S.C.Carlson

I'll be giving a talk about Secret Mark at Wellesley College, Mass., at 4:45 this Tuesday, April 25, 2006.

Toto

So how did it go?

S.C.Carlson

It went well, and I was very pleased for the chance to meet Mary Lefkowitz of Not Out of Africa fame.

Wellesley is a beautiful place. To get more of the campus, I have to rent "Mona Lisa's Smile."

Chris Weimer

Can you tell us a bit about the speech, how it went over, etc...?

S.C.Carlson

I discussed what led me to investigate Secret Mark and, for the bulk of the talk, I used a powerpoint for the forensic handwriting analysis. Many people said the detective story / CSI aspect of uncovering the hoax was fascinating.

Stephen

RUmike

Hey Stephen,

What would you say is the scholarly consensus (if there is one) regarding the authenticity of Secret Mark? It would seem to me (from casual study) that the majority accept it as authentic, but the tides seem to be turning. Is that accurate?

S.C.Carlson

I think it had "provisionally" been accepted by those who did not think that Smith forged it, but with a big cloud over it. Crossan, for example, stated he could only assume its authenticity as a "working hypothesis," until a physical study of the manuscript can be done. Since the manuscript has gone missing, that tends to put Secret Mark out in a scholarly limbo.

In my book, I pointed out that NT scholars tended to date Secret Mark just late enough to be ignored (second century or later) and, when it is not ignored, they usually hedge on its authenticity, noting its controversy. Part of the problem is that there really isn't all that much to the text itself. For example, it includes no actual saying of Jesus, so its effect on the Jesus Seminar's investigation of the Jesus sayings is null.

One indication of Secret Mark's reception is that no one did a Ph.D. dissertation on Secret Mark until 1995, and I've even heard of a case of someone who wanted to work on Secret Mark but was steered away by their advisor. Since Smith's death an increasing number of big names, e.g. Bruce Metzger and Bart Ehrman, have been voicing doubts about it, and this is before my book. So, the tide's been turning for a while; time will tell how much.

Stephen