Scholars@Duke
Mark S. Goodacre

Mark S. Goodacre

Professor in the Department of Religious Studies
Religious Studies
goodacre@duke.edu
Box 90964, Durham, NC 27708-0964
Gray Bldg / Box 90964, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708-0964
Office hours Please email goodacre@duke.edu or call 919-660-3503.  
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Selected Publications

A World without Mark: an Experiment in Erasure History

Journal Article Biblical Interpretation · January 1, 2022 Erasure History is a subset of the discipline of counter-factual history, an exploration in imagining history without a work that scholars see as pivotal. Erasing Mark's gospel provides a fruitful thought experiment about the key role it plays in current s ... Full text Cite

How Empty Was the Tomb?

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · September 1, 2021 Although the term ‘empty tomb’ is endemic in contemporary literature, it is never used in the earliest Christian materials. The term makes little sense in the light of first-century Jerusalem tombs, which always housed multiple people. One absent body woul ... Full text Cite

The Protevangelium of James and the creative rewriting of Matthew and Luke

Chapter · January 1, 2018 The so-called Protevangelium of James is perhaps the most historically significant of all the non-canonical gospels. In prefacing its account of the birth of Jesus with an account of the birth and childhood of Mary, it has directly or indirectly shaped bel ... Full text Cite

Q, Memory and Matthew: A Response to Alan Kirk

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus · January 1, 2017 Full text Cite

A flaw in McIver and Carroll's experiments to determine written sources in the Gospels

Journal Article Journal of Biblical Literature · January 1, 2014 Robert McIver and Marie Carroll published an article in JBL in 2002 in which they discussed experiments with Australian undergraduate students that might help with determining the existence of written sources in the Gospels. They suggested that sixteen wor ... Full text Cite

Did Thomas know the synoptic Gospels? A response to Denzey Lewis, Kloppenborg and Patterson

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · January 1, 2014 Nicola Denzey Lewis, Stephen Patterson and John Kloppenborg have written appreciative but critical reviews of the books by Simon Gathercole and Mark Goodacre. This response focuses on several key elements in their critiques: Thomas's role in second-and fou ... Full text Cite

How reliable is the story of the Nag Hammadi discovery?

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · June 1, 2013 James Robinson's narrative of how the Nag Hammadi codices were discovered is popular and compelling, a piece of fine investigative journalism that includes intrigue and blood vengeance. But there are several different, conflicting versions of the story, in ... Full text Cite

The Jesus Discovery? A Sceptic’s Perspective

Journal Article Bible and Interpretation · 2013 Cite

Michael Goulder

Chapter · 2013 Cite

Redaction Criticism

Chapter · 2013 Cite

The Synoptic Problem

Chapter · 2013 Cite

A World without Mark: an Experiment in Erasure History

Journal Article Biblical Interpretation · January 1, 2022 Erasure History is a subset of the discipline of counter-factual history, an exploration in imagining history without a work that scholars see as pivotal. Erasing Mark's gospel provides a fruitful thought experiment about the key role it plays in current s ... Full text Cite

How Empty Was the Tomb?

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · September 1, 2021 Although the term ‘empty tomb’ is endemic in contemporary literature, it is never used in the earliest Christian materials. The term makes little sense in the light of first-century Jerusalem tombs, which always housed multiple people. One absent body woul ... Full text Cite

The Protevangelium of James and the creative rewriting of Matthew and Luke

Chapter · January 1, 2018 The so-called Protevangelium of James is perhaps the most historically significant of all the non-canonical gospels. In prefacing its account of the birth of Jesus with an account of the birth and childhood of Mary, it has directly or indirectly shaped bel ... Full text Cite

Q, Memory and Matthew: A Response to Alan Kirk

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus · January 1, 2017 Full text Cite

A flaw in McIver and Carroll's experiments to determine written sources in the Gospels

Journal Article Journal of Biblical Literature · January 1, 2014 Robert McIver and Marie Carroll published an article in JBL in 2002 in which they discussed experiments with Australian undergraduate students that might help with determining the existence of written sources in the Gospels. They suggested that sixteen wor ... Full text Cite

Did Thomas know the synoptic Gospels? A response to Denzey Lewis, Kloppenborg and Patterson

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · January 1, 2014 Nicola Denzey Lewis, Stephen Patterson and John Kloppenborg have written appreciative but critical reviews of the books by Simon Gathercole and Mark Goodacre. This response focuses on several key elements in their critiques: Thomas's role in second-and fou ... Full text Cite

How reliable is the story of the Nag Hammadi discovery?

