[TEFSADDERFISA]

Half of New Testament forged, Bible scholar says – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

[Eugen80]

Half of New Testament forged, Bible scholar says – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

This is essentially the same point Ehrman made in his earlier books (which are fascinating) but he's upped the ante by using a loaded word like "forged."

Of course, I'll probably still buy it.

[markkisil]

I don't get it. This is what the Catholic Church has taught for decades. Apostles took on the names of early followers of Jesus and wrote works of his life inspired by God written some 200 years later. Is this anything remotely new or is he just trying to rile up Evangelicals and the pre-Vatican Two Catholics?

[HexcewlyRette]

I don't get it. This is what the Catholic Church has taught for decades. Apostles took on the names of early followers of Jesus and wrote works of his life inspired by God written some 200 years later. Is this anything remotely new or is he just trying to rile up Evangelicals and the pre-Vatican Two Catholics?

I don't suppose it's an effort to rile up. As Sean noted, he's touched on these points in earlier works--I suspect this is structured look devoted solely to the topic of the NT's origins. That's the sort of thing academics do. And, while this may have been the doctrine from Rome, it's not widely accepted in the Protestant world, where most still view the Bible as the literal word of God. Hell, there's a lot of Protestants who don't believe Catholics are even Xtians....the Catholic bible has way too many books, they they pray to a girl. This is a book by a nice Protestant boy who went to Moody Bible, not some European pagan in a pointy hat.

[dittygari]

I don't suppose it's an effort to rile up. As Sean noted, he's touched on these points in earlier works--I suspect this is structure look devoted solely to the topic of the NT's origins. That's the sort of thing academic do. And, while this may have been the doctrine from Rome, it's not widely accepted in the Protestant world, where most still view the Bible as the literal word of God. Hell, there's a lot of Protestants who don't believe Catholics are even Xtians....the Catholic bible has way too many books, they they prey to a girl. This is a book by a nice Protestant boy who went to Moody Bible, not some European pagan in a pointy hat.

Yeah, and I saw he went to Wheaton too. I guess maybe I just feel it's a little silly since Catholic and Jewish scholars had these debates in the mid 1800s. In Catholic school you learn the documentary hypothesis and its New Testament counterpart (that the gospels where written by followers writing to different audiences). I guess Protestants are still hung up on that? I've seen a few Evangelical sites saying that the documentary hypothesis means Genesis is a fraud. And I guess that view explains the hyperbolic title of "Forged"? He is a scholar but isn't scholarly work. This is a popular work. I think 'forged' is a little much. It was a very different concept of authorship back then. You weren't claiming authorship to establish copyright and keep the royalty checks coming in.

“Forged” will help people accept something that it took him a long time to accept, says the author, a former fundamentalist who is now an agnostic. I think that's funny. That very binary view. That either God has to write books or that they are forgeries and prove it's not God but human. I think lower criticism is bound to temper that view for every religion.