Editors' Note

We are pleased to offer as a group three papers on the "Secret Gospel of Mark." After the editors had received Charles Hedrick's essay at JECS, Guy Stroumsa revealed in conversation that he is one of the last living Western scholars to have seen the contested manuscript pages that Morton Smith made famous. Concurrently, Bart Ehrman, who was present at the discussion with Stroumsa, was working on a book chapter pertaining to this text. Thus we invited Stroumsa and Ehrman to comment on the subject. We hope that readers will find these essays both informative and provocative.