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · June 1, 2013 James Robinson's narrative of how the Nag Hammadi codices were discovered is popular and compelling, a piece of fine investigative journalism that includes intrigue and blood vengeance. But there are several different, conflicting versions of the story, in ... Full text Cite

The Jesus Discovery? A Sceptic’s Perspective

Journal Article Bible and Interpretation · 2013 Cite

Michael Goulder

Chapter · 2013 Cite

Redaction Criticism

Chapter · 2013 Cite

The Synoptic Problem

Chapter · 2013 Cite

NT Blog

Other · 2013 Link to item Cite

NT Podcast

Other · 2013 Podcast about the New Testament and Christian Origins. Condensed comment from an academic perspective for everyone interested in historical approaches to the New Testament. ... Link to item Cite

Library of New Testament Studies

Book · 2013 The Library of New Testament Studies (LNTS), formerly the Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement (JSNTS) is a premier book series that offers cutting-edge work for a readership of scholars, teachers in the field of New Testament studies, pos ... Link to item Cite

Thomas and the Gospels: The Case for Thomas's Familiarity with the Synoptics

Book · 2012 Featured Publication The Gospel of Thomas is the noncanonical Gospel par excellence, the "fifth Gospel" that promises scholars new sayings of Jesus and the hope of new insight into Christian origins. But scholars remain divided over whether or not Thomas represents an early, i ... Link to item Cite

The Talpiyot Tomb and the Bloggers

Conference Archaeology, Bible, Politics and the Media: Proceedings of the Duke University Conference, April 23–24, 2009 · 2012 Open Access Link to item Cite

Does περιβολαιον mean "testicle" in 1 Corinthians 11:15?

Journal Article Journal of Biblical Literature · January 1, 2011 Full text Cite

Does peribolaion mean ‘testicle’ in 1 Corinthians 11.15?

Journal Article Journal of Biblical Literature · 2011 Open Access Link to item Cite

The Evangelists' Use of the Old Testament and the Synoptic Problem

Conference New Studies in the Synoptic Problem: Oxford Conference, April 2008 · 2011 Link to item Cite

Celebrating the Use of Internet Resources

Other The Bible and Interpretation · September 1, 2009 Link to item Cite

Admitting Our Ignorance About the Historical Jesus

Other The Bible and Interpretation · August 1, 2009 Link to item Cite

On Scholarly Conduct

Other The Bible and Interpretation · July 1, 2009 Link to item Cite

Redaction Criticism

Chapter · 2008 Cite

The Passion

Other · 2008 Cite

The Nativity Story: A Review

Other Society of Biblical Literature Forum · January 1, 2007 Link to item Cite

[Review of the book Rethinking the Synoptic Problem, edited by D.A. Black and D.R. Beck]

Journal Article Novum Testamentum: an international quarterly for New Testament and related studies · 2007 Cite

THE BIBLE

Other · January 1, 2006 Cite

The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze

Book · June 15, 2004 Featured Publication Possibly the greatest literary enigma in history, the Synoptic Problem has fascinated generations of scholars who have puzzled over the agreements, the disagreements, the variations and the peculiarities of the relationship between the first three of our c ... Open Access Cite

The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze

Book · June 15, 2004 Possibly the greatest literary enigma in history, the Synoptic Problem has fascinated generations of scholars who have puzzled over the agreements, the disagreements, the variations and the peculiarities of the relationship between the first three of our c ... Open Access Link to item Cite

The Pleasures and Perils of Talking to the Media

Other Society of Biblical Literature Forum · March 1, 2004 Link to item Cite

Jesus

Chapter · 2004 Cite

Paul

Chapter · 2004 Cite

Questioning Q

Book · 2004 In Questioning Q, gifted and articulate representatives of a new generation of New Testament scholars investigate the problems with the premises, the text and the implication of this elusive document. Their arguments are fresh yet compelling, and the poten ... Cite

On Choosing and Using Appropriate Analogies: A Response to F. Gerald Downing

Journal Article Journal for the study of the New Testament · 2003 Link to item Cite

