Francis Watson Beyond Suspicion: on the Authorship of the Mar Saba Letter and the Secret Gospel of Mark (JTS 61, 2010, 128-170) concludes that to Theodore is a fake because it apparently is a pastiche of Markan phrases:
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The Secret Gospel passages comprise 14 sense-units (phrases or sentences) distributed evenly throughout the pericope. The Markan and other synoptic parallels have contributed 66 of its 157 words, in sequences of between three and ten words. A minimum of 32 of the remaining words are employed to complete the sense-units in question. That leaves just five sentences out of account, which tell of Jesus’ departure to the tomb; the voice heard from the tomb; Jesus’ entry into the tomb and his stretching out his hand; the departure to the young man’s home; and the night spent together. These sentences are full of synoptic language, but they are not dependent on synoptic word-sequences. … The pericope would seem to be the work of an author determined to pattern his own work on mainly Markan phraseology.
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One of these 'stolen' bits apparently is Mark 10:48 where the blind man says "Son of David, have mercy on me." (Υἱὲ Δαβίδ, ἐλέησόν με). Of course if Watson had consulted Clement himself, Clement makes clear that more than one figure in the gospel used this exact phrase. The passage from Stromateis 6.15:
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Many of those who called to the Lord said, "Son of David, have mercy on me." A few, too, knew Him as the Son of God; as Peter, whom also He pronounced blessed, "for flesh and blood revealed not the truth to him, but His Father in heaven" ...
Ἀμέλει καὶ τῶν ἐπιβοωμένων τὸν κύριον αὐτὸν οἱ μὲν πολλοὶ «Υἱὲ Δαβίδ, ἐλέησόν με» ἔλεγον, ὀλίγοι δὲ υἱὸν ἐγίγνωσκον τοῦ θεοῦ, καθάπερ ὁ Πέτρος, ὃν καὶ ἐμακάρισεν, ὅτι αὐτῷ σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα οὐκ ἀπεκάλυψε τὴν ἀλήθειαν, ἀλλ´ ἢ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, [Stromateis 6.15]
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So where are the many people who cried out 'Υἱὲ Δαβίδ, ἐλέησόν με'? The only two exact matches are LGM 1 and Mark chapter 10:
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και ελθουσα προσεκυνησε τον Ιησουν και λεγει αυτω· Υιε Δαβιδ, ελεησον με. οι δε μαθηται επετιμησαν αυτη [to Theod. 2.24]
καὶ ἐπετίμων αὐτῷ πολλοὶ ἵνα σιωπήσῃ· ὁ δὲ πολλῷ μᾶλλον ἔκραζεν· υἱὲ Δαυίδ, ἐλέησόν με [Mark 10:48; Luke 18:39]
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There are uses of 'have mercy on me' and 'son of David' in the gospel. But none match the words cited by Clement. The closest is Matt 15:22 but the word order is different:
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καὶ ἰδοὺ γυνὴ Χαναναία ἀπὸ τῶν ὁρίων ἐκείνων ἐξελθοῦσα ἔκραζεν λέγουσα· ἐλέησόν με, κύριε υἱὸς Δαυίδ· ἡ θυγάτηρ μου κακῶς δαιμονίζεται. [Matt 15:22]
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Again we have two choices: either Watson is right and Clement inexact or I am right and Clement is speaking quite precisely. Yet notice that Watson doesn't allow accept the possibility that to Theod 2.24,25 could be related to Matt 15:22. The wording isn't similar enough to warrant anything else other than a 'Markan pastiche.' The reverse logic here would mean that Clement is saying "I know of more than one occassion where people 'Son of David, have mercy on me' ...
03-19-2011, 02:19 AM
Another (Short) Demonstration that Clement Knew of Secret Mark
