Gospel Women and the Long Ending of Mark

(Paperback)

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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).

Reviews

[T]he strength of this book lies in Lyons-Pardues careful exegetical work on a passage that is too often ignored or simply mined for text-critical information. She asks readers to consider the implication of this particular ending of the Gospel of Mark and how it answers certain questions that Mark 1:116:8 leaves unresolved ... Ultimately, this book represents an excellent example of how passages like the long ending of Mark are worth studying in their own right, beyond simply questions of their originality. * Catholic Biblical Quarterly *
Lyons-Pardue capably shows how Marks narrative portrayals of women and disciples coalesce in the long endings juxtaposition of a particular womans faithfulness and the disciples persistent unbelief ... She successfully demonstrates that the long ending is consistent with Marks prior narrative themes and reflects an early reading of the gospel in a new situation. * Society of Biblical Literature *

Author Bio

Kara Lyons-Pardue is Professor of New Testament at Point Loma Nazarene University, USA.