General Reading - must be read sometime by the serious student

EP Sanders & M Davies Studying the Synoptic Gospels (1989)

buy it - essential reading on all topics - work through the topic of your current research

BF Meyer The Aims of Jesus (1979)

an education to read, particularly on Christology

G Vermes Jesus the Jew (1973)

Jesus' Galilean context - critical, minimalist

GN Stanton The Gospels and Jesus (1989)

useful intro to any topic

AE Harvey Jesus and the Constraints of History (1982)

usually considered a classic on Jesus in his time

EP Sanders The Historical Figure of Jesus (1994)

builds on previous works, cuts away many misconceptions

R. Burridge Four Gospels, one Jesus? (1996) - chapter 2

WR Telford Mark [NT Guides] (1995) - useful for revision

H. Wansbrough The Lion and the Bull (1995)

Essay 1 Why is Mark so hard on the Disciples?

W Telford The Interpretation of Mark (1995) especially intro & essays by Tannehill & Weedon

E Best Disciples and Discipleship in Mark (1986)

HC Kee Community of the New Age (esp pp. 87-97)

Whitney T Shiner Follow Me! Disciples in Markan Rhetoric (1995)

Essay 2 Is there a Messianic Secret in Mark?

C Tuckett (ed) The Messianic Secret (1983), esp intro and essays by Dunn and Raisanen. Get good control of Wrede and Schweitzer

H Raisanen The 'Messianic Secret' in Mark's Gospel (1990) - conclusion is later version of essay above

Morna Hooker The Message of Mark, chap 4 (easy & good)

Essay 3 Who did Mark think that Jesus was?

CDF Moule The Origin of Christology, chap 1

James DG Dunn Christology in the Making, chaps 2-3

James DG Dunn essay in S.Porter (ed), Crossing the Boundaries (1995)

G Vermes Jesus & the World of Judaism, pp.89-99

RE Brown An Introduction to NT Christology (1994),pp.89-100

Maurice Casey From Jewish Prophet to Gentile God (1991), chapter 4

Essay 5 Why was Jesus Executed?

EP Sanders Jesus and Judaism, chaps 2-3 and end of 1

Judaism, Practice & Belief, pp.472-88 on Sanhedrin

W Kelber Passion Narratives in Mark

Donald Senior The Passion of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark

S Legasse The Trial of Jesus (1996)

For a crisp statement on political implications of Jesus try

NT Wright in Hooker Festschrift, Early Christian Thought in its Jewish Context, ed. John Barclay and John Sweet (CUP, 1996), p. 45-46.

Essay 6 The Parables in Mark

Is Mark's use of the parables the same as that of Jesus?

CH Dodd The Parables of the Kingdom (1935)

J Jeremias The Parables of Jesus (1972)

these are classic, basic works, not necessarily still current, but the starting-point of every discussion. Get clear on the meaning of mashal, and the distinction between parable and allegory, which was very important at one time. A useful starting-point for basic information on stances is the article in NJBC (81:57-82).

J Drury The Parables in the Gospels

H Hendrickx The Parables of Jesus (comprehensive and unoriginal)

M Goulder 'Characteristics of the Parables in the Several Gospels' (JTS 19 [1968], 51ff)

B Gerhardsson various articles, including 'Illuminating the Kingdom' in HW, Jesus and the Oral Gospel Tradition and bibliography

Essay 7 What can we know about Jesus?

New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1989), article 70

G. Vermes Jesus the Jew (1973) or

The Changing Faces of Jesus (Penguin, 2000), especially pp. 147-209

Wright, NT Who was Jesus? (SPCK, 1992), especially pp. 93-103

Sanders & Davies Studying the Synoptic Gospels, Part 5

Luke T. Johnson The Real Jesus (1996)

GN Stanton Gospel Truth (1995)