My review of "The Secret Gospel of Mark" by Robert Conner
Robert Conner is an author of several skeptical books
casting Jesus as a sorcerer rather than the unbegotten Son of God. In this
short book, he defends the reputation of Morton Smith, the late discoverer of
the so-called Mar Saba letter, an Über-controversial document purportedly
penned by Church Father and crypto-heresiarch extraordinaire Clement of
Alexandria in which said Clement attacks the Dionysiac Gnostic reveler
Carpocrates and his strange nocturnal appetites. Super-sensationally, the
letter also quotes from a “Secret Gospel of Mark”, in which Jesus teaches a
nude man dressed only in a linen cloth the mysteries of the kingdom under a
starry sky…
TL;DR. Jesus the Christ was LGBTQ!!!
OK, sorry for the sarcastic style of writing, but I couldn't help myself. Conner's book isn't a scholarly oeuvre sensu stricto, but rather a passionate, intemperate and yes, sarcastic, polemic against…well, pretty much everything except Donald J Trump, probably because the tome was written in 2015, before The Donald announced his intention to run for The Highest Office (and I don't mean archdeacon). Conner rambles on for 100+ pages, attacking the biology classes at Biola University, the dating rules of Bob Jones “University” (his scare quotes), the State of Texas, Benedictine oblates and George Dubya Bush while implying that Joe McCarthy was a homosexual. Somewhere in this material, you might also find something about Morton Smith and the Secret Gospel of Mark…
I admit that it was entertaining, although the author did go off tangent when quoting long statements in French without translating them to Amerikan English, suggesting that Conner is a well-educated Canadian liberal of the bi-lingophone persuasion. He also expects his readers to have a working knowledge of Biblical Greek, but thankfully he translates all his koiné to Montreal's majority language. Somewhat disappointingly, Conner doesn't believe in the homo-erotic implications of the Secret Alexandrine Gospel (or is it Gospelette), instead arguing that Jesus was simply teaching a fully-clad disciple the mysteries of the resurrection, the disciple being none other than Lazarus, here identified with the disciple that Jesus metaphorically loved.
I don't have a good close for this review, and will therefore end it as abruptly as the book under review also ends.
TL;DR. Jesus the Christ was LGBTQ!!!
OK, sorry for the sarcastic style of writing, but I couldn't help myself. Conner's book isn't a scholarly oeuvre sensu stricto, but rather a passionate, intemperate and yes, sarcastic, polemic against…well, pretty much everything except Donald J Trump, probably because the tome was written in 2015, before The Donald announced his intention to run for The Highest Office (and I don't mean archdeacon). Conner rambles on for 100+ pages, attacking the biology classes at Biola University, the dating rules of Bob Jones “University” (his scare quotes), the State of Texas, Benedictine oblates and George Dubya Bush while implying that Joe McCarthy was a homosexual. Somewhere in this material, you might also find something about Morton Smith and the Secret Gospel of Mark…
I admit that it was entertaining, although the author did go off tangent when quoting long statements in French without translating them to Amerikan English, suggesting that Conner is a well-educated Canadian liberal of the bi-lingophone persuasion. He also expects his readers to have a working knowledge of Biblical Greek, but thankfully he translates all his koiné to Montreal's majority language. Somewhat disappointingly, Conner doesn't believe in the homo-erotic implications of the Secret Alexandrine Gospel (or is it Gospelette), instead arguing that Jesus was simply teaching a fully-clad disciple the mysteries of the resurrection, the disciple being none other than Lazarus, here identified with the disciple that Jesus metaphorically loved.
I don't have a good close for this review, and will therefore end it as abruptly as the book under review also ends.
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