The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon

De: Bart D. Ehrman, The Great Courses

Narrado por: Bart D. Ehrman

What different kinds of books are in the New Testament? When, how, and why were they written? And why did some books, and not others, come to be collected into what Christians came to consider the canon of scripture that would define their belief for all time? With these 12 lectures, get a fast-moving yet thorough introduction to these and other key issues in the development of Christianity. Designed to deepen the understanding of both Christians and non-Christians alike, this lecture series takes as its perspective the historical, rather than the theological, issues behind the development of the Bible. And it's an illuminating perspective, indeed, ranging across issues of language, oral history, the physical limitations of spreading the written word at a time when the printing press lay far in the future, and, of course, the theological forces that were shaping Christianity, molding a commonly accepted canon from the various expressions of the faith spreading across the ancient world. Professor Ehrman recreates the context of the times in which the canon was being assembled so that you can understand what the message of each written work would have meant to ancient Christians. You'll come to see how the diverse books of the New Testament were gathered together into the form we now know, whether it's the four canonical Gospels (whose authorship was only attributed by later Christians), the book of Acts, the 21 Epistles, or the book of Revelation (sometimes called the Apocalypse of John).

These lectures are a compelling introduction not only to the development of the Christian canon, but to all of the forces that would play a role in early Christian history.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2005 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2005 The Great Courses

Very Nice!

I really enjoyed this series and wish it was longer. I bought a Bible as a result and am enjoying reading the New Testament.

Very informative and evenhanded

Very informative lectures without bias. You can tell Ehrman has a deep respect and interest in the Bible and it’s history.

What we don’t know

I had heard that the myth that the Council of Nicaea involved voting which books to include was false but I hoped this lecture series would tell how it actually happened. It seems the answer is we just don’t know.

This series details many different views of early Christians and Ehrman depicts them very well. It seems that each competing group accepted books which seemed to agree with their understanding of Christ and rejected any others as heretical. Not surprisingly, the views of the dominant church in Rome won out. Our earliest list of books that matches the modern New Testament dates to several hundred years after the books were written.

So there it is, we found the list. But... how did it become official? If not at the Council of Nicaea, perhaps at another ecumenical council? Or decreed by some pope? Of course some things are just lost to history but this is so significant I had expected a more concrete resolution to the ultimate question of how the New Testament canon was made.

My only real criticism of Dr. Ehrman is that he made no comment on this. For all I know at the moment of finishing this lecture series, there may be an event where the canon was made official which Ehrman chose not to include here. Or perhaps there is no such recorded event in history. In either case I wish had addressed it.

Again Wow

I I found this to be and easy listen, and just a great book overall

Valuable historical teaching tool

Very insightful way to look at the historical context of the books we know as the New Testament. Not a spiritual book but based in facts put together by scholars.