Craig S. Keener provides a rich volume of critical excurses on the gospel of Mark, providing valuable contextual material to his exhaustive commentary on the text of Mark.The volume provides detailed background for many passages in Mark, taking readers through the whole gospel and expanding on many points found in the commentary.The volume includes many of the Keener's most distinctive contributions to Markan research stemming from his commentary work.Whilst it is arranged by passage, many of the topics covered make many of the excursuses relevant to multiple passages throughout the gospel and to the study of ancient Christianity and its world.Such topics include marriage and divorce, ancient medicine and healing, ancient conceptions of anger, hospitality, baptism, the emotions, feasting and viticulture, as well as fascinating insights into the use of Aramaic in the world of Jesus and linguistic comments on biblical Hebrew and Greek.The volume will be an indispensable companion for anyone studying the world of Mark's gospel, and is a perfect complement to Keener's commentary on the text.