Secret Gospels

By Marvin W. Meyer

Book Overview

Marvin Meyer is one of the leading experts on the secret gospels-Gospel of Thomas, Secret Gospel of Mark, and others-who has changed forever how we read the canonical gospels and understand early Christianity. In this new collection of his work, Meyer looks at these revolutionary texts in original and illuminating ways.

He writes, for example, about the naked youths in the villa of the Mysteries. On the walls of a villa in Pompeii, a famous mural depicts a naked male reading from a scroll, a look of wonder on his face. A naked youth again appears in the Gospel of Mark, abandoning his garment and fleeing naked when apprehended during Jesus' arrest. A similar youth appears in the Secret Gospel of Mark. These youths, Meyer proposes, serve as an image of religious initiation, candidates for the mysteries of Dionysus or of Christ.

This is one of the many aspects of the secret gospels that Meyer examines with expert insight and creativity. Topics range from gender and infancy stories to discipleship and the relationship of the Gospel of Thomas to Islamic literature. Meyer's spellbinding readings of these materials offer fresh understandings of the canonical gospels.

Marvin Meyer is Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies, and Director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Chapman University, Orange, California. He is author of The Secret Teachings of Jesus: Four Gnostic Gospels and The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus, and co-editor of Jesus Then and Now (Trinity Press International).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1563384094
• ISBN13: 9781563384097
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Trinity Press International
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A close and scholarly study of apocryphal texts

Secret Gospels: Essays On Thomas And The Secret Gospel Of Mark by Marvin Meyer (Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies, Chapman University, Orange, California) is a close and scholarly study of apocryphal texts - those ancient Christian writings which are not included in the canonical New Testament Gospels. These texts present accounts of Jesus' childhood, teenage years, and relationships with women left out in the canonical gospels, and this in-depth study of their meaning and symbolism offers a fascinating new dimension to Biblical reference shelves. Also very highly recommended for Christian Studies reading lists are Professor Meyer's earlier books: The Secret Teachings of Jesus: Four Gnostic Gospels and The Gospel of Thomas: The Hidden Sayings of Jesus.