Forged

The podcast of this broadcast in the UK is now posted on iTunes. You can get it by checking under "Unbelievable? 6 Aug 2011." That is the name of the show. 

Its web page is: http://www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable

I come to the final two chapters. I treat them together since the concluding chapter is but a summary of the whole work, looking at less debated modern forgeries.

This chapter takes on dealing with false teaching. Again Ehrman roams from his topic by dealing with supposed false attribution, a topic he also will treat in the next chapter in more detail. This allows him to discuss the book of Acts, as well as the idea that Christianity was very diverse in the first century. There is much to cover in these claims. This is a long post.

In chapter 4, Ehrman deals with the issue of how pseudonymity was understood in the ancient world. He then works through the ways such practices were seen and how a secretary functioned. (The technical term for this role is an amanuensis).

I turn my attention now to Ehrman’s claims that Paul did not write Ephesians and Colossians. I have skipped the section on why Paul’s letters were forged, because if such deception did take place it is clear people were trying to take advantage of Paul’s authority to make their point.

I am splitting this chapter into two parts. In this entry, I will look at Ehrman's handling of Paul, especially the Pastorals and 2 Thessalonians. Ephesians and Colossians will come separately.

Forged has a lot of useful information on many extra-biblical books that circulated among the wide range of Christian communities in the second century AD and beyond. So when Ehrman summarizes works like the Gospel of Peter or Peter's Epistle to Titus, he nicely encapsulates what these works are about.

My review will not proceed chapter by chapter always, but will stop and focus on a key issue here and there.

I am turning my attention now to look at Bart Ehrman's new book, Forged. I will do this in a series as I did with Rob Bell. However I want to let you know that Ben Witherington has solid reviews of both Bell and Ehrman on his site at:

http://www.patheos.com/community/bibleandculture