An Introduction to the Gospels and

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i

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPELS

AND ACTS
ii

essentials of biblical studies

Series Editor
Patricia K. Tull, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts

Alicia D. Myers

Ancient Israel’s Neighbors

Brian R. Doak

Sin in the New Testament

Jeffrey Siker

Reading Hebrew Bible Narratives

J. Andrew Dearman

The History of Bronze and Iron Age Israel

Victor H. Matthews

New Testament Christianity in the Roman World

Harry O. Maier

Women in the New Testament World

Susan E. Hylen
iii

An Introduction to the
Gospels and Acts

ALICIA D. MYERS

1
iv

1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers
the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education
by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University
Press in the UK and certain other countries.

Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press

198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.

© Oxford University Press 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in

a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the
prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted
by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction
rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the
above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the
address above.

You must not circulate this work in any other form

and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.

CIP data is on file at the Library of Congress

ISBN 978–​0–​19–​092681–​6 (pbk.)

ISBN 978–​0–​19–​092680–​9 (hbk.)

DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780190926809.001.0001

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2

Paperback printed by LSC Communications, United States of America

Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
v

For Keaton and Gavin,

with the hope that these stories
inspire your own lives as well.
vi
vi

CONTENTS

List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Series Introduction xiii
Abbreviations xvii

1. Introduction: Reading the Gospels and Acts

in Context 1
2. Mark’s Story: The Gospel in Roman Palestine 16
3. Matthew’s Story: The Gospel in Jewish Contexts 41
4. Luke’s Story, Part 1: The Gospel as a Message of
Inclusion 66
5. Luke’s Story, Part 2: God’s Spirit-​Driven Mission
in the Book of Acts 90
6. John’s Story: Recognizing the Incarnate Word 113
7. Apocryphal Gospels and Acts: Stories beyond
the New Testament 137
8. Conclusion: Reading the Gospels and Acts Today 157
vi

v i i i |    C ontents

Notes 171
Bibliography 193
Index 203
ix

ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURES

2.1. Map of Roman Republic (44 BCE) 20

2.2. Model of Jerusalem Temple (66 CE) 22
3.1. Map of Herod the Great’s Kingdom 50
4.1. Statue of Augustus 72
6.1. Christ and the Samaritan Woman 131
7.1. The Nativity 146

TA B L E S

4.1. Hierarchy of Traits in the Roman Empire 70

6.1. Testimony in John 5 128
x
xi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I started this book started in the pre-​Covid-​19 era but finished

most of it during the pandemic. I have many people to thank for
their patience and help enabling me to complete this book, even
while working at home with two young boys in the house. First and
foremost, my husband, Scott, who is a true partner in life. His pres-
ence taking care of kids and home, as well as helping me design
the maps, is active encouragement for me to continue writing even
when social pressures would push me to spend time elsewhere. My
boys, to whom this book is dedicated, also deserve thanks; they
let their mommy write and came into my office to sneak hugs,
give words of encouragement, and to retrieve me for dinner. My
professional colleagues and friends at Campbell University have
continued to support me in this project as well. Marie Berry and
others at Wiggins Library secured interlibrary loans and gathered
books from shelves; my academic dean, Derek Hogan, shuffled my
course load and let me teach a class on the Christian Apocrypha
to facilitate this project; and Jennifer Bashaw joined me in eve-
ning conversations and virtual cocktail hours to reflect together
on these topics and the best ways to present them to students from
xi

x i i |    A cknowledgments

all different backgrounds. To my students at Campbell University

Divinity School, where I have had the pleasure of teaching for the
last seven years: thank you all for, in numerous ways, helping me
complete this work. I have patterned this book on the course-
work created for our NT 1 class, incorporating insights from
our conversations together and the thoughtful questions and
perspectives you all bring. I hope you can see some of the fruit
of our time together in this work. Finally, I wish to thank Patricia
Tull and Steve Wiggins, who invited me to participate in this se-
ries. Their feedback and timely conversations helped to make this
a better book. I am grateful for their trust in giving me the task of
introducing the Gospels and Acts.
xi

SERIES INTRODUCTION

The past three decades have seen an explosion of approaches to

study of the Bible, as older exegetical methods have been joined by
a variety of literary, anthropological, and social models. Interfaith
collaboration has helped change the field, and the advent of
more cultural diversity among biblical scholars in the West and
around the world has broadened our reading and interpretation
of the Bible. These changes have also fueled interest in Scripture’s
past: both the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean worlds out
of which Scripture came and the millennia of premodern interpre-
tation through which it traveled to our day. The explosion of in-
formation and perspectives is so vast that no one textbook can any
longer address the many needs of seminaries and colleges where
the Bible is studied.
In addition to these developments in the field itself are changes
in the students. Traditionally the domain of seminaries, graduate
schools, and college and university religion classes, now biblical study
also takes place in a host of alternative venues. As lay leadership in
local churches develops, nontraditional, weekend, and online prepar-
atory classes have mushroomed. As seminaries in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America grow, particular need for inexpensive, easily available
xvi

x i v |    S eries I ntroduction

materials is clear. As religious controversies over the Bible’s origins and

norms continue to dominate the airwaves, congregation members
and even curious nonreligious folk seek reliable paths into particular
topics. And teachers themselves continue to seek guidance in areas of
the ever-​expanding field of scriptural study with which they may be
less than familiar.
A third wave of changes also makes this series timely: shifts
in the publishing industry itself. Technologies and knowledge are
shifting so rapidly that large books are out of date almost before
they are in print. The internet and the growing popularity of e-​
books call for flexibility and accessibility in marketing and sales.
If the days when one expert can sum up the field in a textbook are
gone, also gone are the days when large, expensive multiauthored
tomes are attractive to students, teachers, and other readers.
During my own years of seminary teaching, I have tried to
find just the right book or books for just the right price, at just the
right reading level for my students, with just enough information
to orient them without drowning them in excess reading. For all
the reasons stated above, this search was all too often less than suc-
cessful. So I was excited to be asked to help Oxford University Press
assemble a select crew of leading scholars to create a series that
would respond to such classroom challenges. Essentials of Biblical
Studies comprises freestanding, relatively brief, accessibly written
books that provide orientation to the Bible’s contents, its ancient
contexts, its interpretive methods and history, and its themes and
figures. Rather than a one-​size-​had-​better-​fit-​all approach, these
books may be mixed and matched to suit the objectives of a variety
of classroom venues as well as the needs of individuals wishing to
find their way into unfamiliar topics.
xv

S E R I E S I N T R O D U C T I O N    |   x v

I am confident that our book authors will join me in returning

enthusiastic thanks to the editorial staff at Oxford University Press
for their support and guidance, especially Theo Calderara, who
shepherded the project in its early days, and Dr. Steve Wiggins,
who has been a most wise and steady partner in this work since
joining OUP in 2013.
Patricia K. Tull
Series Editor
xvi
xvi

ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviations follow the SBL Handbook of Style, 2nd ed.

(Atlanta: SBL Press, 2014). Works not included in the handbook
are abbreviated as follows.

BRS Biblical Resource Series

BSL Biblical Studies Library
BW BibleWorld
CEB Contemporary English Bible
HCS Hellenistic Culture and Society
IJL Interpreting Johannine Literature
NCBC New Cambridge Bible Commentary
PROG. Progymnasmata (or Preliminary Exercises)
RNT Reading the New Testament
SNTP Studies on New Testament Personalities
xvi
1

Introduction
Reading the Gospels and Acts in Context

WHEN WE OPEN OUR NEW Testaments, the first five books we

read are stories. Although they are not the earliest documents
written in the canon (that honor belongs to the Letters of Paul),
they are the stories that form the foundation for the writings that
follow. We cannot very well read Paul (or read his writings very
well) without first having an idea of who the “Jesus” is who in-
spired his evangelical and pastoral vigor. The first five books of the
canon record and retell stories about Jesus, who early followers
came to claim was God’s Christ and Son (Matt 1:1; Mark 1:1;
Luke 1:35), and even God’s Word made flesh (John 1:14–​18). The
person, Jesus of Nazareth, was regarded by his first followers as
the unique messenger and agent of God at the turning of the ages;
the one God chose and used to deliver the message of the coming
Kingdom of God (or Heaven, in Matthew). The four canonical
Gospels—​Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—​focus their stories
on Jesus himself. They offer related, and connected, narratives
about Jesus’s beginnings, the start of his ministry, the miracles
he performed and conflicts he faced (and caused!), as well as
his death, and the proclamation of his resurrection. The book
of Acts, however, is different because it focuses more on Jesus’s
followers than on Jesus himself. The second volume from the au-
thor traditionally identified as “Luke,” the beloved physician of
Col 4:4, Acts tells the story of how the message about Jesus as
God’s Christ and Son spread from Jerusalem to Rome. Although

An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts. Alicia D. Myers, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University
Press 2022. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780190926809.003.0001
2

