Dr Martin Mosse was born in the 1950s in Surrey and now lives with his wife Barbara in Emsworth, Hampshire. Barbara, a retired Church of England priest, is herself the author of 'The Treasures of Darkness' and other books. They share their lives with Rufus, a sleek black Labrador whom they acquired as a rescue dog in 2016.
Martin holds degrees in classics (MA, Oxon), Mathematics (BSc, Open) and New Testament History (PhD, Wales, Lampeter). His career centred on operational research into avionics in the defence industry. He is the author of three books and assorted reports on a variety of topics, as described in his website www.brainwaves.org.uk (WEBSITE CURRENTLY UNDER RECONSTRUCTION).
His first book, ‘The Three Gospels: New Testament History Introduced by the Synoptic Problem’ (xxxii+364 pages), is a revised edition of his highly controversial doctoral thesis, and was published by Paternoster in 2007. It carries a commendation from Dr Rowan Williams, then Archbishop of Canterbury. Notable features are early dates for Matthew (late 40s-50s), Mark (45), Luke (60-1) and Acts (62); a detailed chronology of the entire New Testament; a closely argued rejection of the Q hypothesis; and a passionately argued case for the priority of history over source criticism in the study of the gospels in question. A copy was gratefully received by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2008.
His second book, ‘e, i & pi; An Introduction to Mathematics in Three Acts’ (xvi+383 pages, 2013), is not in print but can be downloaded from his page on www.academia.edu , where it has been accessed from over 35 different countries.
Finally , ‘Peacemaking in God’s Church’ (v+166 pages), published on Amazon CreateSpace in January 2016, seeks to bridge the Reformation divide between Roman Catholics and evangelicals. It has been commended by Christians on both sides of the divide, including Nicholas King, SJ, Academic Director, Theology, at St Mary's University, Twickenham. Caution: this book is guaranteed to upset some readers!
Recently Martin was invited to contribute the opening chapter 'Doing New Testament History' to the Canadian scholar Ben Wiebe's new book 'Jesus and Christian Origins: Directions toward a New Paradigm' (2018) https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Christian-Origins-Directions-Paradigm/dp/1532614837 which presents a baseline for NT scholarship as it is today. In this chapter and another half-chapter, he expands on some of the main themes of 'The Three Gospels' listed above.
In 1998 Martin inaugurated a one man think tank called BRAINWAVES whose primary aim is to foster the progressively disappearing art of Thinking. In a series of reports published on the website given above, he explores alternative approaches to some of the issues of today in fields as diverse as politics, economics, New Testament history, theology, philosophy and mathematical education.
Martin can be contacted about any of his writings on martin@brainwaves.org.uk .
