{"id":14264,"date":"2020-09-10T15:06:31","date_gmt":"2020-09-10T19:06:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=14264"},"modified":"2020-09-13T22:22:13","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T02:22:13","slug":"secret-gospel-of-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the secret gospel of Mark? What can the suppressed gospels tell us about Jesus? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The secret gospel of Mark is a gospel that some scholars and theologians believe exists, since the discovery of the suppressed gospel of Thomas<\/a>. While there is no record of the secret gospel, it does raise the question of other suppressed texts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more to find out how the secret gospel of Mark can expose crucial information about Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Secret Gospel of Mark<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Arguably the most controversial of the Jesus Seminar\u2019s pronouncements was that the Gospel of Thomas, a long marginalized text, should be included in the New Testament canon. The Gospel of Thomas features passages that the Jesus Seminar<\/a> argues (1) predate the accounts of Jesus found in the canonical gospels and (2) depict a naturalistic Jesus. But what about the secret book of mark? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars associated with the Jesus Seminar have also raised questions about other \u201csecret gospels\u201d that have been discovered, including \u201cSecret Mark\u201d and the \u201cCross Gospel.\u201d Some Jesus Seminar members have speculated that these secret gospels feature revelations about Jesus that expose him as exclusively mortal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To most serious scholars of the New Testament, however, these so-called \u201csecret gospels\u201d are simply a distraction<\/strong>. In fact, most aren\u2019t even discoveries: theologians have long known about the Gospel of Thomas\u2014and have dismissed it because it so clearly contravenes the Jesus of the canonical four gospels (see Chapter 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The secret book of Mark, according to its proponents, is a longer and more reliable version of the gospel of Mark, one that was suppressed by the early Church. The problem with this assertion is that no copy of the secret book of mark exists, and there\u2019s only the thinnest evidence it ever did <\/em>exist<\/strong>. Everything we know about \u201cSecret Mark\u201d is contained in a quote from it included in a letter by a second-century author. (And, curiously enough, there\u2019s no existing copy of the letter, either<\/em>\u2014only a picture taken of it by the mid-twentieth-century scholar who found it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Shortform note: Some contemporary commentators believe that the scholar who photographed the letter actually fabricated it.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the secret gospel of Mark? What can the suppressed gospels tell us about Jesus? The secret gospel of Mark is a gospel that some scholars and theologians believe exists, since the discovery of the suppressed gospel of Thomas. While there is no record of the secret gospel, it does raise the question of other suppressed texts. Read more to find out how the secret gospel of Mark can expose crucial information about Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,6],"tags":[125],"class_list":["post-14264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","category-spiritual","tag-the-case-for-christ","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nIs There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What's the Secret Gospel of Mark? Does it even exist? Some scholars speculate that a lost gospel could revel important info about Jesus.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What's the Secret Gospel of Mark? Does it even exist? Some scholars speculate that a lost gospel could revel important info about Jesus.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-10T19:06:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-14T02:22:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Carrie Cabral\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\"},\"headline\":\"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-10T19:06:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-14T02:22:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/\"},\"wordCount\":368,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Case for Christ\"],\"articleSection\":[\"People\",\"Spiritual\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/\",\"name\":\"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-09-10T19:06:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-09-14T02:22:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"What's the Secret Gospel of Mark? Does it even exist? Some scholars speculate that a lost gospel could revel important info about Jesus.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"description\":\"The World's Best Book Summaries\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Shortform Books\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png\",\"width\":500,\"height\":74,\"caption\":\"Shortform Books\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56\",\"name\":\"Carrie Cabral\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Carrie Cabral\"},\"description\":\"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean? - Shortform Books","description":"What's the Secret Gospel of Mark? Does it even exist? Some scholars speculate that a lost gospel could revel important info about Jesus.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean?","og_description":"What's the Secret Gospel of Mark? Does it even exist? Some scholars speculate that a lost gospel could revel important info about Jesus.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/","og_site_name":"Shortform Books","article_published_time":"2020-09-10T19:06:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-09-14T02:22:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/wordpress.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Carrie Cabral","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Carrie Cabral","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/"},"author":{"name":"Carrie Cabral","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56"},"headline":"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean?","datePublished":"2020-09-10T19:06:31+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-14T02:22:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/"},"wordCount":368,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg","keywords":["The Case for Christ"],"articleSection":["People","Spiritual"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/","name":"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean? - Shortform Books","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-09-10T19:06:31+00:00","dateModified":"2020-09-14T02:22:13+00:00","description":"What's the Secret Gospel of Mark? Does it even exist? Some scholars speculate that a lost gospel could revel important info about Jesus.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/secret-gospel-of-mark\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is There a Secret Gospel of Mark? What Does it Mean?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","name":"Shortform Books","description":"The World's Best Book Summaries","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Shortform Books","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/logo-equilateral-with-text-no-bg.png","width":500,"height":74,"caption":"Shortform Books"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2ababb7c63a94ff5d2190f71dc417d56","name":"Carrie Cabral","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e9aea3c95254368e6bf388b046b35bacb82e4167f4c62c0813620e3a4ec51126?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Carrie Cabral"},"description":"Carrie has been reading and writing for as long as she can remember, and has always been open to reading anything put in front of her. She wrote her first short story at the age of six, about a lost dog who meets animal friends on his journey home. Surprisingly, it was never picked up by any major publishers, but did spark her passion for books. Carrie worked in book publishing for several years before getting an MFA in Creative Writing. She especially loves literary fiction, historical fiction, and social, cultural, and historical nonfiction that gets into the weeds of daily life.","url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/author\/carrie\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/secret-books-of-mark-case-for-christ-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14264"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14673,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14264\/revisions\/14673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}