Sauron

This sounds more like the religious adventure books they give to pre-teens at church camp, to "inspire their young faith". Given the above, it's hard to see how anyone could defend the idea that this religious Nancy Drew tale would form the basis for a modern forgery.

The circulation of such a novel could not have been very large. And if Smith never encountered the book, then it cannot have been the basis for any alleged forgery. Layman's attempts to gloss over that particular problem by merely claiming the book "was popular in the English speaking world" are far short of the necessary evidence. "Wuthering Heights" was popular in the Engish speaking world as well; that does not constitute proof that Smith ever read it or came in contact with it.

Toto

The idea that the novel was popular is based on a claim by the author's son, who I think is puffing up his dad's reputation (perhaps understandably.) I have a feeling that if it were all that popular, I would have seen a copy at my home growing up, along with all the other cheesy mystery novels my mother read.

The article that Robert M Price wrote on this is not online, but I would be curious to see what it says.

If the forger were actually inspired by the novel, placing the forged document at Mar Saba could be one of those hidden clues that forgers include, daring the public to find him out, much like including the forged letter in a book by Isaac Voss on the authentic and inauthentic letters of St. Ignatius. Hm.

proudliberal

I have personally have read the secret mark about the insinuation of jesus being a possible gay pedophile.I believe it because.

If jesus was alive today in the united states of america his described mannerisms such as hanging out with men all the time,not having much to do with women would definately give him the label GAY even by the christian right.The pedophile status would determine which of the 50 states he would live in.

S.C.Carlson

According to my 1947 reprint, The Mystery of Mar Saba was published in 1940 and then reprinted in 1941, in 1942, 1943, and 1947. It continued to be reprinted thereafter. Being reprinted so many times, particularly in a weak economy, is a strong indication of its popularity.

Although the book is execrable by modern standards, it was right for its times. Growing up, I've read a lot of similar (but secular) fiction from the 1930s and 1940s (Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, etc.) and The Mystery of Mar Saba fits that style like a worn out shoe. Thematically, it was also right for its times. When it was published in 1940 right before America's involvement in World War II, most of America's traditionalist Christians still tended to isolationism (think "America first"), and the book gave an unabashedly (pro-British) Christian case for the global fight against Naziism.

In the same year (1940) the book came out, Morton Smith graduated from Harvard Divinity School with the intention of becoming an Episcopal priest. He then obtained a traveling scholarship to study at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1941, but had to remain in British Palestine there the rest of war. In January and February of 1942, Smith spent several weeks at the monastery of Mar Saba.

After the war, Smith realized his ambition to become an Episcopal priest, serving in Philadelphia from 1945 to 1946 and at Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore from 1946 to 1948. The web page for this church calls itself "a bulwark of orthodox Anglican practice" and that it is "committed to the maintenance of orthodox faith and practice. Mount Calvary remains Anglo-Catholic in her worship, conservative in her theology and generous in her Apostolic ministry." In 1948, Smith left the ministry to study under Harvard's Werner Jaeger, right around the time Smith "lost his faith" (he was never defrocked).

Throughout most of the 1940s, Smith was a very traditionalist Christian, who spent most of World War II in British Palestine and most of two months in Mar Saba itself. Smith spent his ministry of the later 1940s at a very traditionalist church, the same kind of circles in which this book was popular. Smith was in the right circles to hear about the book and, given the fact that Smith had actually been to Mar Saba, that book would have been irresistible to Smith's curiosity once he heard about it.

That said, the connections between the book and Secret Mark, though intriguing and perhaps even suspicious, are not close enough to be a smoking gun. The case that Smith faked Secret Mark has be established on other grounds, at which point the parallels with the book may then help illuminate Smith's motive(s).

Sauron

1. No, not really. I have seen reprints in units as small as 5000 copies. You can't really tell much about the popularity by counting the number of reprints. What you really need is the raw number of books printed - and a comparison against other books of the time, to see what the relative numbers were.

2. What "weak economy"? The United States enjoyed an enormous economic boom that started in the WW2 period, and continued into the 50s and 60s. This was an outgrowth of expanded industrial capacity (originally to support the war), international trade, Bretton Woods, etc.

DE BERGERAC

AKESON gives in "SAINT SAUL" some reasons why "Secret Mark" is a fake and a hoax, that I find quite convincing. Besides there is a book forthcoming that focuses on that notorious hoax. Morton Smith must be laughing out loud wherever he is with his "Jesus spend a night with the young man teaching him the ways of the kingdom of God" :rolling: I don't mean to be disrespectful, though.

The first time I heard about "Secret Mark" was from a popular book that has come to be, I understand, the source for the infamous "Da Vinci Code", either "El legado mesiánico" or "El enigma sagrado" (I quote the translated titles) by Baigent et alii. I didn't quite buy the stuff... only the reliability granted to it by "experts" had me in some doubt.

Yuri Kuchinsky

Do you really think Morton Smith forged SecMk?

This sounds silly to me...

Please see this thread,

http://www.iidb.org/vbb/showthread.php?t=128104

Regards,

Yuri.