Roskam (Greek and Latin languages in theology and religious studies, U. of Groningen) investigates why the author of the earliest Gospel decide to write a story about Jesus' life, what the immediate cause was, and what the evangelist's objective in writing was. She concludes that Mark's Gospel is a reaction to the threat of persecution that menaced the Galilean Christians in the period just after the Jewish Revolt, and is above all is an apologetic writing directed to the endangered Christians themselves and meant to confirm them in their faithfulness to the Christian message so they would be strong enough to endure the hardships they were experiencing. The biography is secondary, she says, merely a vehicle for the main message. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)