Decoding Mark

Nationally known journalist John Dart, news editor of Christian Century magazine and a religion writer at the Los Angeles Times for 30 years, has written extensively about New Testament research. His books include The Laughing Savior: The Discovery and Significance of the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Library; The Gospel of Thomas: Unearthing the Lost Words of Jesus, and Deities & Deadlines. Dart has won numerous reporting awards.

• 1. A Night with Jesus - the Lost Episode; 2. Forgery, or Clue to Early Christianity?; 3. The "Big Omission" in Luke; 4. Better than Elijah, Greater than Elisha; 5. Bracketing and Bashing; 6. Deciphering the Code; 7. Bringing Back the Lost Disciple; 8. The Fabulous Word Mosaic of Mark; 9. Overlooked Heroes; 10. Unashamed Naked Return to Oneness; 11. Editor's Motives, Luke's Preferences; 12. In Praise of Secret Mark's Discoverer; 13. Solving Mysteries, Facing New Ones Appendices.

"Dart writes engagingly in language accessible to any fairly literate adult, and this book may well encourage intelligent laity to take biblical scholarship more seriously." -Religious Studies Review, April, July 2004