ABOUT
Summary
MARK16 is a SNSF PRIMA project on five years (2018-2023) that develops a new research model in digitized biblical sciences, based on a test case found in the New Testament: the last chapter of the Gospel according to Mark. The goal of the project is to produce new research results on a famous test-case, Mk16, and to create a virtual research environment, that will be the outputs website for textual criticism and exegesis of Mark 16. SNF website: https://data.snf.ch/grants/grant/179755.
Abstract
MARK16 is the first virtual research environment (VRE) that focuses on a chapter of the Bible (https://mark16.sib.swiss). Through the presentation and study of unedited or significant material, its purpose is to reintroduce the issues raised regarding the different endings of the Gospel of Mark. The last chapter of the Gospel of Mark presents a well-known issue in the field of New Testament textual criticism: certain manuscripts do not contain stories depicting the resurrected Jesus at the end of the gospel. To highlight new research findings, this project is building a VRE that provides 46 manuscripts in nine ancient languages, as well as useful resources and research hypotheses on a multimedia publishing platform.The VRE allows scholars to explore the complexity of the textual tradition of Markan manuscripts and to analyse the historical tensions between diverse, early Christian groups during the first and second century CE, specifically in Egypt. Through its many publications, the project has already demonstrated that a plural reading of the ending of Mark has prevailed through the centuries.
Moreover, MARK16 currently studies and highlights the shorter ending of Mark, or conclusio brevior, that can be found in at least six languages and 150 manuscripts. Its most ancient form is in the Lating Codex Bobbiensis (380-420 CE): for the first time, three folios of this manuscript are visible online on the MARK16 VRE.The publication of the 2020 conference proceedings has clearly demonstrated the potential of VREs for researching ancient manuscripts. The second conference, planned for 2022, will explore the multilingual traditions of Mark’s endings. MARK16 is supervised by an international advisory board including Leif Isaksen (UK), Jennifer Knust (USA), Valérie Nicolet (FR), Laurent Romary (FR), Joseph Verheyden (BE), and Peter Williams (UK). It also has several partnerships, notably with the INTF (Münster), the CNRS (Huma-Num, Nakala), OPERAS (Go Triple), and the Pelagios network.
Project team
Claire Clivaz – PI, Head of DH+ (SIB)
Priscille Marshall, Post-doc, DH+ (SIB)
Elisa Nury, Research Scientist, DH+ (SIB)
Silvano Aldà, Software developer, Core-IT (SIB)
… and numerous collaboration and partnerships! We thank also warmly our former collaborators employed in the project: Mina Monier, post-doc, Sara Schulthess, Research Scientist, and Jonathan Barda, Jean-Bernard Dugied and Martial Sankar (software developers).