RELIGION

The Secret Gospel of Mark

The Secret Gospel of Mark

Overview

The Secret Gospel of Mark is a gospel apocryphal Lost cited two short fragments in a letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria which was discovered in 1958 by Morton Smith, and there are serious doubts its authenticity. The author of the letter circulated at least two different versions of the Gospel of Mark in the city of Alexandria. First drafted corresponds to the current canonical Gospel of Mark, the next, written and directed after a group of insiders, would be the Secret Gospel of Mark, which are the excerpts quoted in the letter (Carlson, 2008).

There is no other reference to a Secret Gospel of Mark in Christian literature known. It is known, however, that there was a gospel of Matthew alternative, that Irenaeus, Jerome and others called Gospel of the Hebrews. On the other hand, the known manuscripts of Mark's Gospel are not exactly equal, so the idea that the same gospel circulate in several different versions is not at all strange. They have questioned the authenticity of the letter as the existence of the secret gospel. On the one hand, this gospel is hugely controversial, as it has possible implications on the sexuality of Jesus that many Christians can find seriously offensive. On the other hand, the abnormal circumstances in which the letter was discovered to suspect that it might be a forgery (Jeffery, 2007).

Discovery and Disappearance

In 1958, Morton Smith , professor of ancient history at Columbia University , discovered in the library of the monastery orthodox of Mar Saba , about 20 kilometers from Jerusalem , letter copied by hand on the blank pages of a printed book the seventeenth century. The letter was written in Greek, with a feature of eighteenth-century handwriting. The author was identified at the beginning of the text as "Clemente, author of the Stromata", ie the well-known theologian and moralist Christian Clement of Alexandria, who lived about the year 200 (Smith, 1974).

Smith photographed the three pages of the book that contained the letter. The letter was addressed to a certain Theodore, completely unknown character, and in it he responded to a series of questions about a sect of primitive Christianity that there is news, Carpocratians , so called by the name of its founder, Carpocrates . In this context were references to the Secret Gospel of Mark, used by Carpocratians of the letter quoted two brief excerpts (Larry, 2003).

After its discovery by Smith, the book containing the letter was filed by the monks of Mar Saba. However, no other specialist has successfully addressed the purported letter of Clement of Alexandria. More recently they have come to light new photographs of the text, taken by the former librarian of the monastery.

The Question of Authenticity

Because of both the controversial nature of the contents of the letter and the implication of the existence of a secret gospel and the fact that the original can no longer be considered-not-dated by scholars, the authenticity of the ...