| Rating: | ★★★★ |
| Category: | Books |
| Genre: | Religion & Spirituality |
| Author: | Bart D. Ehrman |
What if Marcion's canon-which consisted only of Luke's Gospel and Paul's letters, entirely omitting the Old Testament-had become Christianity's canon? What if the Ebionites-who believed Jesus was completely human and not divine-had ruled the day as the Orthodox Christian party? What if various early Christian writings, such as the Gospel of Thomas or the Secret Gospel of Mark, had been allowed into the canonical New Testament? Ehrman (The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture), a professor of religion at UNC Chapel Hill, offers answers to these and other questions in this book, which rehearses the now-familiar story of the tremendous diversity of early Christianity and its eventual suppression by a powerful "proto-orthodox" faction. The proto-orthodox Christians won out over many other groups, and bequeathed to us the four Gospels, a church hierarchy, a set of practices and beliefs, and doctrines such as the Trinity. Ehrman eloquently characterizes some of the movements and Scriptures that were lost, such as the Ebionites and the Secret Gospel of Mark, as he outlines the many strands of Christianity that competed for attention in the second and third centuries. He issues an important reminder that there was no such thing as a monolithic Christian orthodoxy before the fourth century. While Ehrman sometimes raises interesting questions (e.g., are Paul's writings sympathetic to women?), his book covers territory already well-explored by others (Gregory Riley, The River of God; Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief), generating few fresh or provocative insights.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
Chapter One: Recouping Our Loses PART ONE: Forgeries and Discoveries Chapter Two: The Ancient Discovery of a Forgery: Serapion and the Gospel of Peter Chapter Three: The Ancient Forgery of a Discovery: The Acts of Paul and Thecla Chapter Four: The Discovery on an Ancient Forgery: the Coptic Gospel of Thomas Chapter Five: The Forgery of an Ancient Discovery? Morton Smith and the Secret Gospel of Mark PART TWO: Heresies and Orthodoxies Chapter Six: At Polar Ends of the Spectrum: Early Christian Ebionites and Marcionites Chapter Seven: Christians "In the Know": The Worlds of Early Christian Gnosticism Chapter Eight: On the Road to Nicea: The Broad Swath of Proto-Orthodox Christianity PART THREE: Winners and Losers Chapter Nine: The Quest for Orthodoxy Chapter Ten: The Arsenal of the Conflicts: Polemical Treatises and Personal Slurs Chapter Eleven: Additional Weapons in the Proto-Orthodox Arsenal: Forgeries and Falsifications Chapter Twelve: The Invention of Scripture: The Formation of the Proto-Orthodox New Testament Chapter Thirteen: Winners, Losers, and the Question of Tolerance
(Taken from http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0195141830/ref=olp_product_details/701-5650396-5450743?ie=UTF8&seller= )
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A very good read. It covers the apocryphal books of the New Testament, with criticisms and interpretation from an academic perspective. It also briefly talks about Christian heresies and history of the early Church ca. 30-600.
For me, it forces me to think about my knowledge of my faith and reconsider certain issues which I have come to take for granted about the Bible.
This book is available from the non-reference section of the National Library (NLB).
Today at Kino, I just saw another book covering similar grounds from a solid evangelical perspective. It's The Missing Gospel by Darrell L. Bock. Looks good too.
ReplyDeleteok, just read the online review about your recommendation. Sounds like it's written with a more Christian perspective. Wil try to look for it at teh NLB. Thanks, bro!
ReplyDeleteEhrman's book was written in a more academic, "objective" tone. I can't tell whether he's a Christian or not. He doesn't defend the orthodox background of the Bible. Rather, he ask a series of "What ifs" questions, which is interesting for speculation and discussion.