Culpepper’s volume on Mark, like others in this series, is attractive and user-friendly, even though the chapter divisions (following Mark) do not quite fit Culpepper’s outline of Mark. Designed for devotional and homiletic use, the commentary is relentlessly theological(see the “connections”). Frequent topics of consideration include the meaning of miracles in a scientific age, the perils that beset discipleship in that same age, and the Christian hope(which transcends existentialism). In this analysis, nothing in Mark troubles Christian faith. Sidebars provide helpful linguistic, historical, and history of interpretation insights, as well as a running outline of the commentary’s main topics. For theological readers, Culpepper’s work provides a nice entrée to historical and literary—but not ideological—Markan scholarship, which Culpepper divides into five eras: clumsy Mark, chronicler Mark, compiler Mark, clever Mark, and creative Mark. In addition to maps and (historically oriented)photos, the work also includes a plethora of artwork (although it seldom receives comment). An accompanying CD-ROM reproduces the entire commentary.