It might be slender, but I found this a very helpful commentary (The author prefers the word ‘Conversations’ – less forbidding, perhaps?) on the earliest of the written Gospels. Marcus Borg views Jesus as ‘the decisive revelation of God’, but strongly argues for the ‘partnership’ of faith and reason. Writing from within the biblical mainstream, he does not interpret the Bible ‘literally, factually and absolutely’, but prefers to use a ‘historical’ - (i.e. setting the text in the historical context of the community in which it originated) ‘metaphorical’ (i.e. having its meaning on more than a literal or factual level) approach. After an illuminating introduction to Mark, Borg devotes five chapters to dealing with the Gospel in bite-sized chunks, interspersed with remarks about particular topics. Time and time again I found these really stimulating, for example as Borg considered parables, purity, the Kingdom, feeding miracles and nature miracles as ‘parabolic’ (or ‘metaphorical’) ‘narratives’. And that’s just a sample! A very useful little book if you want to appreciate a precious part of the Bible without being submerged under a heftier tome. At the end comes a large study guide that a group could profitably use.