One not to miss -- an interesting post on
Hypotyposeis on the links between James M. Hunter,
The Mystery of Mar Saba first published in 1940 and the
Secret Gospel of Mark discovered by Morton Smith in 1958. There's a link to a post on a blog called
Christian CADRE that spells out the story and provides further links of interest.
I read that novel. I enjoy lost text stories, even if this one was not very plausible. But the blog makes a few silly comments. "Another strikikg parallel," it offers, is that the novel has a character Lord Moreton, then compares Morton. Smith was born before the novel.
ReplyDeleteIt may be that "Secret Mark" is a fake; and it may be that Stephen Carlson's book will demonstrate that. But, for now, explanation of how Secret Mark came to be lacks *consensus*
best
Stephen Goranson
Just to clarify,
ReplyDeleteI do no think that Morton Smith inspired the novel, I think it is possible that the novel inspired Morton Smith. Thus, the similarity of the names suggests to me that Smith might have been alerted to, and/or drawn to, actually read The Mystery of Mar Saba. And having read it, it could have prompted him to see himself involved in something similar. Sparking the imagination.
And as I said, the book just makes me suspicious. It is the the rest of the problems that have so frequently been pointed out that makes me skeptical. I'm not convinced it was a forgery, but that is my leaning.