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Audiobook edition · 32 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 24 pagesAbout this book
What if a letter preserves a hidden gospel—or leaves us with a mystery no scholar can settle?
Secret Gospel of Mark explores a disputed text known only through a letter attributed to Clement of Alexandria. Addressing Theodore, the letter quotes two short passages from a longer Gospel of Mark. According to the letter, this gospel serves advanced students in the church of Alexandria, rather than a wider audience.
In one quoted passage, Jesus raises a young man from the dead; a nighttime lesson follows. This summary examines what the letter claims, how Morton Smith finds its copy at Mar Saba in 1958, and why scholars disagree about its origins. Is it an ancient witness or a later creation? No settled verdict resolves the question.
What you’ll discover
- A desert monastery discovery Follow Morton Smith to Mar Saba, where a copied letter brings the disputed text to light.
- Clement writes to Theodore Explore a letter attributed to Clement and its claims about teachings reserved for advanced students.
- Two intriguing gospel passages Examine the quoted fragments that form the basis of this unresolved scholarly mystery.
- A mysterious night lesson Read the passage describing a young man's evening visit and teaching about the kingdom.
- A debate without closure Consider why scholars differ over whether the letter preserves early teaching or a later creation.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love manuscript detective stories, early Christian history, the Gospel of Mark, or open questions where scholars still argue.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A handwritten letter opens a dispute
- The letter argues against its rivals
- Mark serves two levels of teaching
- A raised youth receives hidden teaching
- Small passages invite competing connections
- Early Christianity held many different teachings
- Authenticity does not settle every question
- Keep quotation and argument apart
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Secret Gospel of Mark
A Columbia professor finds a Greek letter in a desert monastery that quotes a longer Gospel of Mark.
ChallengingUnder 2 hours to read2 languages
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“Not all true things are to be said to all people.”
In short
What would you do if you found a handwritten page that quotes a gospel almost nobody has heard of? In 1958 Morton Smith, a professor at Columbia University, is cataloguing manuscripts at Mar Saba, a monastery in the Judean desert.
Secret Gospel of Mark at a glance
- Reading time
- About 15 min15 min fast, 20 min slow
- Length
- 3,770 words
- Pages
- 32 pages32 in large print
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Listen freeOr hold it in print: paperback, hardcover or large print, at costFrom the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A professor finds a letter at Mar Saba
The story begins in 1958 at Mar Saba, a monastery set into the rock of the Judean desert. Morton Smith has come to catalogue the manuscripts in its old library. Smith is cataloguing manuscripts in the monastery's ancient library.
Then he opens a printed book from the seventeenth century and looks at its back pages. There, in handwriting, is a Greek text copied into the blank space. It names its author as Clement of Alexandria and is addressed to a man called Theodore. The handwritten letter refers to a more spiritual version of Mark.
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A Columbia professor finds a Greek letter in a desert monastery that quotes a longer Gospel of Mark.
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- Listening time
- 32 min
- Level
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- 24 pages · 6 × 9 in
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Cite this edition
Mark. Secret Gospel of Mark. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-secret-gospel-of-mark.
Mark. (2026). Secret gospel of Mark. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-secret-gospel-of-mark
Mark. Secret Gospel of Mark. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-secret-gospel-of-mark.
@book{mark2026secret,
author = {Mark},
title = {Secret Gospel of Mark},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-secret-gospel-of-mark}
}
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What is the Secret Gospel of Mark?
It is the name for a longer version of Mark's gospel that a Greek letter, attributed to Clement of Alexandria, says was used in Alexandria. Only two short passages are known, and both are quoted in that letter to a man named Theodore.
Who found the Secret Gospel of Mark and where?
Morton Smith, a Columbia University professor, found the letter in 1958 at the Mar Saba monastery in the Judean desert. It was handwritten in the back pages of a seventeenth century printed book in the monastery library.
Who were the Carpocratians in the letter?
They were a group, described by opponents as Gnostic, who are said in the letter to have obtained a copy of the longer gospel and misused it. Historians still debate how fair the charges made against them were.
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