34 THE EXPOSITORY TIMES
close attention to the primary texts, and a most
interesting perspective on this major figure. The
account of earliest Christianity is very brief and
rather limited, but as the story continues it is well
worth reading the perspective of a Greek scholar
on Celsus, Justin, Porphyry and especially Origen.
The treatment of Gnosticism tends to rely more on
earlier scholarship, which synthesizes information
from ancient Christian sources. Bentley Layton is
cited, but more attention could have been paid to
his discussion of Nag Hammadi texts (and that of
Stevan Davies), and also some mention made of the
arguments about the diversity of these texts in recent
work by Michael Williams. On the other hand the
discussion of the Poimandres is full of insight based
on close attention to the text.
The book covers a wide sweep. This reviewer
would certainly recommend it to someone who
wishes to read just one book which covers this wide
field. But for some of the sections the reader might
then be wise to follow up some of the suggestions
made in the notes or in the bibliography.
DAVID MEALAND
University of Edinburgh
PREACHING MARK IN TWO VOICES
What a fascinating Gospel Mark’s is! Anyone who
doubts this should certainly read Preaching Mark
in Two Voices (London: Westminster/John Knox
Press, 2002. $19.95. pp. xii + 273. ISBN 0–664–
22393–1) by Brian K. Blount and Gary W. Charles.
As Leonora Tubbs Tisdale says in her Foreword
to the book, the authors ‘open our eyes to the
genius of Mark’s literary technique and to the
urgency of his apocalyptic message’. They them-
selves, in their Introduction, highlight some of
the features of Mark’s technique: repetition (‘an
invaluable story-telling technique to preliterate
audiences’), irony, theatrical ‘asides’, ‘sandwiching’
one story inside another. Major themes of the Gospel
are brought out in the exegetical sections with which
the twelve chapters of the book begin. For example:
the shattering of boundaries; the overturning of
expectations; the seriousness and urgency of the call
to discipleship; faith as confidence in the power of
God to do the impossible.
A set pattern is followed in each chapter. One
of the authors contributes an exegetical study of a
section of the Gospel, followed by a sermon based
on some aspect of it. The other author then offers
a sermon on a similar topic. Part of the value of
the exercise is that while both of them grew up in
the same part of the USA, and both belong to the
Presbyterian tradition, the life experience of one
is that of a privileged white Southern male, while
the other comes from an African American back-
ground. They therefore respond to the Gospel
material in different but complementary ways. For
many preachers, struggling to bridge the gap between
study and pulpit, this book will bring both guid-
ance and inspiration. They may even find that it
helps to solve the ‘riddle’ of the ending of Mark’s
Gospel!
G. W. S. KNOWLES
Preston
THE GOSPEL OF THOMAS
Twenty years ago, Stevan Davies argued in the
Gospel of Thomas and Christian Wisdom (The
Seabury Press, 1983) that the Gospel of Thomas
emanated not from third century Christian
Gnosticism but from the Jewish Wisdom tradition
and from the first century. Such is the presupposition
behind this new volume – Stevan Davies, The Gospel
of Thomas Annotated and Explained (Woodstock
VT: Skylight Paths Publishing, 2002; London:
Darton, Longman & Todd, 2003. £8.95. pp. xxvi
+ 141. ISBN 0–232–52501–3). The author even
hints that we may have here one of the sources of
Mark’s Gospel. While deliberately refraining from
giving a clear guide to its understanding, he offers
suggestions so that readers can seek for themselves
and find their own interpretation of what, for those
interested in the origins of Christianity, is the most
important manuscript discovery ever made. He
believes that the Coptic Gospel of Thomas was a
translation from Greek not Syriac (see review article
on Nicholas Perrin’s Thomas and Talian in the June
issue of The Expository Times).
Davies argues that the view of the kingdom
presented in Thomas is that it has always been
present but that it has been hidden from most people.
It is here but undiscovered and must be sought. So
a human being’s highest accomplishment is to find
the kingdom. The purpose of the Gospel of Thomas,
therefore, is to give directions towards its finding,