The Case Against Q: Studies in Markan Priority and the Synoptic Problem

Book · 2002 Featured Publication For over a century Gospel scholarship has accepted a hypothetical document called Q as one of the major sources of the Synoptic Gospels. In recent times, it has even been transformed from a sayings source to a Gospel in its own right. But, says Mark Goodac ... Link to item Cite

Reverence and Resolution: The Heart of Carroll's Religion

Journal Article The Carrollian - The Lewis Carroll Journal · 2002 Link to item Cite

The Synoptic Jesus and the Celluloid Christ: Solving the Synoptic Problem Through Film

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · 2001 Study of the Synoptic Problem is often thought to be outdated, irrelevant and dull. We know the solution and we ought to spend time on newer, more exciting approaches to the New Testament. Yet one of those newer approaches, the study of the New Testament i ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Monopoly on Marcan Priority? Fallacies at the Heart of Q

Conference Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers 2000 · 2000 Open Access Link to item Cite

The Quest to Digest Jesus: Recent Books on the Historical Jesus

Journal Article Reviews in Religion & Theology · 2000 Books reviewed in this article:Mark Allan Powell, The Jesus Debate: Modern Historians Investigate the Life of ChristPhillip J. Cunningham, A Believer's Search for the Jesus of HistoryClive Marsh and Steve Moyise, Jesus and the Gospels: An IntroductionN. T. ... Full text Link to item Cite

[Review of the book The Composition of the Sayings Source: Genre, Synchrony, & Wisdom Redaction in Q, by A. Kirk]

Journal Article Novum Testamentum: an international quarterly for New Testament and related studies · 2000 Link to item Cite

Do You Think You're What They Say You Are? Reflections on Jesus Christ Superstar

Journal Article Journal of Religion and Film · October 1, 1999 Jesus Christ Superstar (dir. Norman Jewison, 1973) is a hybrid which, though influenced by Jesus films, also transcends them. Its rock opera format and its focus on Holy Week make it congenial to the adaptation of the Gospels and its characterization of a ... Link to item Cite

Comprehensively Questing for Jesus?

Journal Article Reviews in Religion & Theology · 1999 Book reviewed in this article: Gerd Theissen & Annette Merz The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide ... Full text Link to item Cite

Beyond the Q Impasse or Down a Blind Alley?

Journal Article Journal for the Study of the New Testament · 1999 Open Access Link to item Cite

[Review of the book Just James: The Brother of Jesus in History and Tradition, by J. Painter]

Journal Article Heythrop Journal: a Quarterly Review of Philosophy and Theology · 1999 Link to item Cite

Fatigue in the Synoptics

Journal Article New Testament Studies · 1998 Full text Link to item Cite

Recent Books in … New Testament Studies

Journal Article Reviews in Religion & Theology · 1998 Full text Link to item Cite

[Review of the book Luke's Gospel, by J. Knight]

Journal Article Reviews in Religion and Theology · 1998 Link to item Cite

[Review of the book The Gospel of Luke, by J. Green]

Journal Article Reviews in Religion and Theology · 1998 Link to item Cite

[Review of the book An Introduction to the New Testament, by R.E. Brown]

Journal Article Reviews in Religion and Theology · 1998 Link to item Cite

[Review of The Interpretation of John, by J. Ashton]

Journal Article Scripture Bulletin · 1998 Link to item Cite

Recent Books In…New Testament Studies

Journal Article Reviews in Religion & Theology · 1997 Exploring the Gospel of John: Essays in Honor of D. Moody Smith, R. Alan Culpepper and C. Clifton Black (eds)Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Writings, Majella Franzmann, T. & T. ClarkRenewal through Suffering: A Study of II Corinthians, A. E. Harvey, T. & T. Clar ... Full text Link to item Cite

Goulder and the Gospels: An Examination of a New Paradigm

Book · December 1, 1996 Featured Publication Goulder and the Gospels is the first comprehensive response to the radical challenge Michael Goulder has posed for New Testament scholarship. Goulder dispenses with all hypothetical sources-Q, M and L and postulates highly creative evangelists who write in ... Link to item Cite

The Preaching of Lewis Carroll

Journal Article Jabberwocky · 1993 Link to item Cite