In this original and illuminating study, Michelle Connolly uses the imperial-colonial dynamics of her Australian cultural context, as interpreted through two founding national narratives, to ground her exploration of the complex imperial-colonial dynamics animating the Christian Gospel of Mark. What results is an impressive reflection on the deep moral ambiguity in both sets of writings, which valorize male hero myths at the cost of female denigration. This superb study is a must read for anyone concerned with imperial-colonial dynamics, biblical interpretation, or the ways that texts both secular and religious encourage cultures to perpetuate gender inequality.

Mary Ann Tolbert, Pacific School of Religion and the Graduate Theological Union, USA

Michele Connolly's challenge to her readers is to become as self-aware as possible when reading an ancient and familiar text-one hedged with religious value as well. Whether her readers are only partially or quite thoroughly familiar with the Anzac myth, her treatment of it offers vivid access to the impact of our unconscious reading filters and makes likely a better reading of the gospel. I know of no postcolonial study that offers a clearer lens for examining the ancient biblical text.

Barbara Green, Dominican School at the Graduate Theological Union, USA

The unique contribution that Michele Connolly makes in this book is the framework against which she reads women in the Gospel of Mark - namely that of colonial Australia, an imperialized reading context. She brings a contemporary feminist postcolonial perspective to the Markan text and its context, enabling her to recognize that Markan women are portrayed as 'isolated, mute' and with little impact on society; but a counter-narrative is possible. This book invites readers, whatever their location, to engage a new lens for reading the Markan text and encountering its female characters.

Elaine Wainwright, Richard MacLaurin Fellow, University of Auckland, New Zealand