2 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

Rome was the center of the world from the point of view of the
Roman Empire, it forms part of the “end” of the earth from the
perspective of Acts.
Together, these five stories are the focus of our study in this
book, but they are not the only writings we will discuss. After all,
even though these five books made it into what the later Christians
called the “New Testament” (NT), there were other stories about
Jesus and the apostles who followed him and spread his mes-
sage.1 Early disciples, much like later readers, had questions about
Jesus that remained unanswered in the canonical Gospels, and
they created and passed down stories meant to teach something
else about this unique man, his earthly family, and his first dis-
ciples: “What was Jesus like as a child?” for example, or “Why
was Mary chosen to be his mother?” Inspired by believers re-
cording and retelling stories about Jesus and his followers, other
Christians wrote their own versions of events. These stories share
additional interpretations of Jesus and the apostles, who spread
Jesus’s message far beyond the largely east-​to-​west route pre-
served in Acts.2 This book will help you encounter these writings
anew, or even for the first time, prioritizing their messages in the
first centuries of the early Christian movement as it developed in
the Roman Empire, before considering their continued relevance
in our world today.
Before jumping into these stories, then, our first tasks are to un-
derstand how this book works and to provide some background on
what exactly the Gospels and Acts are, as literature and as messages
about and from early Jesus-​followers. In what follows, I will offer
a quick overview of my method and several assumptions to keep
in mind as you read. I will then discuss three key issues: (1) the
definition of “Gospel” versus the “Gospels”; (2) understanding the
Gospels and Acts as literature, with some thoughts on historicity;
and (3) the relationships between the four canonical Gospels.
Finally, I will give you a short synopsis of the book, summarizing
the flow of each chapter.
3

I ntroduction   |   3

METHODS AND ASSUMPTIONS

When exploring the writings of the New Testament, bound to-

gether in contemporary Bibles of all sorts, it can be easy to forget
their complex origins. The Gospels and Acts have their beginnings
as stories, some told by Jesus and many told about him, collected
and preserved by early followers. It is only later that believers
crafted what we call “Gospels”; the Gospel of Mark, first, and then
Matthew, Luke, and John. The book of Acts is the second volume
to the Gospel of Luke, completing Luke’s story by moving from the
narrative of Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, to the
events after the ascension: the story of the early believers who came
to call themselves “Christians” (Acts 11:26). A number of scholars
have devoted their attention to reconstructing this complicated oral
and compositional past. These methods are called “diachronic”;
they seek to reconstruct how the writings came to be in their pre-
sent form through (dia) time (chronic). While valuable, I will use
synchronic methods in this book. This means I will examine the NT
writings in the form we have them today without entering detailed
conversations of how they arrived in their present forms. More
specifically, I will focus on the form available in the New Revised
Standard Version (NRSV), which is based on the twenty-​seventh
edition of the Nestle-​Aland Greek New Testament.3 My intention in
focusing on the “final form” of these books is not to deny their com-
plex construction, but, rather, to help you encounter these stories
as we have them today. As an introductory text, this book seeks to
situate you in these writings and their ancient contexts so that you
can continue on to more in-​depth studies.
The methods I will use include narrative-​and audience-​
critical approaches.4 What this means is I will examine the Gospels
and Acts as stories (narratives) representing various genres from
the ancient Roman world. We will spend time examining main
characters, plots, and themes in addition to literary features. I will
also devote attention to a variety of historical and contextual
4

4 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

elements in each chapter, spreading them out over the course of

the book, in order to provide a richer understanding of how these
stories could have been heard by their initial audiences. Although
we cannot entirely reconstruct the ancient contexts from which
these writings come, or the exact ways in which they were read and
heard in these contexts, we can formulate probable interpretations
by learning as much as we can about the ancient Roman world. In
this way, we will tune our ears to hear as closely as we can to how
ancients heard them, thus enabling us to pick up on imagery, deci-
pher metaphors and symbols, and uncover meanings to which our
ears would otherwise be deaf or mishearing.
As a part of my audience-​ critical approach, I will use a
range of other methods in each chapter, some more traditionally
historical-​critical in nature, while others are more contemporary,
such as disability studies and gender analysis. I will explore one
contextual theme per chapter, using the selected theme as a lens
for interpreting the biblical book discussed. Beginning with the
earliest Gospel, Mark, we will examine the political realities of
Roman Palestine that contribute to the apocalyptic outlook of this
story of Jesus. Far from a neutral recounting of Jesus’s story, Mark’s
depiction highlights the overlaps between politics and religion that
were pervasive in the Roman Empire. In the chapter on Matthew,
we will turn our attention to this Gospel’s extensive use of Scripture
(what Christians now call the “Old Testament”)5 in its portrayal of
Jesus as the Messiah. Matthew’s quotations of Scripture form only
one part of this Gospel’s engagement with first-​century Judaism,
helping us to understand better the complex world in which Jesus
lived and of which his first followers were a part.
Reading Luke’s Gospel brings us close to a number of people
often left on the margins of society, making it a perfect pairing for
exploring ancient Roman understandings of identity and human-
ness. In this chapter, we will ask how class, gender, physical ability,
and so on impact one’s perceived value in the Roman world and in
God’s Kingdom. The book of Acts continues Luke’s story, and his
characteristic emphasis on God’s inclusiveness, but it also places
5

I ntroduction   |   5

a special emphasis on the role of the Holy Spirit. This chapter,

therefore, will build on previous observations from Luke’s Gospel
and add to them an examination of conversion, repentance, and
the role of spirits in the Roman world. Our study of the Gospel of
John will benefit from all the previous chapters while examining
in more detail its associations with ancient philosophies and its
troubling presentation of the Jews. The final thematic chapter of
the book then follows with an examination of additional gospels
and acts that did not make it into the NT canon. Found in the so-​
called Christian Apocrypha, these writings represent some of the
most popular extracanonical works of the early Christian move-
ment. Including them in this book not only exposes us to addi-
tional interpretations of Jesus and his followers from the ancient
world, but also helps us better understand the process of canoni-
zation that eventually led to the collection we now call the “New
Testament.”
The purpose of the narrative and contextual readings presented
in this book is not to leave these writings in the ancient world.
Instead, these contexts and analyses should enable you to inter-
pret them better in contemporary contexts, as well as see their di-
verse and ambiguous histories of interpretation. The Gospels and
Acts preserved in the Christian NT are stories about Jesus and his
first followers, but they are also stories that are intended to shape
their audiences, regardless of the century in which they live. The
characters in these stories, whether positive, negative, or ambiv-
alent, are portrayed to impact the characters of their audiences.
We are made better readers, and shaped to have better characters,
when we first seek to understand these writings in their own,
ancient contexts. With this foundation, we are prepared to have
responsible and ethical interpretations today. Deciphering real
connections to the past, as well as real differences, enables us to
hear the stories more fully, ask questions even when they make us
uncomfortable, and continue encountering the relevance of these
writings, even after two thousand years of use, misuse, and even
abuse in Western culture.
6

6 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

THE “GOSPEL” AND THE “GOSPELS”

The canonical Gospels have a complicated past. Although this

complication includes composition, it begins with their definition
as “gospels.” Contemporary readers of the four Gospels often as-
sume that a “gospel” is a type of writing, a genre in which the story
of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection is told. Yet, while this de-
scription does become part of the definition of “gospel” in later
centuries, the word’s origins actually reach back much farther.
When the NT authors (whether they be individuals or groups) re-
sponsible for the Gospels and Acts use the word “gospel,” it is in
connection with the earlier meanings.
The word “gospel” comes from the Greek term euangelion,
which can also be translated as “good news.” This second translation
is more transparent to the Greek, which literally means “good” (eu-​)
“message” or “news” (angelion). In Greek and Roman contexts, “good
news” usually pertained to military conquests and battles. After
a victory was secured, a messenger was sent with “good news” to
tell the inhabitants of a commander’s or king’s victory.6 Messengers
were encouraged to bring good news quickly and the first to arrive
was welcomed with a reward (Od. 14.152–​66; Aristophanes, Eq.
647; Plut. 765). Those who tarried, in contrast, could be punished
(Plutarch, Demetr. 17.1–​5)! When the messenger arrived, the dec-
laration of good news was only the first part of a celebration in the
city; it was followed by sacrifices offered to the gods who enabled
the victory to be secured as well as the communal consumption
of those offerings (Xenophon, Hell. 4.3.14; Isocrates, Areop. 7.10;
Plutarch, Sert. 11.1–​4). As Gerhard Friedrich explains, the declara-
tion of authentic “good news does not merely declare salvation; it
effects it.”7 The arrival of the news sparks a celebration as the people
begin to live out the salvation effected in the present, as well as
looking toward the future. Having been “saved” from ongoing war,
salvation means they can appreciate the lives and livelihoods they
now have without fear of their imminent destruction.
7

