Subject: tc-list A Markan Excursus

From: [email-masked] (M A Robinson)
Date: Sat, 31 Oct 1998 12:59:48 EST

An excursus of sorts:

It is probably little known, but interesting that MS 2145 of the 12th
century contains a *third* form of the ending of Mark, this one
specifically "cribbed" from the long ending. It serves as a good
example of what one might expect in a summary precis. (Interestingly,
this MS is like virtually all others in containing without question the
long ending in its usual location. This summary is taken from the two
leaves which _precede_ the Markan title page).

For reference purposes: MS 2145 is a vellum MS completed 23 Feb 1144
by the scribe John, containing the four gospels, lacking Mt. 1:1-9:28.
The PA is missing from its main text; added in margin by later hand.

(Information and summary quotation taken from Kurt Treu, _Die
Griechischen Handschriften des Neuen Testaments in der UdSSR_
[Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1966], pp.92-95).

Here is MS 2145's summary of the Markan long ending:

ANASTAS O CRISTOS WFQH MARIA, AF HS TA Z DAIMONIA EXEBALEN. EKEINH EIPE
TOIS MAQHTAIS. OI DE HPISTHSAN. EPEITA WFQH EN TH ODW TOIS DUSIN, EITA
TOIS ENDEKA. KAI WNEIDISE THN APISTIAN AUTWN, KAI APESTEILEN AUTOUS
KHRUSSEIN KAI BAPTIZEIN KAI SHMEIA POIEIN. KAI META TAUTA ANELHFQH. KAI
TOUTO TO TELOS ECEI TO KATA MARKON EUAGGELION.

The summary is good, short, and reasonable; and if one had not seen the
long ending, this precis nevertheless would fairly accurately reflect
that ending. But what is more pertinent to the discussion of "cribbing"
and borrowing from the other gospels in the supposed creation of the
long ending is the amount of paraphrase found in this precis versus the
amount of identity of wording.

How was this summary created from the long ending? Certainly not
directly, but with careful and creative paraphrasing, locking in to a
few words here and there from the original source.  Note below the
entire long ending with the only materials capitalized being those
found in the MS 2145 summary (allowing Z = EPTA):

------------------------------------------------------------

9 ANASTAS de prwi prwth sabbatou efanh prwton MARIA th magdalhnh AF
HS ekbeblhkei EPTA DAIMONIA. 10 EKEINH poreuqeisa aphggeilen TOIS met
autou genomenois penqousin kai klaiousin 11 kakeinoi akousantes oti
zh kai eqeaqh up auths HPISTHSAN 12 meta de tauta DUSIN ex autwn
peripatousin efanerwqh en etera morfh poreuomenois eis agron
13 kakeinoi apelqontes aphggeilan tois loipois oude ekeinois episteusan
14 usteron anakeimenois autois TOIS ENDEKA efanerwqh KAI WNEIDISE THN
APISTIAN AUTWN kai sklhrokardian oti tois qeasamenois auton eghgermenon
ouk episteusan 15 kai eipen autois poreuqentes eis ton kosmon apanta
khruxate to euaggelion pash th ktisei 16 o pisteusas KAI baptisqeis
swqhsetai o de apisthsas katakriqhsetai 17 SHMEIA de tois pisteusasin
tauta parakolouqhsei en tw onomati mou daimonia ekbalousin glwssais
lalhsousin kainais 18 ofeis arousin kan qanasimon ti piwsin ou mh
autous blayh epi arrwstous ceiras epiqhsousin kai kalws exousin
19 o men oun kurios META to lalhsai autois ANELHFQH eis ton ouranon
kai ekaqisen ek dexiwn tou qeou 20 ekeinoi de exelqontes ekhruxan
pantacou tou kuriou sunergountos kai ton logon bebaiountos dia twn
epakolouqountwn shmeiwn amhn
-----------------------------------------------------------

A total of 21 words are identical out of 55 in the precis itself (38%)
and out of (I think I counted correctly) 166 in the actual long ending
(12%).

What is of significance here is that so few words have direct parallel
with the material being summarized. True, some other words merely
appear in different form (e.g. the summary has KHRUSSEIN KAI BAPTIZEIN
while the actual text has "khruxate" and "baptisqeis" [widely
separated]). But even if the near parallels were noted, the summary
still would bear little direct parallel with the whole of what is being
"cribbed".

Applying these observations to the long ending of Mark as it stands,
what becomes significant is this: _some_ episodes in the long ending
(e.g. the road to Emmaus parallel) might fit in well with the type of
summary pattern demonstrated in MS 2145. But other passages not only
remain longer than would be expected in a precis summary, but they also
have many more direct verbal parallels to wording found in the other
gospels from which they are supposedly "cribbed" (these are not given 
here, but if need be, I will be happy to demonstrate).

Add to this the question of all the "new" material being added to the
long ending which has NO parallel and which properly should not have
appeared within a summary precis and the question of source or motive
becomes significant.  Finally, the idea of a summary pastiche loosely
compiled from within Acts and the Epistles regarding the ascension and
sitting at the right hand of God seems to go far beyond the normal
style of a mere summary, if the pattern seen in MS 2145 is any
indication of what really occurs in the preparation of such.

Note also that the so-called "shorter ending" is not actually a precis
summary at all. Notice its text in comparison to the long ending with
identical words capitalized (some of these quite generously):

panta DE ta parhggelmena TOIS peri ton petron suntomws exhggeilan. META
DE TAUTA kai autos o ihsous apo anatolhs kai acri dusews exapesteilen
di autwn to ieron kai afqarton khrugma ths aiwniou swthrias.

(5 words out of 33 in the short ending identical to words appearing in
the long ending = 15%;if counted against the 166 words in the long
ending itself, the parallel is a dismal 3%; compared to this the 38%
and 12% respectively from the MS 2145 precis is a huge amount).

Interestingly there are some terms in the shorter ending which come
close to the precis summary in MS 2145, e.g. EXAPESTEILEN vs 2145's
APESTEILEN. But the extremely low percentage of parallel identity in
the shorter ending as compared to the 2145 precis here tends to
indicate that the shorter ending was NOT intended as a precis, but as a
_substitute_ for the long ending (I have a theory regarding this, but
that will have to wait for a paper I am preparing)

Just a few random thoughts....feel free to differ.

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