becoming

To follow up the last post on the popularity and fascination of those quasi-historical detective novels (Da Vinci Code et al.), let me give you a even better detective story which just came out a  few months ago.

And please do not confuse this with the Gospel of Mark we are all so familiar with.

In 1958, professor Morton Smith (1915-1991) at Columbia University discovered at the monastery of Mar Saba a fragment of an otherwise unknown Secret Gospel of Mark while he was cataloging other various manuscripts there. Sections of this Secret Gospel of Mark was quoted in an unknown letter of Clement of Alexandria, which had supposedly been transcribed into the endpapers of a 17th century printed book (the book itself was printed on 1646) [the image of the pages of the transcribed letter can be found here – page 1, 2 & 3. Also the English translation of the whole letter can be found here].

In this private letter, fragments of the Secret Gospel of Mark are quoted by Clement, head of the Alexandrian catechetical school around 200 C.E., to someone named Theodore. He claims the quoted passages have been distorted by the heretics. In his letter, Clement tells of two different versions of the Gospel written by Mark – our familiar, canonical Mark; and an expanded, "secret" Mark, containing additional information to be read only to an inner circle of initiates.

The brief excerpt from the Secret Gospel of Mark quoted by Clement raised a storm of controversy:

"And they come into Bethany. And a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway a great cry was heard from the tomb. And going near Jesus rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb. And straightway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God. And thence, arising, he returned to the other side of the Jordan." (emphasis mine)

According to Clement’s description, this episode would have been found between Mark 10:34 and 35. A second fragment of Secret Mark occurred at Mark 10:46:

"Then he came into Jericho. And the sister of the young man whom Jesus loved was there with his mother and Salome, but Jesus would not receive them. As he was leaving Jericho with his disciples…" (emphasis mine)

For decades, scholars have been debating of the authenticity of the text since the letter was discovered by Smith but quickly became lost and its whereabouts unknown. Photographs of the text only surfaced recently, yet no examination has been carried out so far.

Stephen Carlson, the author of the weblog Hypotyposesis: Sketches in biblical Studies, wrote a new book entitled The Gospel: Hoax Morton Smith’s Invention of Secret Mark. In his book, Stephen uses state of the art science to demonstrate that Secret Mark was an elaborate hoax created by Morton Smith. Carlson’s discussion places Smith’s trick alongside many other hoaxes before probing the reasons why so many scholars have been taken in by it.on.

Sounds better than Da Vinci Code? Well, at least you don’t have to worry about Anson asking you why you like to read "these half-true, half-fiction, slightly twisted but "pretend-to-be-factual" kind of stories"! Or that you are too "lazy to read anything of seriousness (that requires your brain) other than fictions"….