Secret Gospel of Mark - Analysis - 1970s and 1980s

1970s and 1980s

F. F. Bruce (1974) saw the story of the young man of Bethany clumsily based on the raising of Lazarus in the Gospel of John. Thus he sees the Secret Mark narrative as derivative, and denies that it could be either the source to the story of Lazarus or an independent parallel. Raymond E. Brown (1974) came to the conclusion through his own research that the author of Secret Mark most likely relied on the Gospel of John at least from memory. Skehan (1974) supported this view, calling the reliance on John "unmistakable". Robert M. Grant (1974) found in Secret Mark elements from each of the four Canonical Gospels and arrived at the conclusion that it was written after the first century. Helmut Merkel (1974) also concluded that Secret Mark is dependent on the four Canonical Gospels after analyzing the key Greek phrases.

Frans Neirynck (1979) argued that Secret Mark presupposes the Canonical Gospels. The author of Secret Mark seems to have pulled together the various places in the Synoptics where the Greek word neaniskos ("young man") was used (Mark 14:51; 16:5; Luke 7:14; Matt 19:20,22). Neirynck also shows other similarities.

Ron Cameron (1982) and Helmut Koester (1990) argued that Secret Mark preceded the canonical Mark, and that the canonical Mark is in fact an abbreviation of Secret Mark. This would explain the narrative discontinuity above. John Dominic Crossan (1985) has also been supportive of these views of Koester: "I consider that canonical Mark is a very deliberate revision of Secret Mark." More on the possible connection of Secret Mark to the Synoptic problem can be found in The Secret Gospel of Mark and the Synoptic Problem.

When the Swedish historian Per Beskow was preparing an English edition of Strange Tales about Jesus 1983, cast doubt on the Gospel, Morton Smith responded by threatening to sue the English language publisher, Fortress Press of Philadelphia, "for a million dollars" causing Fortress to amend the offending paragraph.