The Curious Tale of the Secret Gospel
September 9, 2014 at 7:19 pm
(This post was last modified: September 9, 2014 at 7:19 pm by ManMachine.)
I’m not sure if this has been posted before but I find this story fascinating. These are the reported facts as they are known.
In 1958 a man called Morton Smith (who would later become Professor of Ancient History at Columbia University) was cataloguing books in a remote Palestinian monastery called Mar Saba. At some point he came across a letter that had been copied into the endpapers of a 17th century printed edition of the works of Ignatius of Antioch. The letter was a handwritten copy of a letter sent by Clement of Alexandria to someone called Theodore. In the letter Clement alludes to a ‘more spiritual’ or ‘secret’ version of the gospel of Mark, and also quotes two excerpts from it. Morton Smith took two low-res photographs and replaced the book in the library.
In 1973 Smith published an academic book about the letter, which included the photographs he took and his translation of the text along with his analysis and commentary. He also published a ‘popular’ book on the same subject at the same time.
Subsequently Smith has been accused of forgery, deceit and even a deliberate hoax. More sensationally, Smith was accused of an attempt to imply Jesus may have been a homosexual, however, there are still a significant number of scholars who do not believe it to be a fraud of any kind.
Anyway, here’s the full tale (including the extracts from Secret Mark).
The Secret Gospel of Mark
MM
In 1958 a man called Morton Smith (who would later become Professor of Ancient History at Columbia University) was cataloguing books in a remote Palestinian monastery called Mar Saba. At some point he came across a letter that had been copied into the endpapers of a 17th century printed edition of the works of Ignatius of Antioch. The letter was a handwritten copy of a letter sent by Clement of Alexandria to someone called Theodore. In the letter Clement alludes to a ‘more spiritual’ or ‘secret’ version of the gospel of Mark, and also quotes two excerpts from it. Morton Smith took two low-res photographs and replaced the book in the library.
In 1973 Smith published an academic book about the letter, which included the photographs he took and his translation of the text along with his analysis and commentary. He also published a ‘popular’ book on the same subject at the same time.
Subsequently Smith has been accused of forgery, deceit and even a deliberate hoax. More sensationally, Smith was accused of an attempt to imply Jesus may have been a homosexual, however, there are still a significant number of scholars who do not believe it to be a fraud of any kind.
Anyway, here’s the full tale (including the extracts from Secret Mark).
The Secret Gospel of Mark
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
