After doing a post today on a new Word Magazine (# 35) that relates to preaching the traditional ending of Mark, a friend sent me a link to a new book by Nicholas P. Lunn, The Original Ending of Mark: A New Case for the Authenticity of Mark 16:9-20 (Pickwick Publications, October 2014). Pickwick is an imprint of Wipf and Stock. Lunn has a PhD in Hebrew and serves as an OT tutor at Spurgeon's College in London and as a consultant with Wycliff Bible Translators (see this bio). I have ordered a copy and will hope to do a review at some point. Very thankful to see what appears to be a reputable contemporary challenge being offered to the modern critical consensus regarding the Ending of Mark. Will the next generation turn the tide and return to the traditional text of the Bible? The back cover has blurbs from Pieter J. Lalleman, the Academic Dean at Spurgeon's College; Maurice Robinson of SEBTS; and (surprisingly) from Craig A. Evans of Acadia Divinity School. Evans even says the following:
Nicholas Lunn has thoroughly shaken my views concerning the ending of the Gospel of Mark. As in the case of most gospel scholars, I have for my whole career held that Mark 16:9-20, the so-called 'Long Ending,' was not original. But in his well-researched and carefully argued book, Lunn succeeds in showing just how flimsy that position really is. The evidence for the early existence of this ending, if not for its originality, is extensive and quite credible. I will not be surprised if Lunn reverses scholarly opinion on this important question. I urge scholars not to dismiss his arguments without carefully considering this excellent book. The Original Ending of Mark is must reading for all concerned with the gospels and early tradition concerned with the resurrection story.
