Monday, September 10, 2007

Patterson on Evans on Secret Mark

There's a very interesting review by Stephen Patterson of Craig Evans's Fabricating Jesus on the latest SBL Review of Biblical Literature. There was one note that I found a bit disappointing, though, a passing comment on Evans on Secret Mark,
His view, in brief, is that Secret Mark was forged by Morton Smith—citing evidence from an attorney and apparent handwriting analyst. . .
Stephen Carlson's Gospel Hoax is a fine piece of work, with several scholarly endorsements, that deserves proper mention in this context, rather than the implied disparagement here. Although Evans was viewing a pre-publication version of Carlson's book, the latter has now been out for almost two years, and it should not be passed over lightly. Let me add, though, that I think Patterson's review makes some very interesting points and is well worth reading; I just wanted to comment briefly on that comment.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Patterson questions the fact that Theissen supports Evans's book, even though the Cynic Jesus hypothesis is regularly attributed to him. Patterson appears to be unaware that Theissen has decried the way in which the Cynic Jesus hypothesis has made use of his article, which was not intended to suggest such a far-fetched thesis.