Endnote 6 – The Raising of Lazarus

The authenticity of this letter, discovered by Morton Smith, cannot be absolutely verified, and scholars who accept it nevertheless disagree about the dating of the “Secret Gosple of Mark,” its transmission and its role in the Alexandrian church. See the critical edition of the manuscript published by Morton Smith, Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1973); as well as a version for the general public: The Secret Gospel (New York: Harper and Row, 1973). A summary of scholarly opinion regarding the letter by John Dominic Crossan, Four Other Gospels: Shadows on the Contours of Canon (Seabury Press: Minneapolis, 1985), pp. 89–121: and Saul Levin, “The Early History of Christianity, in Light of the ‘Secret Gospel’ of Mark,” Aufstieg und Niedergang des romischen Welt 2.25.6 (1988), pp. 4272–4275.