St Mark the Evangelist
By Serena Fass, Filament Publishing
(distributed by Aid to the Church in Need UK), 315pp, £25/$30
Serena Fass is a remarkable figure in the field of Christian studies. Despite being 80 years old, this unstuffy non-academic keeps on writing. In the past few years she has produced books on St Thomas, the Magi, and the Cross. Her latest is St Mark the Evangelist, and we can expect the Flight into Egypt very soon.
All the books have elements in common. As a veteran travel specialist, the author gives geographical context to names that appear in the Bible and countless written sources on matters relating to the Middle East. She is an expert on that troubled part of the world and even more of a specialist on Venice, which is handy as St Mark straddled these two worlds.
