Forged

Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are

By: Bart D. Ehrman

Narrated by: Walter Dixon

Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

It is often said, even by critical scholars who should know better, that “writing in the name of another” was widely accepted in antiquity. But New York Times best-selling author Bart D. Ehrman dares to call it what it was: literary forgery, a practice that was as scandalous then as itis today. In Forged, Ehrman’s fresh and original research takes readers back to the ancient world, where forgeries were used as weapons by unknown authors to fend off attacks to their faith and establish their church. So, if many of the books inthe Bible were not in fact written by Jesus’s inner circle - but by writers living decades later, with differing agendas in rival communities - what does that do to the authority of Scripture?

Ehrman investigates ancient sources to:

• Reveal which New Testament books were outright forgeries.
• Explain how widely forgery was practiced by early Christian writers - and how strongly it was condemned in the ancient world as fraudulent and illicit
• Expose the deception in the history of the Christian religion.

Ehrman’s fascinating story of fraud and deceit is essential reading for anyone interested in the truth about the Bible and the dubious origins of Christianity’s sacred texts.

©2010 Bart D. Ehrman (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers

Have you heard the Good Lies?

The Gospels are in even worse standing as supposed reports of Jesus of Nazareth. Not only are they anonymous and decades removed from the time they speak on, many of the books are forgeries. While some people would lie to gain favor or avoid persecution, many of the authors of much of the New Testament lied for their "Truth."

Too much christian "inside baseball"

I was expecting more textual criticism but this time it manages to be boring. Maybe it's the long quotes from bible and non-canon texts and forgeries. I'd forgotten how hard it is to take any of that stuff seriously.

Faith shaking

This is a tough book to review. I have rated it highly based on the quality of the production and authorship. It is engaging and appears to be well researched. I did not enjoy this book, however, for the light it has shined on the holiest books in Christianity and the doubt it has cast on my faith.

After completing "Forged," I have to say it has had a significant impact on my faith. The direction of that impact is toward doubt. How deep and how wide the impact will be in the end remains to be seen.

If you accept Ehrman's research and conclusions, then it could make you question every word of the New Testament. "Misquoting Jesus" revealed that there are errors in the Bible. "Forged" takes that even further in saying that many of the books are not written by the men they are attributed to commonly or, in some cases, not even written in the correct century.

Every Christian's faith is different, I know, and you could simply conclude that my faith was already weak. I won't argue otherwise, but I will suggest that if you are looking for a book that will strengthen your faith in God or the Bible, then this is not the best choice.

The question I am left with is whether it's better to believe the Bible is divinely inspired and without error or to accept that man's touch has tainted it? If you choose the latter, then my experience has been that it's a slippery slope.

A Must for Bible Studies

The first 4 chapters of this book are pretty dry stuff. They justify Ehrman's argument that the term "forgery" applies to these early Christian authors, who were writing with definite intent to impersonate the Apostles and other revered figures in Christianity.

And, I think he's right. It does make a difference that, however well-meaning and self-convinced, these authors had agendas which would have been incomprehensible to (and in many cases, contrary to the beliefs of) the people they pretended to be. It's important that we recognize the motives of scribes who were trying not only to reassure and strengthen their Christian followers in an age of persecution, but also to appease and recruit Gentiles into a religion which was becoming increasingly divided from the Jewish tradition.

Yes, there's a lot of repetition here. But this is vital stuff for Bible study. Most of us, even non-literalists, never get such information from our churches. Being aware of this context for early Christian writings helps in understanding the many contradictions and problems in the Bible and other early Christian works.

Probably, alas, this book will have no effect whatever on those with total conviction that the Bible is the absolute and literal word of God. But, for the rest of us, it helps in a personal understanding of the Bible and, hopefully, will also aide in group approaches toward teaching Bible studies, especially to the young!

Not Quite Inerrant

This is a book that needs an open-minded reading (or hearing) from every Christian who claims that those who disagree with their views have simply failed to open their heart and mind to the Holy Spirit.
Although certain of books of the Bible claim to report divine revelations, the Bible makes no overall claim of its own inerrancy. Most people agree that the Bible was written by many authors at many different times. Decisions about which writings qualify as scripture was made long after the lifetimes of the authors. This is true of the Old Testament as well as the New; though this book focuses on the later.

Bart Erhman presents a clear and compelling case for the proposition that traditional understanding of who wrote the books of the New Testament is incorrect and that many of them include false authorship claims (which makes them forgeries). Use of this highly pejorative (though entirely accurate) descriptor serves to pull the reader out of the complacency with which the uncertain authorship of the text is often approached. Acknowledging that we do not have original texts of any of these writings, Ehrman points to the oldest of the surviving copies to conclude that they were well educated in Greek, not the Aramaic-speaking disciples with first-hand knowledge of Jesus that they claimed to be. Additionally, they address theological issues that arose decades, if not centuries, after the death of their purported authors.

Ehrman does not limit his analysis to those books included in the New Testament canon; he also reviews writings that were rejected expressly because they were thought to be forgeries. His conclusion is unavoidable: applying the same standards of veracity to biblical texts as we would to any other work, we cannot accept the teachings of much (but not all) of the New Testament.

Just okay

This book was good but it didn't wow me as I thought it would have. I was expecting more, much more out of this.

Thank you, Professor Ehrman!

The facts and information in this book was interesting and in many ways fascinating. It was not always completely clear where the book was heading, until I reached the very end.

Then I understood: "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." John, 8:32.

A New Perspective on some Old Books

Forged gives some insight into what we actually know about many of the ancient writings of the Bible and who the true writers were. The book was dry at times, when quoting many of the writings and become somewhat repetitious toward the end. The pattern became clear through the book and this might have worn on me as I made my way toward the end. I had to remind myself that the author's intent was to keep everything on a simple, understandable level without getting too deep into the technical side of things. I picked out some interesting facts that were presented and ended up forgetting some parts of the book entirely. Worth a listen if this type of stuff interests you otherwise you might find yourself getting bored less than halfway through.

Seems to repeat a lot of his other work

There are diminishing returns to reading too many of Prof. Ehrman’s books, it seems, because by the third or fourth one gets the unshakeable feeling there are very few ideas one hasn’t already encountered.

So-so

Lots of good information.... And lots of narrow-minded conclusions. I appreciate his research, but I feel like he so often overstates his case. Is this a debater's flaw? Overall he does a good job of exposing the rampant forgeries going on in the early centuries of the church, and demonstrates fairly conclusively that forgery was as unacceptable then as it is today.