I ntroduction   |   7

Similar uses of euangelion and its related words are found in

the Greek translation of the Old Testament (OT) or Hebrew Bible
(HB), which is called the Septuagint (LXX). Although the singular
euangelion is not found in the LXX, its plural form is, as are various
verbal forms (euangelizō, euangelizomai). Especially important is
the use of these terms in the book of Isaiah. In Isa 40:9–​10 the “one
delivering good news” (ho euanglizomenos) is encouraged to hurry
to Zion and tell the troubled city, “See, your God! See, the Lord
comes with strength and his arm with authority; see, his reward
is with him, and his work before him. He will tend his flock like
a shepherd and gather lambs with his arm and comfort those that
are with young.”8 This message of comfort and deliverance greets
Zion in Isaiah 40–​66, sometimes also called Second and Third
Isaiah, which describe Judah’s return from the Babylonian exile
(see also Isa 52:7, 60:6, 61:1). The NT Gospels regularly appeal to
this section of Isaiah as a means of describing the arrival of Jesus
as God’s “Christ” (or Messiah),9 another term with a connection to
Isaiah (Isa 45:1).
Beyond just the LXX, however, other Jewish works make use
of the Greek term euangelion to describe the “good news” of God’s
victory on behalf of God’s people, often over and against those who
oppose them (and, therefore, oppose God). These writings con-
tinue building on the sentiment of Isaiah 40–​66, often alluding to
these writings directly. In exploring the history of the term, scholars
note the significance of Isaianic motifs in the Qumran community,
who composed the Dead Sea Scrolls.10 This sectarian Jewish group
secluded themselves in the Judean desert in what they believed was
a faithful response to Isaiah’s command, “A voice cries out in the
wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the de-
sert a highway for our God’ ” (Isa 40:3). The difference in punctu-
ation in my version from the NRSV is intentional; the Qumranites
believed they were to go out “in the wilderness” and “in the desert”
prepare for God’s divine visitation. From their place in the desert,
the Qumranites proclaimed the “good news” of God’s victory and
8

8 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

repeated Isaiah’s specific concern for the poor that Jesus likewise
proclaims in Luke 4:18–​19 (Isa 61:1).
When the NT Gospels use the term “gospel” (and any seman-
tically related words), therefore, they do so in the midst of this rich
context. The word itself is not new. What is new is the application
of this word to describe Jesus’s conception and birth, his ministry,
and the story of his death and resurrection. Mark’s use of euangelion
to describe Jesus’s proclamation as he travels throughout Galilee
resonates with the broader use of the term in the ancient Roman
context, while also giving it a particular spin: this is, as expected,
“good news” about a kingdom, but it is the “Kingdom of God” as
declared by Jesus of Nazareth (Mark 1:14–​15). Moreover, by begin-
ning his Gospel with the line, “The beginning of the good news of
Jesus Christ,” Mark effectively declares his entire story to be “good
news” now delivered to all those who hear his account (Mark 1:1).
When Jesus arrives with the announcement of his “good news”
in Mark 1:14–​15, he is the first messenger, the one encouraged
to speak in Isa 40:9 and with “beautiful feet” from Isa 52:7. Jesus
announces God’s victory and the arrival of God’s Kingdom, which
brings deliverance from oppression, healing, restoration, and
justice for God’s people. Mark continues telling this news, but
lengthens it to include Jesus’s ministerial activities, death, and
promised resurrection.
Luke, in particular, builds on Mark’s use of the Isaianic im-
agery. In fact, in Luke Jesus quotes from a combination of Isaiah
52 and 61 to describe his arrival and work at his hometown syn-
agogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16–​19; see also Matt 11:5). Jesus will
“bring good news to the poor, . . . proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free”
(4:18–​19). He paraphrases and enacts this mission statement again
in Luke 7:20–​22 in an attempt to clarify his identity as the Christ
to John the Baptist and his confused disciples. After Jesus’s death
and victorious resurrection, however, the “good news” proclaimed
changes. Thus, in the book of Acts, it is no longer just about God’s
coming Kingdom shared by the chosen messenger, Jesus, but also
9

I ntroduction   |   9

the news that “Jesus is the Christ” now spread by means of his
Spirit-​anointed followers (Acts 1:8, 5:42, 8:4–​40, 17:18).
The word “gospel,” therefore, perhaps imitates Jesus’s own use,
but it is assuredly grounded in Isaiah’s promises and proclama-
tion.11 The orality of “gospel” is crucial to our understanding of
this term. A “gospel” is an active message, brought to a people,
and meant to inspire celebration and allegiance. It is not, first and
foremost, a book, let alone a fully developed literary genre. In these
stories, Jesus speaks the “gospel” of God’s coming, and already pre-
sent, Kingdom. His followers come to understand this message
to also include the “good news” of Jesus’s death and resurrection
in their own evangelizing efforts in Acts, efforts that Jesus first
proclaims to them in Acts 1:8. These believers are Jesus’s witnesses
by continuing to proclaim good news. It is only much later, then,
that gospels become recognized as written works. If we fail to note
that this is a process, and one that continues even after the first
Gospel was written, we will lose sight of the dynamism of Jesus’s
message, characterization, and reception by his earliest followers.

THE GOSPELS AND ACTS

A S L I T E R AT U R E

Even though there was a progression from Christians proclaiming

a “gospel” to writing “Gospels,” that does not mean the NT Gospels
themselves have no connections to ancient literature. Instead,
when the NT Gospels were collected, written, and edited, they
were in the midst of a world accustomed to various techniques and
expectations from other types of literature in the ancient Roman
world. As part of the extreme minority of people who could read
and write, these authors (along with any other people in their
communities who actually wrote, composed, collected, edited, and
preserved these writings) were educated, at least to some extent.12
This means they would have been exposed to various genres of lit-
erature, performance, argumentation, and rhetorical techniques
10

1 0 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

from the Roman world as well as from Scripture, to which each of

the Gospels refers throughout. Although we might often overlook
it, the Gospels, like the rest of the NT writings, were composed in a
context that prized education and communication, at least for the
elite.13 Education was social capital that showcased status as well as
values. When the Gospel authors and other believers take the time
to collect, organize, and compose their stories about Jesus, they do
so in ways that both resonate with their ancient contexts and high-
light their own values in contrast to those of the dominant culture.
The Gospels mirror most closely the genre of ancient bi-
ography (bios), which was a historical type of narrative writing
meant to capture and convey the character (ēthos) of its subject.14
This is in contrast to strictly historiographical writings that were
to focus more on major events (i.e., wars) than on the people
who participated in them.15 Biographies record major events and
sayings from a subject’s life as determined by the author. Authors,
of course, were selective about what they included, some of-
fering more details than others. Rather than simple accounts of
fact, biographies were written in order to persuade audiences.
In particular, they were meant to shape the characters (ēthoi) of
their audiences. Biographies are inherently “ethical” literature, in-
tending to encourage imitation of qualities presented as virtues
and avoidance of those presented as vices. In his introduction
to his Life of Aemilius Paullus, for example, Plutarch explains his
goals are to shape his own life after models of virtue, as well as
the lives of his audiences (Aem. 1.1–​8). Philo, too, suggests that
his Life of Moses should encourage his readers to imitate Moses’s
virtue (1.155–​62). Like these other ancient biographies, the ca-
nonical Gospels retell Jesus’s life story by exploring recognizable
commonplaces (topoi) assumed to be indicative of a person’s
character. These topoi include “origin, nature, training, disposi-
tion, age, fortune, morality, action, speech, manner of death, and
what followed death.”16 Rather than always retelling these events
in chronological order, however, ancients could organize mate-
rial by theme or topos, such as describing all the public shows a
1

I ntroduction   |   1 1

subject sponsored in his lifetime (Suetonius, Jul. 39) or collecting

all his parables about seeds in one chapter (Mark 4). They could
also combine these approaches, switching between chronological
and thematic approaches in a given work.
In these writings, authors had some freedom with their ma-
terial, so long as it was ultimately deemed clear, concise, and
credible.17 As with contemporary writings, ancients criticized
one another’s work if it failed to meet accepted standards. What
this means for us is that while the four canonical Gospels vary
in their telling of Jesus’s life story, that does not necessarily mean
they were considered poorly written or even unhistorical. Instead,
as biographies, the Gospels needed to reflect the accepted Jesus
traditions from their own contexts, but they could select from this
collection and present them in whatever way was believed most
compelling. In other words, communication of truth is more than
simply an accurate list of Jesus’s itinerary and precise diction.
Instead, the goal is to showcase Jesus’s entire person, his character,
so that it will inspire those who hear the Gospel to imitate his ex-
ample regardless of the consequences. Such lofty aspirations de-
mand more than a verbatim recording of Jesus’s precise movements
and speeches; they require interpretation and persuasive power
in their communication. Far from lies, our ancient authors and
communities would argue this is the real truth we should be
after. When Luke adds a second volume, a historiography of the
movement of the Holy Spirit to spread the gospel to the ends of
the earth, he extends this understanding of the truth still further.
Having learned that Jesus is God’s Christ, Luke argues, one should
be compelled to spread this good news to the whole of creation.

