BEYOND BELIEF: THE SECRET GOSPEL OF THOMAS, by Elaine Pagels, has been commented on by a number of bloggers in the last few days. Andrew Sullivan read it and he liked it. New Testament Scholar and blogger A. K. M. Adam (of AKMA's Random Thoughts) has published a review in The Disseminary (noted by Mark Goodacre). And Mark, who himself is writing a book on the Gospel of Thomas, has read Beyond Belief and he didn't like it. He comments: "But what there was on Thomas -- and there's not a lot -- I was already familiar with from Pagels' academic articles. How odd that the book went through with that subtitle -- doesn't make much sense to me." I'm afraid it does to me: marketing. It's a sexy subtitle: secret Gospels sell well. But then, I'm a cynic.

UPDATE: I'm not implying that Professor Pagels is to blame for the misleading subtitle. My guess is that someone in the marketing department put it in. I haven't read the book myself, so I'm relying on Mark's impression, which I trust.

UPDATE (17 September): Mark Goodacre agrees.