Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The Controversial Ending of Mark
As many of you know, there is some debate among scholars as to how the Gospel of Mark originally ended. Our English Bibles usually indicate the confusion over the originality of the last 12 verses in a footnote. I have spent a couple of months reading over 500 pages and working through the issues and have prepared a very long (38pp) paper on the subject in which I try to carefully explain the issues and weigh the arguments on each side. My intended audience for the paper is the average church goer. The paper's length is due in part to an attemt to carefully explain the issues, all of which can be addressed in a kind of short-hand among scholars. Because of its length, I am reluctant to post it here, but will be happy to attach it to an email and send it to anyone who wants it. Simply comment on this post with your email address (I would encourage you to write your email address out like this: johndoe[at]yahoo[dot]com, so you don't fall victim to spammers who scrounge the web looking for email addresses).
2 comments:
Greetings Russ.
I too have done some research on the end of the Gospel of Mark. I would be glad to e-mail you a copy of my research page -- over 130 pages -- upon request. It includes a presentation of external evidence, Dr. Bruce Terry's analysis of vocabulary and style. After taking everything into account, I propose that Mark 16:9-20 was part of the Gospel of Mark when the Gospel of Mark was initially disseminated for church-use.
You are welcome to contact me at james [dot] snapp [at] gmail [dot] com to request a copy. Also, an online summary is accessible at www.curtisvillechristian.org/MarkOne.html .
Yours in Christ,
James Snapp, Jr.
James,
Thanks for commenting.
I would be happy to read your paper and will email you to that effect.
I am familiar with Bruce Terry's analysis of vocabulary and style. This text is a great example of the imprecise science of textual criticism. I am sure you are careful scholar, as I try to be myself, however, "after taking everything into account," I feel that the best evidence falls on the other side, with 16:9-20 being a later addition.
So, you and I are examples (I hope) of humility in such issues and will consider each other's arguments and be open to having flaws in each position pointed out. I certainly am willing to have my mind changed about it. Maybe your paper will do the trick!
Blessings!
Russ
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