Subj : Re: Bible
To   : Curtis Johnson
From : John Wilson
Date : Sun Nov 05 2000 04:17 am

-=> Curtis Johnson wrote to RALPH ZETTER <=-

 CJ>  Another characteristic that the Alexandrian school shared
 CJ> with the Gnostics was secret literature.  Of especial interest
 CJ> here is the discovery by Morton Smith of a letter by Clement in
 CJ> which he quotes texts that Clement claimed were part of the
 CJ> original Gospel of Mark and which were to be read only among a
 CJ> secret inner circle.

     A very interesting book. "New Testament Abstracts" carried a lot
     of commentary/reviews of his book, mostly putting it down and
     sometimes impling that Dr. Smith was pulling a leg...

 CJ>  I'm afraid that to go much further into about this Secret
 CJ> Gospel of Mark, however, would bring me into a topic that the
 CJ> moderator just banned.

     :-)

 CJ>  A good introduction to the Gnostics is Elaine Pagel's book,
 CJ> which is relatively short.

     "The Gnostic Gospels" Yes!

     There is a new edition of the translation of the "Naj Hamaddi Library"
     The first edition was a great book...one I wanted to read since
     I first read the Gospel of Thomas....

     ---------

     Interesting how quickly the Church assumed a hierarchical
     authoritarian position...and the Gnostics didn't...is there a
     lesson here? :-)





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