The Role of Disbelief in Mark: A New Approach to the Second Gospel carefully examines the whole of Mark's gospel in order to ascertain if there is, indeed, an explanation for Mark's use of apparently contradic-tory literary devices. Author Mary Thompson's learned study of this gospel leads her to conclude that there is a basic level of negation in the Markan narrative and that this is at least as important to the literary structure as is the positive level. For centuries the negative elements have been subsumed under the affirmative, but now it is time to view the negative realities, failures, misunderstandings, abandonment as they are actually portrayed.

By looking carefully at the text of Mark one sees a real world where faith and disbelief coexist. When one accepts both an affirmative level of meaning and a negative level of human failure, the possibilities for a richer understanding of this gospel expand greatly. This approach will free all who read and study Mark from the effort of trying to make the gospel totally consistent in how it presents its message of good news. Truly this is a breakthrough insight into Mark.