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James A. Kelhoffer
Miracle and Mission: The Authentication of Missionaries and Their Message in the Longer Ending of Mark
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, Reihe 2/112
Tubingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 2000
Pp. xix + 530. $99.50.
This published dissertation comes from a promising young scholar of New Testament (= NT) and early patristic literature whose interests and subsequent publications are oriented toward the development of second-century Gospel traditions. Directed by Adela Yarbro Collins and defended at the University of Chicago (1998), the study provides an examination of the origins and nature of the longer ending of the Gospel of Mark (= LE). Unlike much doctoral work, this study is readable and clear. At the same time, the subject matter and its presentation are likely to be beyond the abilities of most undergraduates and non-specialists in the field.
The manuscript contains seven chapters and an epilogue with key arguments in chapters 2-5. Chapter 1 summarizes representative research on the question of the LE from 1801-1993 (5-46). Kelhoffer's primary goal is stated here: to explore and explain the origins of Mark 16.9-20 and the author's distinctive views about the Christian mission (46).
In chapter 2, Kelhoffer argues against previous efforts to attribute the LE to a...