마가복음의 종결

The Ending of Mark

Throughout this paper, two fold issues are investigated. (1) Where is the original ending of the Gospel of Mark? (2) Is the ending at 16:8 intended or unintended? Careful examination of both external and internal evidences brought the result that the Gospel of Mark ended at 16:8. 16:9-20 was not written together with 1:1-16:8, but a later addition by a scribe or scribes. This conclusion raises another question as to whether or not Mark intended to end his Gospel at 16:8. It is because the ending of Mark seems to be unnatural. A number of literary critics tried to justify 16:8 as the ending of the Gospel, and solve this mysterious problem. Various possible purposes have been suggested by literary critics, but they are not persuasive. We can think that something happened to Mark or the Gospel. But there is no clear evidence to identify it. Consequently, what we can say is that we do not know it even though the Gospel of Mark surely ends at 16:8.