Re: What Bible?

Wow, Ehrman seems to be quite an interesting scholar who has looked at early books which did not make it into the canonical list of new testament books.

http://www.explorefaith.org/ford/ehrman2.html

For an insightful review of Erhman's work see http://www.americamagazine.org/BookReview.cfm?articleTypeID=31&textID=3354&issueID=465

<quote>Lost Christianities presents analyses of individual texts in their historical context. Ehrman displays expert knowledge of the texts and the best modern scholarship, as well as sound critical judgment about their content. His balanced exposition of the Gospel of Thomas, with its careful delineation of the different materials in it, is outstanding. His essay on the Secret Gospel of Mark, with its suggestion that the text may be a modern forgery (perhaps even by its learned editor, Morton Smith), reads like a detective story. Studying a text in the anthology and reading Ehrman’s discussion of it can be both informative and engrossing.</quote>

See also the publisher's website
http://www.us.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/ReligionTheology/HistoryofChristianity/EarlyChurch/?view=usa&ci=0195141830

<quote>
Description The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human.

In Lost Christianities , Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten. All of these groups insisted that they upheld the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and they all possessed writings that bore out their claims, books reputedly produced by Jesus's own followers. Modern archaeological work has recovered a number of key texts, and as Ehrman shows, these spectacular discoveries reveal religious diversity that says much about the ways in which history gets written by the winners.
</quote>

Ehrman's CV at http://www.unc.edu/depts/rel_stud/faculty/EhrmanCV1.html
Some NPR Links (listen to Ehrman)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5052156
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3250048
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1551896

Book reviews
Lost Scriptures
http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/3978_4231.pdf
Lost Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/3959_3826.pdf

Interview with Ehrman
http://www.beliefnet.com/story/150/story_15091_1.html

Another addition to my reading list. Thanks Janice for encouraging me to research this book further. The history of early christianity is quite fascinating to me and help understand the evolution of Christianity into its present form

Pim

Janice Matchett <janmatch@earthlink.net> wrote: At 09:23 AM 3/12/2006, Mervin Bitikofer wrote:

 Debbie Mann wrote:

 "...'Lost Christianities' by Bart Ehrman. ..."
 I haven't read or studied some of the writings you mentioned (other than the gospel of Thomas). .. 'Lost Christianities' sounds interesting too. I finished Pagel's work and I think I have a fair grasp of her position now. --merv
 @@ If you value your time, here are two items you may want to consider. ~ Janice

 [1] A Review of Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities http://www.tektonics.org/books/lostehrman.html
Received on Sun Mar 12 15:19:51 2006