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Mark S. Goodacre

Professor in the Department of Religious Studies
Religious Studies
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.  

Scholarly Works - Journal articles


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

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

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

[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

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

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

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

'Wenham': An Appreciation of the Elements of New Testament Greek

Journal article Evangelical Quarterly an International Review of Bible and Theology · September 1, 1997 Full text 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

The Preaching of Lewis Carroll

Journal article Jabberwocky · 1993 Link to item Cite