T H E G O S P E L S I N R E L AT I O N S H I P

The discussion in the previous section provides an implied rationale

about why there are four Gospels in the NT instead of one. There
are four Gospels because we have four different perspectives and
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interpretations of the Jesus story; and each of them has elements

to highlight as true over (and sometimes against) the others. We
should not be surprised by this. Different people are bound to re-
member different events and sayings of Jesus, and they are also
bound to interpret even the same things in different ways.18 That
we have four canonical accounts of Jesus’s life means we have four
differing recollections and renditions of his identity and mission.
Rather than a dilution of history, it is an abundance from which to
learn about him, as well as about how Jesus was interpreted and
reinterpreted by early believers in diverse settings.
In fact, several of the canonical Gospels display awareness
of one another, as well as additional Jesus traditions not found
elsewhere. Most scholars argue that Mark’s account is the oldest,
with its brevity, rapid pace, and missing birth and resurrection
stories.19 The authors of Matthew and Luke had access to Mark’s
account, to which they added their own unique material to fill in
some of the gaps, but they also respected Mark’s account enough
to include large portions of it in their own stories (around 90%
of it in Matthew and 50% in Luke). This inclusion is not simply
paraphrasing, but verbatim repetition, demonstrating Mark’s ac-
ceptance among early Christians as containing truthful and com-
pelling depictions of Jesus and his mission. Even if Mark’s was not
the most beloved Gospel of the early church (Papias, for example,
excuses his brevity and missing information),20 it was accepted
and respected; it could not simply be ignored. At least, that’s what
Matthew and Luke seem to indicate.
In addition to quoting large portions of Mark, Matthew and
Luke also repeat material that is only found in their own writings
(sometimes called the “double tradition”). A number of scholars
argue this indicates the existence of a “sayings source” that they
call “Q” or Quelle (the German word for “source”). For proponents
of the “Two-​Source Hypothesis,” Matthew and Luke used Mark
and Q to write their own Gospels. The problem with this theory,
however, is that no manuscripts of Q have ever been found. In re-
cent years, Mark Goodacre has revived the Farrer hypothesis, so
13

I ntroduction   |   1 3

named for Austin Farrer, who proposed it in 1955. According to

Farrer, there is no Q source. Instead, the order of composition of
the Gospels is Mark, then Matthew, and then Luke. Matthew used
Mark to write his own version, while Luke used both Mark and
Matthew, thus explaining the existence of the “double-​tradition”
without any need for Q.21
The difficulty of all this source work is the inability to prove
it with absolute certainty. We do not have any autographs of the
Gospels, nor can we access any hypothesized oral and written
traditions behind these stories. Indeed, recent scholars have
renewed attention to the beginnings of Christian literature, espe-
cially the composition of the Gospels. Should Mark’s Gospel be
seen as a type of rough draft, left purposely unfinished for later
authors, such as Matthew and Luke, to complete?22 Perhaps we
have assumed the primacy of orality in unhelpful ways, focusing
too much on hypothetical believing communities who collected
and eventually knitted together stories to create Gospels for their
own, seemingly isolated, use.23 It might be better to again explore
the literary relationships, and perhaps even competition, between
the four canonical Gospels as well as their apocryphal partners.24
Whatever the very beginnings of the written traditions about Jesus,
what we now have are four canonical Gospels that show careful
literary artistry, even if Mark is notably shorter and missing signif-
icant events found in the later Gospels. If it is an incomplete draft,
it has a surprisingly complete narrative arch and was preserved
rather than tossed aside when “more finished” versions emerged.
Moreover, the growing awareness of the literary connections be-
tween these writings and those of the Greco-​Roman world should
caution us against assuming these early Christian authors were
simple peasants.25 The messages of caring for the poor and down-
trodden are encased in Gospels that replicate literary forms of the
elite, perhaps making their messages all the more countercultural.
Rather than asserting one of these more recent theories here, how-
ever, I will follow the more established Farrer hypothesis suggested
by Goodacre as a sort of middle way in this conversation. I also
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1 4 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

wish to note the growing trend away from singular communities as

the recipients of the individual Gospels. Although I will discuss the
Gospel communities, I do not mean to imply that these Gospels
were read in isolation or only meant for a single group of believers.
Instead, the summaries are meant to ground our initial investiga-
tion of the Gospels, locating the author in a given context while
acknowledging the potential (and, indeed, the reality) of a much
wider audience.
The question of where the Gospel of John comes into this dis-
cussion is an important one. John’s Gospel, unlike the Synoptic tra-
dition of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, does not repeat large swaths
of material from these other Gospels. In fact, John often includes
material that no other Gospel has! If John knew about these other
traditions, this Gospel is not beholden to them. The audacity of
John’s potential ignoring of the Synoptics is part of why Johannine
independence was at one time well established among scholars.
John must not look like the Synoptics simply because he did not
know them. His is the “spiritual gospel” in contrast to their more
“historical accounts” (Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 6.14.7).
Due to the work of many Johannine scholars, however, the
pendulum is now shifting.26 Indeed, John does seem aware of some
Synoptic traditions. For example, Jesus clears the temple, albeit at
the beginning of his ministry, and states the words with which he
is falsely charged in Mark (John 2:19; Mark 15:29); he decries the
need to ask God to “save me,” which again undercuts Mark’s ac-
count (John 12:27; Mark 14:30); he includes stories about a Mary
and Martha, just like Luke (John 11–​12; Luke 10:38–​42); and he
also has Peter visit Jesus’s empty tomb, again like Luke (John 20:5;
Luke 24:12). According to Paul Anderson, John reinterprets the
Markan tradition and could have been among the accounts that
influenced Luke’s composition.27 Far from an independent tradi-
tion, therefore, John’s Gospel participates the larger early Christian
reflection and interpretation of the Jesus story, and it should be
read as an integral part of the whole rather than an elevated or
ahistorical outlier.
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I ntroduction   |   1 5

M O V I N G F O R WA R D

The rest of this book will focus on digging more deeply into the
Gospels and Acts individually, while also commenting on their
possible relationships to one another as part of the larger collec-
tion of early Christian traditions about Jesus and his first disci-
ples. The specific themes I will explore have already been outlined,
but I will also follow a pattern within each chapter. Each chapter
on the canonized Gospels and Acts contains four parts: (1)
“Contextualizing the Composition,” which will lay out basic his-
torical background information on each writing as well as explore
one especially pertinent historical or cultural issue; (2) “Literary
Overview,” which will provide a basic outline of the flow and struc-
ture of each book, as well as highlight important literary features;
(3) “Key Passages and Themes,” which will focus on a few selected
ideas from each book; and (4) “Conclusions,” which draws these
lines of interpretation together for reflection. Chapter 7, which
focuses on the apocryphal gospels and acts, varies from this format
in order to give space to issues of canon formation and adequate
summaries of the apocryphal works. It is my hope that this book
serves as a solid foundation for your reading of the NT. As a guide,
this book is meant to come alongside your reading of the Gospels
and Acts, pointing out backgrounds and implications you have
not yet seen, or which you have noticed, but perhaps did not have
the tools to unpack. I will work through each chapter of material
with the assumption that you have read, and are reading, the corre-
sponding material. This book cannot replace your encounters with
these texts; it is only meant to provide you a more in-​depth and
enriched experience as you read and reflect on them yourself.
16

Mark’s Story
The Gospel in Roman Palestine

ALTHOUGH THE GOSPEL OF MARK appears second in the NT

canon, it was probably the first of the four to be written and dis-
tributed. Matthew and Luke retell significant portions of Mark,
and John incorporates Markan elements as well, even if just to un-
dercut them (cf. Mark 14:30 with John 12:27; see introduction).
It’s better for us to start our study with Mark’s version of the “good
news” because it is the foundation for later narratives about the
life of Jesus of Nazareth, even those outside the NT canon. We
will start with the possible context for Mark’s composition before
moving on to a literary overview, and a section devoted to several
important passages and themes.
As you read this chapter, keep your copy of the Gospel of
Mark handy. Ideally, you should read it in a way similar to an-
cient audiences: in one sitting, and without chapter and verse
delineations determining your divisions of the story.1 Keep in mind
that ancient audiences would have heard the Gospel performed
instead of reading it silently on their own. Rather than a dry, sa-
cred text written in columns on vanishingly thin paper, the earliest
audiences gathered to watch it read aloud.2 The Gospel of Mark is
not just meant to impact its audiences’ beliefs about Jesus, but also
to entertain them in the process!

An Introduction to the Gospels and Acts. Alicia D. Myers, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University
Press 2022. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780190926809.003.0002
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M ark ’ s S tory   |   1 7

CONTEXTUALIZING THE COMPOSITION

The Basics: Authorship, Date, and Location

The stories that make up what we now have as the “Gospel ac-
cording to Mark” probably began as oral traditions, told and retold
by witnesses, and later audiences, about the life of a certain Jesus
from the small, Galilean village of Nazareth. We have no record
of Jesus himself writing down any of his own sayings or deeds; in-
stead, we rely on the stories passed down about him and recorded
by his followers. This means we cannot trace the rough drafts of
the Gospel of Mark or recover a single “original” version. Rather,
the Gospel we have was likely finished around the time of the First
Jewish War against Rome (66–​73 CE).
The Gospel’s traditional location of composition is tied to its
attribution. The early church historian Eusebius of Caesarea (ca.
265–​339 CE) transmits the tradition that this Gospel was written
in Rome by John Mark, the onetime missionary companion of
Paul who became a steadfast disciple of Peter. Writing in haste
as Peter’s execution under Emperor Nero’s persecution drew near
(64 CE), Mark scrambled to compile what Peter remembered
from Jesus’s life, death, and promised resurrection.3 This origin
story gives credibility to Mark’s account since Peter was the pri-
mary spokesperson for the disciples in each canonized Gospel. It
also justifies the Gospel’s shortcomings. In such circumstances,
no one could fault Mark for writing a rushed and incomplete ac-
count. It would be the job of later authors to flesh out this initial
version.
Recent scholars, though, often question this tale. Rather than
necessarily dismissing it as romantic and dramatic fantasy, scholars
suggest there are clues in the Gospel itself that point to a different
provenance. Mark’s Gospel reflects several details from Jerusalem,
Palestine, and Syria associated with the events of the First Jewish
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1 8 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

