Narrative Analysis as a Text Critical Tool: Mark 16 in Codex W as a Test Case

Abstract

In their description of the history of the transmission of the New Testament text, textual critics can use narrative analysis to elucidate the theological tendencies of narrative portions of an individual manuscript. The current article is an application of this methodology to the text of Mk 16.9-20 in Codex W. The article correlates the theological tendencies of this passage against the rest of the text of Mark in W with the outcome that there is reasonable evidence for a Tendenz focused on the cosmic power of Christ. This, in turn, correlates well with the triumph of the church over paganism in the fourth to fifth centuries CE when W was copied.