we can share. In this exploration of Mark's Gospel, Peter G. Bolt looks at why the cross is so prominent in the narrative, asks what contribution Mark's teaching can make to our understanding of...

A study of Mark's Gospel and its role in the rise of early Christianity.

Description:
Silencing Satan: A Handbook of Biblical Demonology is about the nature and strategies of Satan and the demons, and their defeat through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The book is for Christians in ministry, whether seminarians, pastors, Bible teachers, Christian counselors, or lay leaders. It is for all who desire an informed faith relevant to supernatural evil and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Each chapter reflects extensive research and is succinctly written to enable believers to quickly grasp biblical truths that expose the lies and...

This journal is a publication of the Sydney College of Divinity Centre for Gospels Research and Sydney College of Divinity Press.