From Dr John M. Court
Sir, - I was sorry that you quoted me only as supporting Bishop
Tom Wright and Professor James Crossley in a sceptical viewpoint
regarding the "lost Gospel" (News, 14
November). Another negative point that I raised was about the
support of the British Library in this publicity.
But, in addition, I did offer some more positive points on
procedure: I emphasised the importance of investigating neglected
Syriac manuscripts, and offered some contextual points about
assessing them (date, provenance, and motivation for the original
writers).
I thought that the readers of Church Times might have
benefited from some words on academic research procedure, as well
as the message they probably wanted to hear, so that they could
disregard this theory as "bilge"!
JOHN M. COURT
(University of Kent, Canterbury)
79A The Street
Boughton under Blean
Faversham, Kent ME13 9BE