A recent read that I have found interesting, that poses more questions than answers, is Bart D. Ehrman‘s Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make it into the New Testament. I choose this book as opposed to his other popular book, Lost Christianities, because Lost Scriptures is simply a collection of the translated texts as opposed to commentary. The Christian texts in the book range from the 1st to 4th centuries, most of which have only been discovered in the last 60 years. It also looks at texts that no longer exist, our only knowledge coming from instances when the text was cited or quoted by someone else. Extremely interesting read. Here are a couple take-aways from the book:
First, there were many, many letters circulating at the time throughout the Christian world that we had no idea existed until a short while ago. It is really quite remarkable that these documents have survived, deliberately buried underground to preserve them. I’m thinking specifically of the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi Library. But it is impossible to say that the gospels and letters in the New Testament that most Christians read today are the only books that were viewed as inspired or authoritative by the early Christians.
Second, very early there were mixings of Christ’s teaching with other philosophies. The two main influences being a Jewish worldview or a Gnostic worldview. The documents swing in those extremes. There clearly was a wide range of commentary and interpretation going on at the time and the debate was quite spirited as these extremes go to great lengths to defend their views. It seems as though from the very beginning the larger body of Christians were arguing about doctrine, sayings of Jesus, and the true order of the Church.
Third, the New Testament as it eventually was canonized shows a remarkable consistency in voice and spirit when considering the wide range of beliefs circulating at the time. Obviously they were selected because of this consistency but it shows how remarkably good the committee members who determined the canon of the New Testament were in recognizing extremes and philosophies of men.
Have any of you read this book? What were your general feelings? What are the implications in your mind for the Christian world?
Some other reviews:
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