War.4 For example, while in the temple in Mark 11:17, Jesus rebukes
the people for making it a “den of robbers.” The Greek, however,
is better translated as a “rebels’ hideout.” As the most fortified
location in Jerusalem, the temple was used as a fortress for the
revolutionaries in 68–​70 CE. When the three Roman legions sur-
rounding Jerusalem finally broke into the city after a four-​month
siege, they looted and destroyed the temple before slaughtering a
multitude of remaining inhabitants. Mark’s language, then, may re-
flect Jerusalem’s reality during this time period. Additional details,
such as Mark’s specificity of ethnicity of the “Syrophoenician”
woman in 7:26, and the note about Simon of Cyrene’s children in
15:21, could also point to a Syrian or Palestinian provenance since
such information would be most relevant for someone geograph-
ically close enough to the events to know these differences and
people.
Regardless of its location of composition, however, scholars
agree Mark was written just prior to the destruction of Jerusalem
in 70 CE. In Mark 13:14, Jesus warns the disciples (and the au-
dience listening) to flee Jerusalem when they see the “desolating
sacrilege standing where it ought not to be.” Following this
warning is a parenthetical note, “let the reader understand,”
which instructs the one reading aloud to explain its meaning.
Unfortunately, we do not know exactly what that explanation
was! Matthew and Luke, both written after the temple’s de-
struction, provide greater clarity. Matthew ties the reference to
Daniel, signaling the establishment of an idol at the holy site,
but Luke offers us the clearest picture. For Luke, “the desolating
sacrilege” is the sight of “Jerusalem surrounded by armies”
(21:20), the legions who destroyed, defiled, and plundered the
city. Building on Mark’s initial version, Matthew and Luke repeat
Jesus’s instructions for the believers to flee rather than join in the
fight (Matt 24:15–​22; Luke 21:20–​24). While Mark anticipates
the temple’s demise, Matthew and Luke reflect on the aftermath
of this tragedy.
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M ark ’ s S tory   |   1 9

Digging Deeper: Roman Palestine in the

First Century

Understanding the political atmosphere of Roman Palestine, as

well as the larger Roman Empire, is crucial for interpreting the
NT Gospels and Acts. Jesus was a Jewish man living in the Roman
Empire, as were his earliest followers. The tension between Rome
and the Jewish population of Palestine eventually exploded not
only in the First Jewish War, but also a Second (the Bar Kokhba
Revolt, 132–​36 CE), which was prompted by Emperor Hadrian’s
actions against the Jews. Traditions describe Hadrian’s desire to re-
build Jerusalem as a Roman city and a possible prohibition against
circumcision. Hadrian renamed Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina, ded-
icated it to Jupiter, Rome’s patron deity, and planned to establish
it as a colony for retired soldiers. When the Jews rebelled for a
second time, there was another grueling siege and massacre. From
this point on, Hadrian sought to erase Jewish traces in Palestine by
changing its name from the “Province of Judea” to “Syria Palestine.”
He also expelled all Jews from Jerusalem, allowing them to enter
only once a year to mourn its destruction and, thus, remember
their subjection to Roman power.5
Although brutal, this subjugation to Rome in the first and
second centuries was only the latest in Judea’s series of wars, foreign
occupations, and expulsions. Stretching back to the Assyrian (722
BCE) and Babylonian conquests (586 BCE), Jewish occupants of Israel
(the “Northern Kingdom”) and Judea (the “Southern Kingdom”) had
been uprooted from their land and dispersed into Gentile lands. It
is from this dispersion that we get the term diaspora. When the OT
narratives pick up the story of some returnees to Judea during the
Persian Empire, it only recounts the return of descendants of the
Southern Kingdom, who come to the ruins of Jerusalem to rebuild
the temple and reestablish themselves in the land (Ezra-​Nehemiah).
Most Diaspora Jews (or “Judeans”), however, did not return to the
land, and the northern tribes were considered completely lost.
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2 0 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

The Persians eventually fell to Alexander the Great around 330

BCE. After his sudden death in 322 BCE, the residents of Judea
found themselves in a tug of war between two of his successors: the
Ptolemies of Egypt and the Seleucids of Syria. The more tolerant
Ptolemies were preferred, but eventually lost to the Seleucids.
The infamous Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes enraged
the zealous Jews of Judea by outlawing monotheistic worship of
YHWH, circumcision, dietary restrictions, and Sabbath observ-
ance in order to maintain control of Palestine after an attempted
coup. Antiochus’s policies sparked the Maccabean Revolt (167–​
164 BCE), which ousted the Seleucids from Judea and began the
brief reign of the Hasmoneans. The story of this war and its af-
termath is recorded in 1–​4 Maccabees. Lasting only one hundred
years, the Hasmoneans were the only Jewish rulers of Judea in
this entire span of time. Internal fighting among successors John
Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II, however, led to a call for Roman
aid. Rome took the invitation as a means to expand its growing
reach (Figure 2.1).

Black Sea

Rome Philippi

Corinth Athens

Damascus
Mediterranean Sea
Jerusalem
Cyrene
Alexandria

0 200 400 miles Re

dS
ea

Figure 2.1 The Roman Republic in 44 BCE. Rome eventually became an

empire when Augustus triumphed at the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE.
21

M ark ’ s S tory   |   2 1

Rome sent as its representative Pompey the Great, who not

only decided the conflict in favor of Hyrcanus, but also staked
the Roman claim on Judea in 63 BCE. To illustrate Roman rule,
Pompey marched straight into Jerusalem, into the temple, and
all the way into its inner sanctuary, thus declaring all of Judea for
Rome. Rome eventually established Herod I (also known as Herod
the Great) as a client king, who was tasked with the delicate job
of maintaining peace and negotiating Jewish customs with Roman
ones. Even though Herod’s own paranoid personality, combined
with the Judean population’s general dislike of him, led to conflict
within the royal household (he famously murdered both his wife
and son), Herod’s reign was largely successful. He built structures
throughout Palestine, such as aqueducts that still stand in Caesarea,
the fortress of Masada, the Herodium, and Sepphoris, the Roman
city where Jesus’s father, Joseph, and perhaps Jesus himself prac-
ticed their carpentry near Nazareth.
Most importantly, Herod expanded the temple in Jerusalem
in an attempt to return it to the grandeur of its Solomonic days.
Built with extensive taxes and forced labor, the temple dominated
Jerusalem’s landscape (see Figure 2.2). Josephus, a Jewish historian
from the first century CE, describes the massive building:6

Now the outward face of the temple in its front wanted nothing
that was likely to surprise either people’s minds or their eyes; for
it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and,
at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendor,
and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn
their eyes away, just as they would have done at the sun’s own rays.
But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were coming
to it at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow; for as to
those parts of it that were not gilt, they were exceeding white.
(J.W. V.5.6)

The temple was the center of Jewish life in Palestine, as well as of

Roman power, since all taxes eventually passed through its walls. It
2

2 2 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

Figure 2.2 Model of the Jerusalem temple, ca. 66 CE. Israel Museum,
Jerusalem. The Antonia Fortress, where the Roman soldiers resided and the
governor administered when in Jerusalem, is in the upper right-​hand corner.
Photograph by the author.

is this temple that Jesus enters, teaches in, and disrupts in the NT
Gospels.
The Jewish people in Judea (and elsewhere) had to nego-
tiate their faith practices with Roman culture daily. Romans, and
Greeks before them, thought Jews were odd for their distinctive
practices of male circumcision, food restrictions, and Sabbath ob-
servation. Romans generally tolerated Jews due to their antiquity.
They did not, however, respect those practices that they considered
odd or even barbaric, such as male circumcision.7 In Judea,
Roman authorities routinely experienced tension with Jews, many
of whom suffered under Rome’s heavy taxation. Rome relied on
priests and other Jewish leaders to help keep the peace. Priests of
aristocratic class benefited from their roles as moderators and tax
administrators, but they also had the precarious job of maintaining
equilibrium.
Tensions increased in the lead-​up to the First Jewish War over
further raises in taxes against the Judean population. When the
Roman governor, Gessius Florus, raided the temple to provide for
the emperor’s treasury and arrested those who resisted, a revolt
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M ark ’ s S tory   |   2 3

began in earnest. As was the case with the successful Maccabean

Revolt, those fighting saw themselves as God’s representatives,
ushering in a messianic age of peace and prosperity for the people
of Israel. When the rebellion was squashed, the temple was left in
ruins, and the priests who had failed to keep the peace no longer
had a place to serve. The result was a dramatic reshaping of an-
cient Jewish practices and self-​understanding that we will explore
in more detail in the next chapter.

