Gospel Women and the Long Ending of Mark

Description

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). Cover Series Title Copyright Contents Tables Abbreviations Abbreviations of Ancient Sources Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Scholarly Inquiry into the Long Ending as a Conclusion to Mark’s Gospel 1. In Defense of Mark’s Ending at 16:20: Burgon as Paradigm 2. Preoccupation with “Originality” in Studies of Mk 16:9-20: Following Burgon 3. Reading Mk 16:8 as the Ending of the Second Gospel 4. Reading through to Mk 16:20 as an Ending of the Second Gospel 5. Conclusion 2 Mary Magdalene in the Long Ending and Mark 1. Mary Magdalene’s Role in Mk 16:9-14 2. Mary Magdalene’s Place in Resurrection Narratives: The Long Ending’s Derivation and Innovation 2.1 Mary Magdalene Is Alone 2.2 Mary Magdalene Is First 2.3 Mary Magdalene Is Named 2.4 Mary Magdalene Is Formerly Demon-Possessed 2.5 Mary Magdalene Is a Proclaimer 2.6 Mary Magdalene Is Rejected 2.7 Mary Magdalene Is the Pattern 2.8 Mary Magdalene Is Approved by Jesus 3. Mary Magdalene’s Anonymous Female Predecessors in Mark’s Gospel 3.1 “Daughter, your faith has saved you”: The Woman with a Hemorrhage (5:34) 3.2 “This poor widow has put in more than all”: The Generous Widow (12:44) 3.3 “She has done a good work for me”: The Anointing Woman (14:6) 4. Conclusion 3 Unfaithful Disciples in the Long Ending and Mark 1. The Eleven Disciples’ Role in Mk 16:9-14 2. The Disciples’ Place in Canonical and Noncanonical Resurrection Narratives: The Long Ending’s Derivation and Innovation 2.1 The Disciples Disbelieve Repeatedly 2.2 The Disciples Are Mourning and Weeping 2.2.1 Gender Stereotypes vis-à-vis Crying 2.3 The Eleven’s Lack of Faith Highlights the Faithfulness of Others 2.4 The Eleven Are Rebuked 2.5 The Eleven Are Commissioned 3. The Eleven when They Were Twelve: Disciples in Mark’s Gospel 4 Being Disciples Like Mary Magdalene: Implications of the Long Ending’s Reading of Mark 1. The Commission and Success of Jesus’s Followers 2. A Woman as the Primary Example of Faithful, Post-Resurrection Discipleship 2.1 The Trouble with Women and Belief 2.2 The Trouble with Women’s Testimony 2.3 “Marian Primacy” 2.3.1 Ways in Which the Long Ending Cannot Be Said to Uphold “Marian Primacy” 2.3.2 Ways in Which the Long Ending Can Be Said to Uphold “Marian Primacy” 3. Implications of This Second-Century Continuation of Mark 3.1 The Significance of the Long Ending as Early Reception of Mark’s Gospel 3.2 The Significance of the Long Ending for the Four-Gospel Canon 3.3 The Significance of the Long Ending for an NT Critical Commonplace about Women 4. Conclusion: The Long Ending Canonizes Mary Magdalene’s Witness Appendix: The Many Endings to Mark’s Gospel: Introductions, Text, and Translations 1. The Shortest Ending (= at 16:8) 2. The Long Ending (= Longer Ending = Mk 16:9-20) 3. The Intermediate Ending (= Shorter Ending) 4. Textual Obeli, Sigla, and Annotations at the Ending in the Manuscripts 5. The Freer Logion within the Long Ending Bibliography Author Index Ancient Index Subject Index