Returning to Mark 16, 8

The present article offers a first presentation of a five-year research project on Mark 16 financed by the SNSF. It first surveys the variety in recent scholarly opinions on the end of Mark's gospel after several decades of nearly unanimous agreement that Mk 16,8 constituted the original ending. The possibility to look online at digital manuscripts increases the NT scholars' awareness of the three witnesses that present the end of Mark's gospel in verse 8: 01, 03 and 304. Secondly, the article discusses the most recent hypothesis on Mk 16,8 by Stephen Hultgren. Starting from the assumption that there may be a link between Dan 10,7 and Mark 16,8, Hultgren draws attention to the widespread motif of having fear in front of a divine epiphany. Finally, the article paves the way for further inquiries in order to take into account the diversity of early Christian readings in Mark 16.