International audience; This article presents the challenges of developing Humanities research in a digital environment in relation to a New Testament test-case: the MARK16 project. The first section argues that virtual research environments (VREs) have become an excellent milieu in which to develop a digitized research project based on collaborative work. The second section presents an overview of VREs and digital projects on the New Testament. The third section demonstrates the ways in which the MARK16 project participates in the development of VREs and fosters new modes of engaging material in digitized NT research. Preamble The research question of this paper is simultaneously simple and boundless: does it matter if we practice Humanities research in a digital culture rather than in traditional print cultures? And what does the answer to this question mean for New Testament research in particular? Such abyssal questions are fundamental and should at least be considered when a scholar is planning a research project in biblical studies, theology, or religious studies. Indeed, the number of digital research projects are increasing at the international, European, and national levels.1 Such questions closely accompanied the preparatory phase of the SNSF PRIMA grant MARK16, a five-year project supported by the Swiss National Foundation.2 These interrogations are deeply embedded within the opening phase of the project and will remain so throughout, as MARK16 aims to build a new Digital Humanities research model. This will be based on a test case that is well known in New Testament textual criticism (NTTC): the ending of the Gospel according to Mark. Consequently, this article explores the epistemological digital turn in the Humanities and relates it to the MARK16 project, hoping to inspire further research and engagement in NTTC and New Testament studies. The first section outlines some challenges for digital research, pointing to the fact that virtual research environments (VREs) seem to be the main emergent digital milieu in which this work occurs. The second section presents an overview of VREs in New Testament and Early Christian research, and the third discusses the challenges presented by MARK16 in building a new Humanities research model around a NTTC test case.

{"references": ["Clivaz, Claire. \"Mk 16 im Codex Bobbiensis. Neue Materialien zur conclusio brevior des Markusevangeliums.\" Zeitschrift f\u00fcr Neues Testament 47/24 (2021), p. 59-85, https://serval.unil.ch/fr/notice/serval:BIB_4D607A256FE4", "Clivaz, Claire. \"Looking at Scribal Practices in the Endings of Mark 16\", Henoch 42 (2020/2), special issue edited by P. Pouchelle and J.-S. Rey, p. 373-387, https://serval.unil.ch/fr/notice/serval:BIB_94927C83CD64", "Clivaz, Claire. \"Returning to Mark 16,8: What's New?\" Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 96/4 (2019a), p. 645-659; https://dx.doi.org/10.2143/ETL.95.4.3286928", "Clivaz, Claire, \"The Impact of Digital Research: Thinking about the MARK16 Project.\" Open Theology 5/1 (2019b): 1-12; https://doi.org/10.1515/opth-2019-0001", "Clivaz, Claire, Mina Monier and Jonathan Barda, \"MARK16 as Virtual Research Environment. Challenges and Opportunities in New Testament Studies\". In \"Ancient Manuscripts and Virtual Research Environments,\" ed. Claire Clivaz and Garrick V. Allen, special issue, Classics@ 18. [N.p.] https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/classics18-clivaz-monier-barda/", "Focant, Camille. \"Un silence qui fait parler (Mc 16,8).\" In Marc, un \u00e9vangile \u00e9tonnant, Recueil d'essais, Camille Focant., 194:341\u201358. BEThL. Leuven: Peeters, 2006. https://mark16material.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/focantsilence2006.pdf.", "Monier, Mina. 2022. \"Mark's Endings in Context: Paratexts and Codicological Remarks\" Religions 13, no. 6: 548. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13060548", "Monier, Mina, \"Mark's Ending in the Digital Age: Paratextual Evidence, New Findings and Transcription Challenges\", Postscripts: The Journal of Sacred Texts, Cultural Histories, and Contemporary Contexts 12 (2021/1), p. 75-98; open access (green road): https://serval.unil.ch/fr/notice/serval:BIB_F1A56F977830; https://journal.equinoxpub.com/POST/article/view/20256", "Monier, Mina, \"GA 304, Theophylact's Commentary and the Ending of Mark.\" Filolog\u00eda Neotestamentaria 52 (2019), p. 94-106; https://reader.digitalbooks.pro/book/preview/125526/filo-8?1574842521282"]} DARIAH-CH Study Day 2022 - The SNSF MARK16 project Mina Monier and Elisa Nury (DH+, SIB) This poster will present the virtual research environment (VRE) of the five-year SNSF project MARK16, the first VRE focused on a biblical chapter (https://mark16.sib.swiss). The last chapter of Mark is a well-known enigma of New Testament textual criticism (NTTC): at least six different endings have been listed (e.g. Focant, 2006; Clivaz 2019a). We presumed that many useful manuscripts have not yet been studied, and therefore, should be explored. This led to significant primary results that were gradually documented during our research (Monier 2019, 2021 & 2022; Clivaz 2020, 2021). To support the harvest of results, we have created a VRE in four parts (Clivaz, 2019b): the main part of the MARK16 VRE holds 55 items visualized in a Manuscript Room application (https://mr-mark16.sib.swiss), with the code on Github (https://github.com/sib-swiss/dh-mr-mark16). Prepared in collaboration with the New Testament Virtual Manuscript Room (INTF, Münster), it provides folios of Mark 16 from ancient manuscripts in ten ancient languages. More than 20 international colleagues are MARK16 partners, and data have been nominally published in Nakala, the Huma-Num open public repository (https://mark16-snsf-prima-project.nakala.fr). The second part, Interpretations, presents scholarly individual opinions on Mark’s endings from the team and some colleagues (https://mark16-etalk.sib.swiss/search.php). It uses the tool eTalk, with the API on Github (https://github.com/sib-swiss/etalk-docker). The third part, Material, presents relevant material from the printed and digital cultures, like printed editions, articles, and also multimedia publications on Mark 16 (https://material-mark16.sib.swiss). The fourth part, forthcoming, Dataviz (https:// dataviz-mark16.sib.swiss) is building a geographical map in collaboration with the network Pelagios.