Mark’s Cosmic Conflict

The Gospel of Mark was finalized during this time of Jewish con-
flict with Rome. This knowledge adds vividness to the conflicts
Jesus experiences with other authorities in the region. Given the
context, it is not surprising that the traditions Mark presents por-
tray Jesus’s life as one full of struggle. Jesus encounters resistance
from a variety of leaders, both Jewish and Roman, from his own
disciples, from would-​be followers, as well as from demons and
unclean spirits. Far from being welcomed into the cosmos, Jesus
faces opposition almost from the outset, even though he brings
“good news” that “the Kingdom of God has drawn near” (1:14).
The Gospel argues that, in spite of all appearances to the
contrary, Jesus’s message was truly one of “good news” even
though its proclamation ended with his death by Roman hands.
The contrast of the world’s appearances with the transcendent
truth of heaven is part of Mark’s apocalyptic tenor. Even though
the word “apocalypse” conjures up images of destruction and
death in contemporary Western settings, this word actually
means “revelation” or “unveiling.” It is also used to describe a
worldview that grew out of Persian-​era Judaism in response to
the extended oppression by foreign rulers. Apocalyptic views
eventually developed into a genre of literature, called “apoca-
lypse,” that begins in the writings of Isaiah and Daniel, and finds
its heyday in the Second Temple period (ca. 515 BCE–​70 CE)
and continues in Christian writings. New Testament writings
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2 4 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

convey apocalyptic outlooks that probably trace their roots

to Jesus’s teachings. Apocalyptic authors and teachers used
apocalypticism to explain why things could seem so bad in a
cosmos where God remained in control.8
Apocalyptic writers operate in binaries. Cosmic, spatial, eth-
ical, and temporal categories are placed in sharp relief: the battle
is between God and Satan; God is above all in heaven, and Satan
is below on earth; a person is either good or bad; people exist in
the present evil age, but look forward to the future, messianic
age. Even when the categories blur, they are still decipherable. In
Mark, for example, the disciples are ambiguous characters. They
sometimes get things right about Jesus, but, more often than not,
they get things wrong (e.g., 8:21). Mark’s Jesus forgives the disci-
ples when they fail, but he does not praise their confusion. Even
with ambiguous characters, the Gospel conveys a basic assump-
tion of good versus evil, better and worse. Like other apocalyptic
works, Mark maintains that God has already won the day against
the forces of evil.
Mark’s unique claim is that God’s will is revealed by means of
the anointed agent, Jesus of Nazareth, who proclaims the “good
news” of God’s reign in word, deed, and death. Thus, even though
Jesus’s death seems to be a defeat, it becomes the climactic evi-
dence of God’s in-​breaking reign. Indeed, it is just after Jesus dies
that the temple curtain is violently ripped from top to bottom,
indicating God’s breaking out from the heavens and into the world
(15:38). This scene connects back to the beginning of the Gospel
when the heavens tore, and the spirit descended on Jesus at his
baptism while a heavenly voice commissioned him as God’s Son
and Beloved (1:10). Possessed by God’s Spirit, Jesus defeats de-
monic powers through exorcisms (1:21–​ 28, 5:1–​
20), performs
miracles that subdue the created order (4:35–​41, 6:47–​51), and
bests opponents in verbal feuds (2:1–​12, 11:27–​12:44). The Gospel
claims this is the real story of God’s work in and though Jesus, but
only those who believe in Jesus as the Christ can understand it.
Like the disciples in Mark 4:11, the readers have been given the
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M ark ’ s S tory   |   2 5

“secret (or mystery) of the Kingdom of God” to see victory where

others would only see defeat.

LITERARY OVERVIEW

The Gospel of Mark has a number of characteristic literary features.

The Gospel’s tempo moves quickly, describing Jesus’s travels,
miracles, and parables in rapid succession through the first ten
chapters. The story then slows down remarkably, saving the final
six chapters to describe the last week of Jesus’s life, ending with
his crucifixion and foretold, but otherwise unseen, resurrection.
Later endings were added to the abrupt ending in 16:8; these later
witnesses describe Jesus’s resurrection in ways that reflect other
Gospel traditions, especially Luke and Acts.
Even though the Gospel moves rapidly, it does not rush
through events in the narrative. Sayings from Jesus occur in topical
collections of parables (4:1–​34) and healing stories (1:21–​2:12),
but the Gospel narrates individual scenes in striking detail. The
most apparent of these is the story of John the Baptist’s arrest and
execution in 6:14–​29. Mark’s version is longer than both Matthew’s
(14:1–​12) and Luke’s (9:7–​9). Mark provides more dialogue and
vividness to the story, increasing the depth of characterization for
Herod and Herodias, as well as Herodias’s daughter. Herod, for ex-
ample, is not just “sorry” for his oaths as in Matt 14:9, but “exceed-
ingly sorry” (Mark 6:26). Mark’s brevity and pace should not be
mistaken for sloppiness. While not as recognizably rhetorical as
Luke, or telling as many stories as Matthew, Mark demonstrates
literary finesse that should be appreciated.9
Part of this finesse surfaces in the Gospel’s frequent use of
inclusios. This sandwich-​type parallelism introduces one idea or
story, interrupts its progression with another, before returning
to finish the first topic. Mark 5:21–​43 offers a classic example
of this structure. While traveling to heal Jairus’s daughter, Jesus
is interrupted by a hemorrhaging woman, who reaches out
26

2 6 |   A n I ntroduction to the G ospels and A cts

for healing. Jesus stops to speak to the woman, delaying long

enough that Jairus’s daughter dies. Jesus, however, resumes his
travel with Jairus, encouraging Jairus to trust him along the
way. Rebuking the gathered mourners, Jesus ascends the stairs
in Jairus’s home and raises the girl back to life. The delay invites
readers to compare the woman, Jairus, and his daughter, as well
as reflect on what they learn from Jesus’s behavior. This literary
arrangement makes the stories in Mark more memorable and
aids in their interpretation since stories are interlaced rather
than isolated.
The repetition and many inclusios can make the Gospel of
Mark difficult to outline in a linear manner. The story looks for-
ward and backward, repeating material and overlapping themes
rather than creating distinct divisions in material. The outline
below provides a basic overview of the plot:

The beginning of the good news (1:1–​8:30)

The beginnings: Jesus’s baptism and proclamation (1:1–​15)
Deeds of power: teaching, healing, and debating near the
Sea (1:16–​6:6)
Food, feasts, and confusion (6:14–​8:30)

On the road to Jerusalem (8:31–​10:52)

Jesus predicts his death (8:31–​9:29)
Another death prediction (9:30–​10:31)
The third prediction (10:32–​52)

Conflict, death, and promised resurrection (11:1–​16:8)

Teachings in the temple (11:1–​13:37)
Last meals and arrest (14:1–​52)
Interrogations and crucifixion (14:53–​15:39)
Events after Jesus’s death (15:40–​16:8)

The beginning of Mark’s Gospel offers a synopsis of Jesus’s mis-

sion after highlighting his anointing by God’s Spirit (1:1–​15). This
Another random document with
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 + Ath p613 N 5 ’20 1200w
+ Outlook 126:654 D 8 ’20 70w

“Mr Bell had, of course, previously proved himself a scholarly and

responsible historian, a good literary craftsman, and an excellent
guide to old London. Here we have all his qualities at their best,
lighted up with an enthusiasm which good Londoners at any rate will
find exceedingly sympathetic. Now and then, perhaps, he allows his
fervour to run away with him.”

+ Sat R 130:320 O 16 ’20 640w

“We commend Mr Bell’s excellent book, with its wealth of new

material and its many illustrations and maps, to all who are
interested in the history of London.”

+ Spec 125:403 S 25 ’20 1850w

“The book is well and accurately referenced throughout.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p609 S 23

’20 1900w

BELL, WALTER GEORGE. Unknown London.

il *$1.50 Lane 914.21

20–5387
 “In the eighteen essays which make up this book—for most of them
are sufficiently personal to be given that name—is nothing that is not
interesting. Mr Bell has chosen, for the most part, from among those
antiquities of which everybody has heard but of which most people
know nothing. His ‘Unknown London’ deals with very familiar things
—with such things as Domesday book, the shrine of Edward the
confessor, London stone, the wax works in the abbey, the Roman
baths, the bells of St Clements, the bones of the mummy of Men-
Kau-Ra in the British museum, and London wall.”—The Times
[London] Lit Sup D 11 ’19

Ath p734 Je 4 ’20 1400w

Ath p763 Je 11 ’20 1250w
+ N Y Times 25:279 My 30 ’20 800w

“His book, while necessarily desultory, is readable and full of

information gathered at first hand.”

+ Outlook 124:657 Ap 14 ’20 70w

R of Rs 61:559 My ’20 100w

“If Mr Bell is so human and hearty an antiquary it is that in him

the antiquary and the journalist are admirably joined. The one gives
to his book the gusto of an enthusiast. The other prevents him from
ever forgetting, in his accumulation of knowledge, the art of
interesting others.”

+ Sat R 128:492 N 22 ’19 950w

 Spec 123:585 N 1 ’19 110w
Springf’d Republican p10 Jl 1 ’20 170w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p615 O 30
’19 60w

“The merit of his book is that the stories are retold here in a
simple, personal, and most attractive way. From first to last Mr Bell
is an admirable guide to old London, an enthusiast, well stored,
humorous and unfailingly entertaining.”

+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p731 D 11

’19 950w

BELLAIRS, CARLYON WILFROY. Battle of

Jutland; the sowing and the reaping. il *$5 Doran
940.45

(Eng ed 20–8002)

Lord Jellicoe has written his own account of the Jutland battle.
This book is by one of the critics of his policy, who says: “The ban on
discussion, which was felt by many as applying right up to the time of
the surrender of the German fleet, no longer exists. Nothing that can
be done now can remedy the past; but much that can be said may
safeguard the future. Hence this book, which must stand or fall in
proportion to its influence on future thought and action. It is not
intended to be any more than a critical survey. It is not a full history
of the battle of Jutland, for the policy of secrecy pursued by the
Admiralty, and the failure to hold an investigation, have made an
accurate history impossible for the time being.” (Preface) The book is
illustrated with diagrams and there is an appendix containing a
chronology of the battle; also an index.

