This book theorizes that there was probably more to both the beginning and the ending of Mark's Gospel than we currently have in our Bible. It was once the consensus of scholars that Mark lacked its ending. Croy asks why scholarly opinions changed on this question during the late 20th century and whether earlier scholars may in fact have been correct. In short, this book has the potential to re-open a major debate in Markan studies. Beyond scholarly interest in the original extent of the Gospel text, there are implications for our understanding of Markan theology. If a conclusion has been lost, Mark may not be as negative in his portrayal of the disciples as we now assume. The credibility of the disciples - and Jesus' own credibility - also may have been rehabilitated by the original ending. Croy urges that we should not assume that post-resurrection appearance stories were unimportant to Mark or that Mark's theology of suffering would be incompatible with a triumphant outcome. The challenge to the scholarly consensus will be of interest to academics; the theological implications will make the book useful in seminary classes on the Gospels. The author's demonstration of the connection between the social context of biblical research and our ways of reading the Gospel is important for theological education in general. Readers will also benefit from an awareness of the process by which we have received the texts printed in our Bibles.

Kara Lyons-Pardue examines the issue of the ending of the gospel of Mark, showing how the later additions to the text function as early receptions of the original gospel tradition providing an ancient “fix” to the problem of the ending in which the women flee the tomb in terror and silence. Lyons-Pardue suggests that the long ending functions canonically, smoothing out the “problem” of 16:8 in ways that support the nascent four-gospel canon. Lyons-Pardue argues that the long ending represents an ancient reception of the preceding gospel that continues to the unique portrait of discipleship that is characteristically Markan. Mary Magdalene forms the renewed paradigm of an unlikely person or outsider, here a woman, being the one to “go and tell” the good news. This pattern is then projected onto all disciples who are called to proclaim the news to the entire created order (16:15).

A Theology of Mark’s Gospel is the fourth volume in the BTNT series. This landmark textbook, written by leading New Testament scholar David E. Garland, thoroughly explores the theology of Mark’s Gospel. It both covers major Markan themes and also sets forth the distinctive contribution of Mark to the New Testament and the canon of Scripture, providing readers with an in-depth and holistic grasp of Markan theology in the larger context of the Bible. This substantive, evangelical treatment of Markan theology makes an ideal college- or seminary-level text.

This thorough manual for advanced students and their supervisors, and anyone researching or writing on the Gospel of Mark, is the opening volume in an important new series of Guides to Advanced Biblical Research. Together with an essay on the current state of research and a discussion of the future of Markan study, it provides a chrestomathy of samples of Markan research together with a review of recent dissertations and a full, annotated bibliography.

These essays explore the reconception of the Gospels as first-century compositions of sound performed for audiences by storytellers rather than the anachronistic picture of a series of texts read by individual readers. The new paradigm implicit in these initial experiments is based on the recent realization that the majority of persons—85 to 95 percent—were illiterate and experienced the Jesus stories as members of audiences. Either from memory or from memorized manuscripts, the evangelists performed the Gospels as an evening’s entertainment of two to four hours. The audiences were predominantly addressed as Hellenistic Judeans who lived in the aftermath of the Roman-Jewish war. When heard whole, the Gospels were vivid experiences of the central character of Jesus. These studies of audience address and the interactions between first-century storytellers and audiences reveal a dynamic performance literature that functioned as scripts for an ever-expanding network of storytelling proclamations whose envisioned horizon was the whole world. When the Gospels were told at one time from beginning to end, they invited the listeners to move from being peripherally interested or initially opposed to Jesus to identifying themselves as disciples of Jesus and believers in him as the Messiah.

The debate continues among today's leading Bible scholars about the conspicuous exclusion of twelve verses (16:9-20) in the gospel of Mark from some early Greek manuscripts.

Based on linguistic and thematic links in the narrative, 'The Turning Point in the Gospel of Mark' argues that the twin pericopae of Peter's confession (8:27-38) and the Transfiguration (9:2-13) together function as the turning point of the Gospel and serve in a Janus- like manner enabling the reader to see the author's main focus: the identity of Jesus and the significance of that reality for his disciples. Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah faces backward toward the Prologue (1:1-13) and functions as a mid-course conclusion. The declaration by God on the mountain faces forward and foreshadows the end-course conclusion (14:61-62; 15:39; Son of God). Jesus, in response, teaches that the Son of Man must suffer and die before being raised from the dead(8:31). Christologically, the images of Messiah, Son of Man, and Son of God converge and present Jesus, the crucified, as king, ushering in the kingdom of God in power (9:1 acting as the key swivel between the twin pericopae). When one is confronted withthis Jesus, though there remains something elusive about him and the kingdom of God in the narrative, the only wise decision (after calculating the costs, 8:34-38) is to follow.