The author of this lucid and interdisciplinary study of Mark’s Gospel believes that - when applied to Gospel texts - sociological analysis and literary criticism may be far closer together in purpose and intent than is often supposed. Professor Camery-Hoggatt therefore begins his work with an exploration of the social functions of narrative in general, and of ironic narrative in particular. He then turns to the literary functions of the internal elements of the narrative, and draws the two discussions together into a single framework that can be used as a lens through which Mark’s Gospel can be read. The author’s claim is that irony - especially dramatic irony - thoroughly permeates the Gospel, and that this evinces a rhetorical strategy central to Mark’s whole narrative. Dr Camery-Hoggatt attempts to establish therein a theoretical groundwork in which the literary strategies whereby a text interacts with its social background may be understood and interpreted. The second half of the book offers a reading of Mark’s Gospel in light of the theoretical basis outlined in the first section, and shows that the presence of irony is especially powerful when the deeper level of meaning is somehow hidden from the story’s characters.