Anchor Mark 8–16 by Joel Marcus? (it has transliterated Gk)

I was so surprised two-three days ago when I saw from the preview that Anchor Yale Bible: Mark 8–16 has transliterated Gk. I would have expected more, who doesn't know the Gk alphabet?

I have a few questions: would You recommend it and for what purpose?

I've been using the new Hermeneia, and tried out NAC.

Does it reference the new Hermeneia by Adela Yarbro Collins 2007?

How is the introduction?

Bestcommentaries gives it 75.6 points, and what's surprising is that it's not marked as Jewish even though a review on Amazon says the author has a Jewish background. Here's the Review of Biblical Literature (RBL) (William Telford) June 1, 2010: http://www.bestcommentaries.com/book/4687/0300141165-mark-8-16-joel-Marcus (I don't think the full review opens up on my computer.)

Is the Jewish background of the author bothersome in this volume?

Is it a bit popular or is there a demand for it?

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Unix

bump!

Don Awalt

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/514891#Comment_514891

I am not a scholar but I'll throw in my .02 since no one else has yet answered - I have had the Anchor Series for a long time in print, and got it in Logos. I find it pretty comprehensive. It appears Joel Marcus, author of Mark 1-8, is a well-written scholar; in my Logos library, he is quoted 393 times in various books he has written. Journals cite him as well, I see quotes in JBL, Ashland Theo. Journal, Bibliotheca, Bulletin for Biblical Research, JETS, Journal of Theological Interpretation, Review and Expositor, Semeia, Themelios, Trinity Journal, Tyndale. Commentaries quote him too - Pillar, NIVAC, College Press NIV Commentary, Continental Commentary Series, EBC, and Eerdman's Dictionary as well.

I use it to help form sermons/homilies, and typically I find it not only comprehensive with a lot of good background/contextual material. It seems to me to be not terribly biased, I know people from a number of different denominations use it, and the references show a variety of denominations citing it. I have heard some say the Anchor series can be "liberal", but I have not seen it (although a little of that I probably would have just ignored). For me I am very pleased to have it.

Unix

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/514892#Comment_514892

This Google search has a lot of results on Anchor Mark: http://www.google.se/search?as_q=mark&as_epq=joel+marcus&as_oq=anchor+ab+ayb&as_eq=&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&lr=&cr=&as_qdr=all&as_sitesearch=ntmark.wordpress.com&as_occt=any&safe=images
I ordered the volume together with a couple of pre-pub orders I had open. I'm going to schedule to read about it later on.

EDIT: here's some information about Joel Marcus's views:
7/27/11 Joel Marcus, “Mark 14:61: Are You the Messiah-Son-of-God?” Novum Testamentum 31:2 (1989): 125-41. Marcus argues that “Son of God” is not merely a synonym for “Christ”/”Messiah,” but that it did indeed communicate the deity of Christ, leading to charges of blasphemy. He points out that there were various conceptions of the Messiah in the Second Temple period, and that these were distinguished by such epithets as “Messiah the son of David” and “Messiah the son of Joseph.” ”In Tannaitic sources the term ‘Messiah’ can be made more precise by the addition of the qualifier ‘Son-of-X’ to indicate the descent of the Messiah in question” (131). ”Restrictive appositives [such as 'son-of-David') would be necessary because of the variety of messianisms in the postbiblical period" (134).
Source: Eyes and Ears 2011 | Orchard Keeper

Now I'm going to clean my home a bit in order to feel that I have deserved the purchases. [:D]

Pam Larson

I was so surprised two-three days ago when I saw from the preview that Anchor Yale Bible: Mark 8–16 has transliterated Gk. I would have expected more, who doesn't know the Gk alphabet?

I have a few questions: would You recommend it and for what purpose?

I've been using the new Hermeneia, and tried out NAC.

Does it reference the new Hermeneia by Adela Yarbro Collins 2007?

How is the introduction?

Bestcommentaries gives it 75.6 points, and what's surprising is that it's not marked as Jewish even though a review on Amazon says the author has a Jewish background. Here's the Review of Biblical Literature (RBL) (William Telford) June 1, 2010: http://www.bestcommentaries.com/book/4687/0300141165-mark-8-16-joel-Marcus (I don't think the full review opens up on my computer.)

Is the Jewish background of the author bothersome in this volume?

Is it a bit popular or is there a demand for it?

I liked it precisely because there was so much Jewish background information. Excellent on OT allusions as well as allusions to other Jewish literature. [Y]

George Somsel

I was so surprised two-three days ago when I saw from the preview that Anchor Yale Bible: Mark 8–16 has transliterated Gk. I would have expected more, who doesn't know the Gk alphabet?

I think you'll find that ALL of the Anchor Yale commentaries transliterate whether Hebrew or Greek.

George Somsel

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/515053#Comment_515053

Wouldn't it be great if they were to publish some untransliterated Ugaritic? [:D]

Unix

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/515059#Comment_515059

Here's another sample from this volume, source 10 Reasons to Just Say Nay to the Naysayer Hypothesis comments:

Avatar

David Nickol Dcn Harbey Santiago

Deacon Santiago,

I hope you will agree that the concept of the Kingdom of God in the Gospels is not a simple one. It sometimes appears to be in the future, sometimes dawning, and sometimes already present. Let me quote briefly from the Anchor Bible volume Mark by Joel Marcus:

Is Maark 9:1, the, a false prophecy? In a sense, yes, since Mark, like Jesus before him, apparently expected the end to come within a few years. But as we have just seen, Mark also, like Jesus before him, saw the eschatological epoch as already dawning, a point driven home by the transfiguration narrative that immediately follows (9:2-8). "The dominion of God . . . come in power," then, is not only a future to be hoped for but also a presence to be experienced now, and this combination of present advent and hope for the future is more important than the question of the exact timing of the end.

So when Jesus says "Amen, I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who surely will not taste death before they see the dominion of God fully come in power" (Mark 9:1, Marcus's translation), we have a saying that defies easy explanation. If Jesus is talking about the transfiguration, it is in the immediate future. If he is talking about his death and resurrection, it is easily within the lifetime of almost everyone he is addressing.

It seems to me that only in "apologetics" are there pat answers to many of these questions. Real Biblical scholarship acknowledges the difficulty of these kinds of sayings and puts forth qualified and tentative answers.