A Costly Freedom: A Theological Reading of Mark's Gospel

Brendan Byrne, SJ, is professor of New Testament at Jesuit Theological College, Parkville, Victoria, Australia. A member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission (1990–96) and Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2000–), he is the author of nine books and editor in chief of the theological journal Pacifica.
"Brendan Byrne's commentary on Mark—A Costly Freedom: A Theological Reading of Mark’s Gospel—is a wonderfully lucid, succinct and well-written study of the Second Gospel. Its approach is theological and contemporary, yet without shirking the difficult, exegetical questions of the ancient text. The writer is one of those rare people who, while being an experienced scholar and theologian, knows how to communicate that scholarship in a lively and engaging way, to those outside the academic world. This is a beautiful book and a useful book: for clergy, for preachers and teachers, and for all who are concerned with the meaning of the Bible today."
-Revd. Dr. Dorothy Lee, Frank Woods Distinguished Lecturer in Biblical Studies, Trinity College, Melbourne, Australia
"The Australian Jesuit, Brendan Byrne, a very learned and pastorally sensitive biblical scholar, calls Mark the 'scariest gospel' because it addresses the darkness of unbelief and despair that characterize so much of human living in antiquity and today. His latest work is a fitting conclusion to his excellent trilogy of commentaries on the Synoptic gospels. The scholarship is sound, and the presentation is both clear and challenging."
-Daniel J. Harrington, SJ, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry
"The publication of Brendan Byrne’s presentation of the Gospel of Mark brings to a close a series on the Synoptic Gospels that has generated a literary form in itself. In all three volumes Byrne has achieved a remarkable marriage between a serious and accurate reading of the text, highlighted by a close familiarity with contemporary scholarship. But this reading never moves away from the impact the message of each Gospel can make upon contemporary Christians. In A Costly Freedom the difficult text of Mark is consistently presented to a contemporary reader as the portrayal of a conflict between good and evil (Jesus and the demonic) that can only be resolved in the fragile disciple’s journey into the future with the Risen Lord."
-Francis J. Moloney, SDB, Salesians of Don Bosco, Australia—Pacific Province