Daniel Wallace - Perspectives on the Ending of Mark

_________________________________________________________

Contents

_________________________________________________________

David Alan Black

Daniel B. Wallace

Maurice A. Robinson

J. Keith Elliott

David Alan Black

Darrell L. Bock

_________________________________________________________

Contributors

_________________________________________________________

David Alan Black is Professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He holds a B.A. from Biola University, an M.Div. from Talbot School of Theology, and a D.Theol. from the University of Basel. His published works include Learn to Read New Testament Greek and New Testament Textual Criticism .

Darrell L. Bock is Research Professor of New Testament Studies and Professor of Spiritual Development and Culture at Dallas Theological Seminary. He holds a B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen. His publications include Dethroning Jesus and The Missing Gospels .

J. Keith Elliott is Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism at the University of Leeds. He holds a B.A. from the University of Wales, a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford, and a D.D. from the University of Wales. His publications include The Apocryphal Jesus and Manuscripts and the Text of the New Testament . He is also Secretary of the British Committee of the International Greek New Testament Project.

Maurice A. Robinson is Senior Professor of New Testament at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He holds a B.A. from the University of South Florida, an M.Div. and Th.M. from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. His published works include The New Testament in the Original Greek .

Daniel B. Wallace is Professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He holds a B.A. from Biola University and both a Th.M. and Ph.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary. His published works include Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics and The NET Bible . He is also Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts.

_________________________________________________________

List of Abbreviations

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

Preface

_________________________________________________________

The papers in this volume originated from a conference entitled The Last Twelve Verses of Mark: Original or Not, held April 1314, 2007, at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The conference was a sequel to an earlier symposium held on the same campus in April, 2000. At that event, five papers on New Testament textual criticism were presented and later published under the title Rethinking New Testament Textual Criticism (David Alan Black, ed.; Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002). Not long after the publication of that book it occurred to me that eventually a follow-up conference might be of benefit to students and scholars.

In the spring of 2006 I approached Southeastern's President, Dr. Danny Akin, with the idea of inviting to campus some of the world's leading textual scholars to discuss one of the best known and most problematic textual variants in the Greek New Testament, the famous ending of Mark's Gospel. I suggested that papers be read by Professor J. K. Elliott of Leeds (a thoroughgoing eclecticist), Professor Daniel B. Wallace of Dallas Theological Seminary (known for his advocacy of reasoned eclecticism), and Professor Maurice A. Robinson of Southeastern Seminary (who espouses a Byzantine-priority viewpoint). Dr. Akin's enthusiastic response to my request led to the conference eventually being held in 2007 and, ultimately, to the book you now hold in your hands. Originally I did not include myself as a speaker at the symposium. However, upon President Akin's request my name was included in the final program. Hence there are four, not three, main papers, in addition to the able response provided by Professor Darrell L. Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary.

Thus it was that more than 150 students and scholars of the New Testament journeyed from many parts of North America and Europe to the campus of Southeastern Seminary to hear a formal discussion on the question of the originality of Mark 16:920. Looking upon the crowd gathered in the Eitel Auditorium (some of whom were live-blogging the event), one could not help reflecting that an interesting and provocative topic had indeed been chosen. The papers here presented speak for themselves. In the first, Daniel B. Wallace argues that Mark intended his Gospel to end at 16:8; in the second Maurice A. Robinson argues that Mark 16:920 is original; in the third J. K. Elliott argues that the original ending of Mark was lost; and finally, the present writer argues that Mark 16:920 was added by Mark to round off Peter's lectures. In his response Darrell L. Bock summarizes the many issues raised by the conference for the interpretation of the Gospel of Mark as a whole.

The reader will note that while the great majority of variants in the New Testament are of absolutely no account, students and scholars can hardly afford to neglect the one under discussion in this book. We must always ask ourselves the question: How can we best resolve textual difficulties, taking into account all of the evidence that is available to us today? The art and science of textual criticism remains one of the most interestingand challengingaspects of New Testament studies today. It is my hope that this volume will help a new generation of students to sift through the evidencethrough the claims and counterclaims and to establish a responsible historical basis for the answer to the question: Are the last twelve verses of Mark original or not?