Care due when citing Clement's letter.

Greenberg, David F.

To the Editor:

Judging from Douglas Sadownick's review (Nov.-Dec. 05 issue), Will Roscoe's Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love, draws heavily on Morton Smith's writings to reconstruct a shamanistic tradition involving esoteric same-sex rituals in the Near East.

Several decades ago, Smith published and analyzed a text purporting to be a letter from Church Father Clement of Alexandria that quotes a secret version of the Gospel of Mark. A forthcoming book by Stephen C. Carlson, Gospel Hoax: Morton Smith's Invention of Secret Mark (Baylor University Press), argues that Smith forged the letter. We must await an assessment of the new publication from specialists. In the meantime, it may be wise not to rely too heavily on Clement's purported letter as evidence of sexual practices in the Near East 2,000 years ago. The letter may tell us more about Morton Smith than about Jesus and shamanism.

David F. Greenberg, New York