Lost Christianities

Author : Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199756686
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lost Christianities written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human. In Lost Christianities, Bart D. Ehrman offers a fascinating look at these early forms of Christianity and shows how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten. All of these groups insisted that they upheld the teachings of Jesus and his apostles, and they all possessed writings that bore out their claims, books reputedly produced by Jesus's own followers. Modern archaeological work has recovered a number of key texts, and as Ehrman shows, these spectacular discoveries reveal religious diversity that says much about the ways in which history gets written by the winners. Ehrman's discussion ranges from considerations of various "lost scriptures"--including forged gospels supposedly written by Simon Peter, Jesus's closest disciple, and Judas Thomas, Jesus's alleged twin brother--to the disparate beliefs of such groups as the Jewish-Christian Ebionites, the anti-Jewish Marcionites, and various "Gnostic" sects. Ehrman examines in depth the battles that raged between "proto-orthodox Christians"--those who eventually compiled the canonical books of the New Testament and standardized Christian belief--and the groups they denounced as heretics and ultimately overcame. Scrupulously researched and lucidly written, Lost Christianities is an eye-opening account of politics, power, and the clash of ideas among Christians in the decades before one group came to see its views prevail.

Author : Jacob Needleman
Publisher : National Geographic Books
ISBN 13 : 1585422533
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lost Christianity written by Jacob Needleman and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2003-08-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unavailable for several years, Lost Christianity is a profound reexamination of the essence of Christian thought and faith. Philosopher and bestselling author Jacob Needleman has sought out the ancient texts and modern practitioners of essential Christianity, whose message speaks directly to contemporary seekers.

Author : Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0195182502
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.07/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lost Scriptures written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-15 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A companion volume to Lost Christianities, this remarkable anthology of long-lost Christian writings that were never included in the New Testaments includes fifteen additional gospels, thirteen epistles, five non-canonical Acts of the Apostles, Apocalypes and Secret Books, and brief introductions to each. History Dual Main. (Scripture)

Author : Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0061977020
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Misquoting Jesus written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today. He frames his account with personal reflections on how his study of the Greek manuscripts made him abandon his once ultraconservative views of the Bible. Since the advent of the printing press and the accurate reproduction of texts, most people have assumed that when they read the New Testament they are reading an exact copy of Jesus's words or Saint Paul's writings. And yet, for almost fifteen hundred years these manuscripts were hand copied by scribes who were deeply influenced by the cultural, theological, and political disputes of their day. Both mistakes and intentional changes abound in the surviving manuscripts, making the original words difficult to reconstruct. For the first time, Ehrman reveals where and why these changes were made and how scholars go about reconstructing the original words of the New Testament as closely as possible. Ehrman makes the provocative case that many of our cherished biblical stories and widely held beliefs concerning the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, and the divine origins of the Bible itself stem from both intentional and accidental alterations by scribes -- alterations that dramatically affected all subsequent versions of the Bible.

Author : Marcus Borg
Publisher : Ulysses Press
ISBN 13 : 1569751897
Total Pages : 130 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Lost Gospel Q written by Marcus Borg and published by Ulysses Press. This book was released on 1999-03-15 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents the original teachings of Jesus written by his contemporaries and early followers

Author : Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0195182499
Total Pages : 313 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Lost Christianities written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intriguing look at the early history of the Christian Church provides a study of these ancient forms of Christianity and how they came to be suppressed, reformed, or forgotten, discussing their key texts, theological beliefs, conflict with orthodoxy, historical development, and more. History Dual Main. (Religion--Christianity)

Author : Timothy Paul Jones
Publisher : InterVarsity Press
ISBN 13 : 0830834478
Total Pages : 177 pages
Book Rating : 4.71/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Misquoting Truth written by Timothy Paul Jones and published by InterVarsity Press. This book was released on 2007-05-23 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In clear, concise prose, Timothy Paul Jones takes on Bart Ehrman's misleading conclusions about how we got the New Testament, how the New Testament documents have been transmitted and what kind of diversity existed among early Christians.

Author : G. A. Wells
Publisher : Prometheus Books
ISBN 13 : 1615923802
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Did Jesus Exist? written by G. A. Wells and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-11-02 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Professor Wells argues that there was no historical Jesus, and in thus arguing he deals with the many recent writers who have interpreted the historical Jesus as some kind of political figure in the struggle against Rome, and calls in evidence the many contemporary theologians who agree with some of his arguments about early Christianity. The question at issue is what all the evidence adds up to. Does it establish that Jesus did or did not exist? Professor Wells concludes that the latter is the more likely hypothesis. This challenge to received thinking by both Christians and non-Christians is supported by much documentary evidence, and Professor Wells carefully examines all the relevant problems and answers all the relevant questions. He deliberately avoids polemic and speculation, and sticks so far as possible to the known facts and to rational inferences from the facts.

Author : Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062078631
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Forged written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2011-03-22 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bart D. Ehrman, the New York Times bestselling author of Jesus, Interrupted and God’s Problem reveals which books in the Bible’s New Testament were not passed down by Jesus’s disciples, but were instead forged by other hands—and why this centuries-hidden scandal is far more significant than many scholars are willing to admit. A controversial work of historical reporting in the tradition of Elaine Pagels, Marcus Borg, and John Dominic Crossan, Ehrman’s Forged delivers a stunning explication of one of the most substantial—yet least discussed—problems confronting the world of biblical scholarship.

Author : Richard Valantasis
Publisher : Harmony
ISBN 13 : 0307423883
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Beliefnet Guide to Gnosticism and Other Vanished Christianities written by Richard Valantasis and published by Harmony. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From its earliest days, Christianity has been marked by a rich diversity of beliefs and practices. Different interpretations of Jesus’ life and mission, as well as conflicting views about worship and rituals, gave rise to numerous sects in the first centuries C.E. Condemned as heretical by the official Church, these early movements were lost to history until the twentieth century, when the discovery of ancient documents opened a new perspective on the evolution of Christianity. The Beliefnet® Guide to Gnosticism and Other Vanished Christianities is a fascinating look at the diverse strands of the early Christian church. It examines the alternative Christian ideas propagated by the Gnostics, Sethians, Valentinians, Marcionites, Encratites, and Montanists, illuminating the philosophical sources and religious traditions that fostered them. Special attention is given to sects that presented the greatest challenges to the developing orthodoxy: the Hermeticists, the Manicheans, and the Neoplatonists. There are also thought-provoking discussions about the secret Gospel of Mark and the Gospels of Mary and Thomas, and the newly discovered Gospel of the Savior. From the premier source of information on religion and spirituality, the Beliefnet Guides introduce you to the major traditions, leaders, and issues of faith in the world today. This authoritative, fully accessible guide to early Christian movements sheds light on the hidden histories and intriguing mysteries that fueled the extraordinary success of books ranging from Dan Brown’s blockbuster The Da Vinci Code to Elaine Pagels’s critically acclaimed Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas.