The New Testament is such a foundational text in Western culture that it can be easy to take for granted. I was certainly guilty of that myself. I’d often heard, for example, that the Gospel of Mark had likely been written before that of Matthew, probably in Rome at some time around 70 CE. But I had no real idea why people might think that, or how strong the evidence was, one way or the other. And there were multiple other associated questions of which I was also nebulously aware, but which I’d never got around to studying properly. How accurate were the various gospels? What was the relationship between them? Who were their authors? Where did they get their material? And how were they chosen to be part of the New Testament? As is so often the case with my books, The Heretic Scroll began as an effort to get to grips with those and other questions.
Many thanks must go first of all to David Inglis, both for his wonderful website on the Synoptic Problem, Marcion and associated matters, and also for his generosity with his time and knowledge in helping me to understand some of the more obscure and difficult topics I touched on while plotting out this book. It truly wouldn’t have been the same without him – though of course he shouldn’t be blamed for any of the mistakes I’ve no doubt made, or for any of the wilder inferences I’ve drawn. Thanks also to my friend Clive Pearson, for talking the story through with me, and to Christopher Bowkett for letting me read a copy of his thesis on anti-Mafia policing in Herculaneum. I’d also like to thank Michael Bhaskar, Kit Nevile, Jacqui Lewis and the rest of the team at Canelo for their invaluable help and feedback in getting the book done.
I’ve tried to keep the history as accurate as I reasonably can, though I’ve allowed myself the liberty of tweaking the layout of Naples and its surrounding suburbs here and there for dramatic effect. No doubt I’ve made a fair number of unwitting errors too. As always, these belong to me and me alone.