Gundry's Commentary on the Second Gospel is simply the most thoroughly researched and meticulously documented study in print! His thesis is relatively simple: The Second Gospel presents an apology for the circumstances surrounding Jesus' death.

All commentators on Mark end up dealing, in one way or another, with the fact that there exists two distinct types of literature within the narrative. The first kind, largely toward the beginning, consists of success stories in which Jesus works miracles, casts out demons, heals the sick, forecasts the future, draws large crowds to himself and so on. These characteristics were highly estimated in the first century Greco-Roman world. The second kind of literature, largely towards the end of the Gospel, consists of Jesus' passion in which he is betrayed, forsaken, denied, and ultimately crucified. Such characteristics would bring shame upon a person.

Gundry goes to painstaking detail to show how Mark appeals to the various success stories in Jesus' life to immerse a shameful death, a death by crucifixion, in a sea of glory. Jesus' death on a cross then turns out not to be a thing of shame, but instead, the opposite turns out to be the case. According to Gundry, the Gospel of Mark presents, however paradoxical, a cruciform shaped theology of glory.

Two concerns a potential buyer may have: 1.)This commentary assumes some knowledge of Greek and technical terminology in exegesis from the reader and, 2.) the author's Pre-Millenial interpretation of the Olivet Discourse may seem strained to those whose interests fall outside the well worn millennial arguments.

This is a substantial work that simply must be consulted for any academic study in the Second Gospel and which should also prove a valuable tool for most who are interested in a detailed understanding of Mark.

Gundry does indeed offer a provocative and engaging read in this book. The first part of the book, his exegesis of the Logos (Word) Christology of John is brilliant and informative.
He also raises some valid concerns in the second part of his book concerning many evangelicals accomodation to current culture. However, his solution is far from adequate. I can appreciate his desire to bring a situational writing (as almost all the NT writings are) to bear on our contemporary situation. But positing Johannine "sectarianism" as a notion for overcoming evangelical worldliness fails to grasp some key theology in John and is downright harmful as many modern, fundamentalist movements have shown us. Having grown up in a sectarian denomination "non-denomination" myself. I can testify fully that sectarianism in most of the ways its proclaimed only undermines one's spiritual and emotional health. If Gundry, would use perhaps a different, more positive concept that "sectarian", then some of his points would be more encouraging to this reader. It is true that Christ is against culture in certain respects as his analysis shows, but Christ is also the transformer of culture which John's doctrine of the incarnation shows perhaps better than any other NT author.
For more insights, look at the recent Evangelical Studies Bulletin put out by Wheaton College. 3 prominent scholars critique Gundry and he offers an incisive response giving his personal background in fundamentalism which was most interesting.

Gundry once again has given us much food for thought and I thank him!

I give this book five stars, not because I agree with everything Gundry says but because it is a message that we need to hear.

Not since David F. Wells's No Place for Truth and companion volumes and D. A. Carson's Gagging of God has such a first-rate evangelical scholar provided such poignant and stinging criticism of evangelicalism's elite, so many of whom are wannabes (the seeker-sensitive church growth and contemporary Christian music industry wants to be like the current popular culture, much of evangelical academia wants so desparately not just to have a place at the table but to be liked and accepted by their secular academic counterparts, the Robert Webber types want to be like their liturgical and sacramentalist friends outside of evangelicalism, the neo-anabaptists want to be first and foremost this-worldy social reformers rather than other-worldly evangelists like their sixteenth-century forebears).

Gundry is right in an aside he makes in the last few pages that we have much to learn from the evangelical churches in the third world. Perhaps Gundry raises more questions than he answers, and we can only hope that he will provide a follow-up volume to give us more--e.g., how better to balance engagement with the world, separation from the world, and proclamation to the world (p. 94). He has poignantly raised the questions. Now I hope either he or someone else will offer a worked-out proposal for how the evangelical churches must proceed in this new century. I also hope that some of the elites that feel stung by this book will have the courage to respond to it, rather than just sneering it at in private conversations.

If we don't listen to concerns like Gundry's and Wells's and Carson's about selling our souls to the spirit of the age, evangelicals won't have a mind to have a scandal of, because evangelicalism will cease to exist.

This book defends, in my opinion, an essentially correct understanding of the Second Coming of Christ/Rapture. Unlike "The Church and the Tribulation", which is excellent, this book is confusing to the common reader. Mr. Gundry uses run-on sentences that leave the reader breathless. He jumps from topic to topic, leaving the reader wondering what he is trying to say.
The information in this book is important and true, and it needs to be communicated to the Christian community. It just needs to be communicated more clearly than this book is able to do.

This is not necessarily a step by step study of the post-trib position, but rather a comparison of the pre-trib theory to the post-trib. Out of the 7 or 8 books I've read that are opposed to the pre-trib "doctrine", this one shows more holes in the great escape mentality than all of them. A must read for anyone anti-pre-trib. A must must read for anyone holding the pre-trib theory. There won't be much you will be able to argue with if you are a pre-tribber, though history tells us you will. Forgive my bluntness and please give this book a try to make sure you know why you believe as you do. The majority isn't always right. As in some of my other reviews, let me also suggest anything by Robert Van Kampen, H.L. Niger and Marvin Rosenthal.

Bob Gundry, the leading name in Post-Trib Eschatology gives us a book that describes the message that the scriptures teach as a whole, not bits and pieces of scripture that pre-tribber's use in defense. This book also gives us examples found in the Early Church Fathers, written as early as the 1st Century that teach a post-trib rapture, none of the Church Fathers believed they would be saved in a secret, pre-trib rapture - they knew they would need to face the persecution fo the Antichrist and the trials of the Great Tribulation and that's what they wrote to their churches. Some of the Church Fathers were taught by some of the Apostles themselves. If you have been taught the pre-trib rapture all your life you should definitely read this book!!!

I thought that Dr. Gundry's book "survey of the new testament" was a very enlightening and helpful study tool to further understand the new testament. After studying under him here at college I gained indescribable knowledge of the NT. Gundry is the best.

Not only have I enjoyed Gundry's book, A Survey of the New Testament, but I have studied under him and benefited from his lectures that accompany the text. His solid foundation in Biblical truth shows through and his careful attention to detail in researching the history of the times, helps to further enrich the modern day reader. Anyone with an interest in the Bible should consider this book a must read.

In regard to the comments made by "a reader from Baltimore" - I do not know what book this reader was reading because it is absolutely not anti-semitic. This book is the best scholarly Evangelical survey of the New Testament published. In regard to why Gundry was kicked out of the Evangelical society: he was kicked out due to his commentary on Matthew where he explored the genre of the Birth narratives. Robert Gundry is first class scholar who has summarized the New Testament clearly and thoroughly. This book should be read by all Christians, in order to grasp a more thorough understanding of their scriptures.

This is still the best apologetic for the posttribulation position I've read. I'm disappointed that there aren't more books on the posttribulational position out there. But Gundry does a good job at critiquing the popular pretribulational view and setting forth a solid exegetical defense of posttribulationism. His interpretation of John 14 is a little wrong. But other than that, it's really good.