“It has the authoritativeness that will give it value to historians.”

+ Booklist 17:23 O ’20

Review 2:677 Je 30 ’20 1400w

“For the general reader it has less value than for the naval expert.
Yet it is an interesting example of the kind of criticism which seems
to be encouraged among British naval officers, not for the sake of
mere controversy but in order to draw conclusions that may be
useful in the future.”

+ R of Rs 61:670 Je ’20 120w

“We do not quarrel with Captain Bellairs’s main conclusion, ... but
we could wish that his tone did not sometimes suggest that he fails to
be judicial.”

+ − Spec 124:277 F 28 ’20 1300w

“If his captious tone be ignored, there is much in Commander

Bellairs’s criticism in his more general chapters on the sowing which
is well said and is well worth saying. But we cannot commend his
tone and temper; and for the reasons we have given we can attach
very little weight to his onslaught on Lord Jellicoe.”
 − + The Times [London] Lit Sup p115 F 19
’20 1700w

BELLOC, HILAIRE. Europe and the faith. $2.25

Paulist press 940

20–15729

“Mr Belloc’s essay may be regarded as having a twofold aim,

although, to the mind of its author, this aim appears to be one and
indivisible. The first, and more narrowly historic aim of the essay, is
to present a new picture of the decline of the centralized Roman
empire and the subsequent building up of Europe, and the second,
more obviously philosophic aim, is to account for the modern
European consciousness in terms of (1) the Catholic faith and (2) the
reformation. To Mr Belloc these two objectives are not really distinct.
An account of Europe is an account of the Catholic faith, and an
account of the Catholic faith is an account of Europe.”—Ath

“The most convinced opponent of Mr Belloc’s views of the

historian’s qualifications will probably agree instantly that an
acquaintance with the Catholic faith is necessary to writing a history
of Europe, although he may not agree that the historian must be a
Catholic. But the strangest part of Mr Belloc’s assumption is that he
regards this condition as sufficient. We feel that Mr Belloc, although
a Catholic, has not understood European history, and that he does
not understand the modern European consciousness.” J. W. N. S.

− Ath p406 S 24 ’20 1150w

 “If many points of detail are not new, the explanation of their
import and bearing is original. In some cases the author’s critical
examination of sources is particular and minute.”

+ Cath World 112:535 Ja ’21 900w

“Mr Belloc writes with great earnestness. One could wish that the
solution of civilization’s difficulties were as simple as he judges it to
be; and that for the strength of his argument history were as
universally confirmatory of his preconceived thesis as it seems to
him.” Williston Walker

+ − N Y Evening Post p9 O 23 ’20 950w

“Our real objection to him is not that he has twisted history to his
own view—everybody does that—but that he has given us an
incomplete book, and even on his own showing he has left out the
vital part. He discusses at length the unified Roman state of Europe.
He discusses at length the unified Roman church of Europe. But he
omits to discuss the relations between the two.”

− + Sat R 130:338 O 23 ’20 1150w

“It is needless to say that from Mr Belloc’s whole conception of

Protestantism we profoundly dissent. He cannot conceive of men
opening their eyes and realising that they were serving an institution
and not the cause for which the institution stood. This fatal lack of
insight and comprehension effectually disqualifies him from giving
the impartial presentation of European history which he is desirous
of exhibiting, and almost completely nullifies the graphic force and
admirable clarity of his narrative.”
 − + Spec 125:858 D 24 ’20 1050w
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p603 S 16
’20 30w

“He has the courage of his consistency and the merit of a principle;
but neither is adequate to the perplexities of the modern world.”

− + The Times [London] Lit Sup p661 O 14

’20 2100w

BEMAN, LAMAR TANEY, comp. Selected

articles on the compulsory arbitration and
compulsory investigation of industrial disputes. 4th
ed, rev and enl (Debaters’ handbook ser.) *$2.25
Wilson, H. W. 331.1

20–18153

Altho issued as a revised edition of the handbook on compulsory

arbitration first published in 1911, this is practically a new work. The
explanatory note states: “This volume is compiled according to the
general plan of the Debaters’ handbook series, but it differs from
other members of the series in that it covers two questions.... In this
case the two questions are closely related, and much of the literature
deals with both, so that it is impracticable to present them in
separate volumes and yet impossible to combine them into one
question.... The volume contains a full general bibliography revised
to the date of this issue, but not separated into affirmative and
negative references.... It also contains briefs and reprints of the best
material on both sides of each question.”

Booklist 17:165 Ja ’21

Reviewed by S. M. Lowenthal

+ − Survey 45:672 F 5 ’21 390w

BENÉT, STEPHEN VINCENT. Heavens and

earth. *$2 Holt 811

20–21994

This collection opens with a long poem in two parts, Two visions of
Helen followed by Chariots and horsemen; The tall town; Apples of
Eden; The kingdom of the mad. The tall town is made up of poems of
New York.

“So many moods and themes spread over the compass of this
book, riotous and rapturous, whimsical and ironic, and undulating
on waves of swift and thrilling music make ‘Heavens and earth’ an
enjoyment to those who admire poetry when it is first of all music
and imagination, and may be after these anything in the way of
subject and ideal.” W: S. Braithwaite
 + Boston Transcript p4 D 29 ’20 1300w

“He has a swirling dexterity in syntax and rhythm, and practices a

gorgeous, hot impressionism.”

+ − Nation 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 60w

“Originality marks his work in spite of the intimation that his

themes are somewhat threadbare. He possesses a virility that is
manifest at all times and a delight in swinging measures and
emphatic rhymes.” H. S. Gorman

+ N Y Times p11 Ja 9 ’20 100w

BENET, WILLIAM ROSE. Moons of grandeur.

*$2 Doran 811

20–19072

This collection of poems is reprinted from contributions to various

magazines. With a few exceptions the poet takes his inspiration from
history: the renaissance, ancient Egypt, medieval England furnishing
him with subjects. Some of the titles are: Gaspara Stampa; Legend of
Michelotto; Niccolo in exile; The triumphant Tuscan; Michelangelo
in the fish-market; The ballad of Taillefer; The priest in the desert;
Dust of the plains.

“The rich color and vigor of his poetry have caught some of the
brilliance and romance of these times. The vocabulary and allusions
make demands upon the reader which to many will be a serious
drawback.”

+ − Booklist 17:104 D ’20

“A poet so fertile and diversified is bound to be interesting, and

one cannot but recognize Mr Benet’s gifts of streaming phrase and
bannered fancy; at the same time one often misses the clear, strong
note of nature, often feels the absence from this work of actual blood
and bone.”

+ − Nation 112:86 Ja 19 ’21 100w

“The vigor, the individuality, the natural sources of growth and

development in his work, deserve the first word. Mr Benet’s
limitations in making the renaissance, in its essence, live again are
inherent in his method and approach. There was a roundness of
gesture in these years which is missed by nervous actions and
pouncing words.” Geoffrey Parsons

+ − N Y Evening Post p8 Ja 8 ’21 720w

“In ‘Moons of grandeur’ he includes ten such poems that may be

ranked among quite the best things he has done. It is apparent in this
book that he has grown greatly in stature as a poet. An extravagance
that was once fatal to him as an artist at times has been finely curbed
and turned into channels where it becomes a virtue.” H. S. Gorman

+ N Y Times p11 Ja 9 ’21 480w

 “Mr Benet’s poems possess the essential qualities of beauty and
imagination.”

+ Review 3:419 N 3 ’20 10w

“In these pictures of renaissance Italy Mr Benet proves his

possession of rhythm, of knowledge, of an allusiveness as ingathering
as a scythe, of energy, of a lambent and vibrant picturesqueness, of
the gait and swing, if not the soul, of passion. ‘Moons of grandeur,’
with all its attractions, errs somewhat in the obscuration of the
rhyme.”

+ − Review 3:654 D 29 ’20 290w

BENET, WILLIAM ROSE. Perpetual light.

*$1.35 Yale univ. press 811

19–25952

“A memorial to the poet’s wife, who died early in 1919. ‘This verse
is published in her memory,’ says the poet in a foreword, ‘because I
wish to keep together the poetry she occasioned and enable those
who loved her—and they were a great many—to know definitely what
she was to me.’” (Springf’d Republican) “Some of the poems are
reprinted from former books of Mr Benet, and a few of the others
have appeared in American periodicals.” (The Times [London] Lit
Sup)

“Mr Benet has a great command of rich language and rich

rhythms, and many of his poems are of a high literary value.”
 + Ath p194 Ap 9 ’20 80w

“A tribute full of deep and delicate feeling.”

+ Booklist 16:122 Ja ’20

“Poems of much delicate beauty, tenderness and deep feeling.”

+ Cleveland p85 S ’20 30w

“Mr Benet has written no better lyrics than some of those included
in this volume. They are both brave and simple.”

+ N Y Times 25:173 Ap 11 ’20 180w

“Mr Benet has given his best to this little book.”

