To review this work is a sad pleasure. We have grown accustomed to excellent theology for the church from this author. The present volume is exceptional only in that Placher (1948–2008) did not live to see its publication.

This commentary's structure is conventional. After an orientation to Mark's historical, political, literary and theological aspects, Placher proceeds sequentially through the Gospel's sixteen chapters. Where pertinent, he offers ‘Further Reflections’ on such critical issues as ‘Father, Son, and Spirit’, ‘The Reign of God’, ‘Miracles’, ‘Clean and Unclean’ and ‘Why Did Jesus Die?’ Peppered throughout are 36 sententiae from scripture, premodern commentators and contemporary theologians.

This commentary's substance is most unconventional; therein lies its chief contribution. Essentially, Placher moderates a conversation among the plain sense of the biblical text, exemplars of the Gospel's most trenchant premodern and modern readers, and the contemporary church's doctrinal and ethical conundrums, often concluding the discourse with a homiletical payoff. Anyone familiar with patristic and medieval commentaries will recognise at once what Placher has done. To have executed this with so high a degree of erudition and dexterity is a masterly achievement. Placher's sermonic edge is never forced; his history of exegesis ranges widely, from ancient to present day, embracing Roman Catholic, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox theologians (though Barth typically has the first and last word). To his credit Placher never flogs historical criticism. Disowning a historical sensibility, he could never distinguish the mores of first- and twenty-first-century cultures – crucial for his expression of feminist sympathies and his castigation of the church's anti-Semitism. Placher claims to stand ‘in awe of [historical critics’] learning’; his lament is that ‘they often seem to stop just when they get to the good stuff’ (p. 12). As one trained in the Bible's historical setting and social context, I concur with Placher's gentle complaint. Were more historical critics as able as he to extend themselves to theological reflection, biblical exegesis in our day would be far healthier, both in the academy and in the church.

At points I wish this book were even better theologically articulated and hermeneutically refined. One item may illustrate my concern. Like most commentators, Placher is fascinated by Mark's Christology. Given the mandate of this series, his concern takes a peculiar shape: beginning from the creedal position that ‘Christ's divinity has a kind of priority over his humanity’ (p. 178), that ‘Jesus is God’ (pp. 133, 144; cf. pp. 24–5, 220–4), Placher imputes to Mark a Christology as high as Matthew's (1:23) and John's (1:1). ‘Everything in [Mark 6:45–52] is screaming out, “Jesus is God!”’ (p. 100). I think it more accurate to say that this Gospel nudges the reader in that direction, whispering such a claim but never screaming it. Neither the evangelist nor his subject ever asserts that Jesus is God; instead, Jesus resorts to the more ambiguous self-reference, ‘Son of Man’ (e.g. 2:10; 8:31; 14:21). Adopting trinitarian categories to make my point: Mark appears consistently more comfortable in speaking of Jesus’ person as ‘the Son’ than of his co-inherent substance with ‘the Father’ (12:6; 13:32). By obscuring that dimension of the text, Placher creates a knot with two strands. First, he flouts his own principle that we should ‘not begin with the definition of the terms and try to make Mark's story fit them’ (p. 26; see also pp. 202–13, 230–3). Second, he misses an opportunity, exploited elsewhere (pp. 151–4, 186–94), to help readers understand that Mark, like all of the New Testament, raises theological questions which the hymns, creeds and practices of the church were compelled to resolve. Exegetically Placher is on firm ground with more nuanced statements: ‘How people stand with respect to God's kingdom depends on how they stand with respect to Jesus’ (p. 25; also pp. 43, 163, 180).

Mark inaugurates a series designed to offer doctrinally engaged, theologically focused biblical commentary which considers the texts’ contemporary relevance. I know of no other current commentary on Mark which accomplishes such an objective so well. With his final gift Bill Placher left us much in his debt.