The Concordia Seminary, St. Louis presentation of The Gospel of Mark will be performed at 7 p.m. Friday, April 8, at Concordia University Ann Arbor, Mich., and at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at St. Lorenz Lutheran Church, Frankenmuth, Mich.

The Gospel of Mark is a dramatic presentation of the second book of the New Testament. The presentation uses principally the English translation of Mark by Dr. James W. Voelz, the Seminary’s Dr. Jack Dean Kingsbury Professor of New Testament Theology.

Scholars have increasingly placed the Gospel of Mark in an oral context, believing it to be a written document intended to be read aloud to a gathered audience. Concordia Seminary’s presentation reenacts the Gospel in the way in which it might have impacted those who first received it in the first century.

“Allow yourself to hear the Gospel of Mark and to be confronted by it orally,” Voelz said. “It is not that silent reading is wrong, but such a reading will not reveal to you the depth of beauty and drama of this outstanding Gospel.”

The presenters include four Seminary faculty members: Dr. Dale A. Meyer, president of Concordia Seminary; Dr. Kent Burreson, the Louis A. Fincke and Anna B. Shine Professor of Systematic Theology and Dean of Chapel; Dr. David R. Schmitt, the Gregg H. Benidt Memorial Professor of Homiletics and Literature; and Voelz. Other presenters include Rev. Ron Rall, pastor of St. Timothy Lutheran Church in St. Louis, and Rev. Michael Zeigler, pastor of Epiphany Lutheran Church in St. Louis.

The Gospel of Mark runs about 2 hours and 30 minutes and includes a 10-minute intermission, which will allow the audience to make a freewill offering to support future productions.

Come and be enthralled by Mark’s words, his images and his message of the rule and reign of God.

All performances are free and open to the public. To learn more or to purchase a DVD of The Gospel of Mark, visit www.csl.edu/thegospelofmark/.

Additional performances of The Gospel of Mark are set for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 14 at Christ Church-Lutheran, Phoenix, Ariz., and at 3 p.m. Oct. 15 at Crown of Life Lutheran Church, Sun City, Ariz.

About Concordia Seminary
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis provides Gospel-centered graduate-level theological education for pastors, missionaries, deaconesses, scholars and other leaders in the name of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS). To learn more, visit www.csl.edu.