+ Springf’d Republican p15a Ja 18 ’20

200w
The Times [London] Lit Sup p783 D 25
’19 60w

“The dignity, the courage, the faith, the aspiration of these verses
are like a beacon in this time of unrest and uncertainty.” E: B. Reed

+ Yale R n s 10:205 O ’20 220w

 BENGE, EUGENE J. Standard practice in
personnel work. il *$3 Wilson, H. W. 658.7

20–102

A work which aims to cover the subject of personnel work thoroly,

showing what the standard practice at present is. “The author has
attempted to preserve an impartiality of viewpoint, not by evading
frank statement of conditions, but rather by presenting the pros and
cons on each side of the labor question.” (Preface) Daniel Bloomfield,
editor of the three volumes on industrial relations, contributes a
foreword. Contents: The personnel audit; Job analysis; Study of the
community; Labor turnover and labor loss; Organizing the personnel
department; The employment process; Selection by mental and skill
tests; Methods of rating ability; Education and training; Health
supervision; Maintenance of the working force; Incentives and
wages; Employee representation; Record keeping in the personnel
department; Personnel research; Index.

BENNET, ROBERT AMES. Bloom of cactus. il

*$1.50 (3c) Doubleday

20–7647

Jack Lennon goes prospecting for a lost copper mine in the

Arizona desert. He encounters a fair amazon who, at the risk of her
own safety, tricks him into becoming a partner to her scheme of
rescuing her weak, drunken father from the clutches of a criminal
white brute, and “Dead Hole, dad’s ranch” from marauding renegade
Indians. She succeeds and so does Jack, after facing incredible
dangers, cruelty and all-round slaughter, for Carmena becomes his
own dearly beloved. She proves her metal by not only fighting her
foes in the flesh but her own jealousy of her much more femininely
frail, clinging and pretty foster-sister, Elsie.

BENNETT, ARNOLD. Our women; chapters on

the sex-discord. *$2.50 (5c) Doran 396

20–18319

Sex-discord exists, the author avows; it will always exist; it will

continue to develop as human nature develops—but on a higher
plane; it is the most delightful and interesting thing in existence—a
part of the great search for truth. In this vein a mere man writes
broadly, sanely and humorously about women. Contents: The perils
of writing about women; Change in love; The abolition of slavery;
Women as charmers; Are men superior to women? Salary-earning
girls; Wives, money and lost youth; The social Intercourse business;
Masculine view of the sex discord; Feminine view of the sex discord.

+ Booklist 17:93 D ’20

“‘Our women,’ being witty, human, and full of challenging

contradictions, will bore no reader, but will interest everyone, if only
for the sake of that argument dear to every mind.” Dorothy
Scarborough

+ Bookm 52:363 D ’20 560w

 “He is not always sensible when he is serious, and he is not always
funny when he seeks to be humorous. His discourse is merely the
attempt of a glib and facile writer to toy with a theme upon which he
can play endlessly, and at the end be no nearer his goal that he was at
the beginning.” E. F. Edgett

− + Boston Transcript p6 O 16 ’20 1400w

“The book is diverting to read, but is not without that vein of

vulgarity which mars so much of Mr Bennett’s work.” L. P.

+ − Freeman 2:190 N 3 ’20 270w

Nation 112:90 Ja 19 ’21 400w
+ N Y Times p1 O 10 ’20 1500w

“Mr Bennett writes as a novelist and more or less for the human
fun of it.” K. F. Gerould

+ − Review 3:377 O 27 ’20 900w

Sat R 130:279 O 2 ’20 500w

“We believe that most of his own countrywomen, though they may
praise, will not altogether like his book.”

+ − Spec 125:535 O 23 ’20 720w

“Though fresh enough in style and not philistine in precepts, ‘Our

women’ is as conventional as ‘Godey’s lady’s book,’ which regaled
several generations of young women; it is, however, a book modern
in sentiment.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p10 O 21 ’20 320w

“His pictures of the modern woman are kaleidoscopic—a medley of

truths and halftruths picked more or less at random from past,
present and future.”

− The Times [London] Lit Sup p678 O 21

’20 1000w

BENNETT, ARNOLD. Sacred and profane love.

*$1.50 Doran 822

20–1240

A dramatization of the author’s novel “The book of Carlotta.” The

story is that of Carlotta Peel, who as a young girl of twenty gives
herself for one night to Emilio Diaz, a world famous pianist. She does
not see him again for eight years and then, on learning that he has
become a morphinomaniac, goes to him and nurses him back to
health and manhood and restores him to his old place on the concert
stage.

“It is, evidently, not the Arnold Bennett of ‘Clayhanger’ who plays
upon the glittering instrument of the theatre. And it is that Arnold
Bennett who could fortify the English drama.”

− + Nation 110:435 Ap 3 ’20 200w

 “The dialog leaves us unconvinced and shadowed by the feeling
that sooner or later Carlotta will awaken to the futility of her task. We
glance with foreboding into the future. The present is temporarily
serene, but beyond the final curtain lurks a suspicion that the real
conflict of human emotions is still to come.”

+ − Springf’d Republican p13a Ap 25 ’20

520w

“Mr Bennett could hardly write a play without putting into it some
insight into character, some witty or suggestive comments upon
human life, at least one or two interesting situations and some
passages of good dialogue. Hence, this play is readable enough, but it
is clumsy and unconvincing.”

+ − Theatre Arts Magazine 4:174 Ap ’20

180w

[2]
BENNETT, RAINE. After the day. $1.50
Stratford co. 811

A volume of poems written after the war, reflecting the

impressions of war of one who took part in it. The author is a
Californian who has written dramas for local groups and had one
play produced at the Greek theatre in Berkeley. The introduction, by
George Douglas of the San Francisco Chronicle, says: “These ‘after
the day’ or ‘nocturnal’ impressions were all written with a view to
their being read aloud, and as dramatic reading they take on a
singularly magnetic quality.” Free verse is the form employed.
 “The poems, dramatic rather than lyric, are an earnest expression
of a man—one who has something to say in free verse that is worth
saying.”

+ Boston Transcript p6 N 20 ’20 120w

BENOIT, PIERRE. Atlantida (L’Atlantide).

*$1.75 (2½c) Duffield

20–12951

This prize novel of the French academy is translated from the

French by Mary C. Tongue and Mary Ross. Two French officers
engaged on a scientific expedition into the wilds of Sahara, discover
the mythical island of Atlantis and find that instead of having been
immersed in the sea, the desert had emerged about it preserving it
with all its ancient treasures and through mysterious contact with the
outside world, making it a storehouse of all the sciences and lore of
all the ages. Antinea, its present ruler, a descendant of Neptune, is
continually supplied with men from the outside world, who all die of
love for her while she is unable to love. At last she loves one of the
two officers of our story, but being scorned by him, she compels his
companion to kill him. This one, by the aid of a slave girl in love with
him, succeeds in escaping, but ever after wanders about a restless
spirit, consumed with the desire to return.

BooklistM 17:30 O ’20

 “There is a glamor of mystery in the story; there is a flavor of the
Orient, a glint of gold, an aroma of perfume which attracts the senses
and beckons the reader onward to the end. The French have a
fascinating way with them.”

+ Boston Transcript p6 Ag 25 ’20 200w

“Benoit has learned from Anatole France to display erudition but

the translators make a sad mess of it. What they do to classical
names should be a warning to reformers of the curriculum.”

+ − Dial 69:546 N ’20 90w

“The tale is told with an economy, a sureness and a subtlety that

show how a French writer can come near to salvaging for literature
themes which, in English, are condemned to a humbler sphere.” H.
S. H.

+ Freeman 2:358 D 22 ’20 120w

“Excellent as Monsieur Benoit’s book is, it does not equal, either in

imaginative power, fertility of invention, ingenuity and abundance of
incident, suspense, dramatic effectiveness, construction, character-
drawing, sustained interest or the ability to make the reader feel that
the events narrated actually occurred, any save perhaps some one
among the lesser of the many romances written by Sir Rider
Haggard. This is not to say, however, that it is not an admirable and
very entertaining story, with a conclusion both artistic and dramatic,
and more than one scene of fine imaginative quality.”

+ − N Y Times p24 Ag 1 ’20 1050w

 BENOIT, PIERRE. Secret spring. *$1.75 (3c)
Dodd

20–7919

In this story within a story Lieutenant Vignerte tells his brother-in-

arms the story of his life, which is still casting a melancholy spell
over him. Just before the war he had been a tutor to the heir of the
Grand Duke of Lautenburg-Detmold. He had fallen in love with the
Grand Duchess, received much friendly encouragement, had come
on the track of a mystery which points to the murder of her first
husband—brother to the present duke—by discovering old records
and a secret spring opening a door into a hidden chamber. A
conflagration in the castle and the outbreak of the war prevented
complete disclosure. The duchess herself took him in her private car
to the French frontier and saw him safely into the hands of the
French commander there. While in action in the trenches a German
prisoner of high rank is discovered, by Vignerte’s confidant, to be the
arch-fiend in the Lautenburg tragedy, but here again a complete
revelation of the secret is foiled by a shell that kills both Vignerte and
the prisoner.

+ Cleveland p71 Ag ’20 70w

“In spite of the involved plot, the annoyance of a story within a

story, and the somewhat cloudy narrative style—which latter may or
may not be partly the fault of the translator—the spirit of romance in
this volume makes it fairly acceptable to the leisurely reader.”

+ − N Y Times 25:21 Jl 11 ’20 550w

+−