Secret Mark taken up in BAR

The November/December 2009 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review contains several articles discussing the Secret Gospel of Mark. Helmut Koester weighs in on its authenticity, writing a full length article about why. Charlie Hedrick gives an overview of the discovery. Hershel Shanks writes a piece in which he summarizes the position of a number of scholars who present the case as a forgery. It's a quick overview of where things stand about the question of the authenticity of the Secret Gospel of Mark. Read the articles first, and then weigh in yourself here in the comments. I'd like to see what arguments you think are most convincing, or not.

Peter Jeffery's response to Scott Brown

Peter has asked me to post a link to his response to Scott Brown's review of his book The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled, because RBL will not publish it. I am happy to do this. But I just want to note that as far as I know it is not RBL's policy to publish authors' responses to any reviews that are written of our books. If this were done, then it would not be a Review publication, but a Debate publication. One of the nice things about the blog world, however, is that it allows us some measure of response and recourse if we feel it necessary.

Other reviews and discussion of the Secret Gospel of Mark are being tracked HERE.