Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are by Bart D. Ehrman (PDF)

Description

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.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From the Back Cover The Untold Story of Forgery in the BibleIn Forged, leading Bible authority Bart D. Ehrman exposes one of the most unsettling ironies of the early Christian tradition: the use of deception to establish the truth. With the scholarly expertise and provocative claims for which he’s known, Ehrman reveals which texts were forged in the name of Jesus’s disciples and considers how the deceptions of an unnamed few have prevailed for centuries. The untold story of widespread forgery in the ancient world sheds new light on how documents of scandalous origin became part of the Bible we have today. About the Author Bart D. Ehrman is one of the most renowned and controversial Bible scholars in the world today. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and is the author of more than twenty books, including the New York Times bestsellers How Jesus Became God; Misquoting Jesus; God’s Problem; Jesus, Interrupted; and Forged. He has appeared on Dateline NBC, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, CNN, History, and top NPR programs, as well as been featured in TIME, the New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and other publications. He lives in Durham, North Carolina. Visit the author online at www.bartdehrman.com.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Can’t say enough positive things about any book by Professor Ehrman, though many church-going people would find this book – or any of Ehrman’s books – offensive, the fact is such people are unlikely to read any of his books. Textual criticism is the name of the science that investigates the origin and authenticity of texts, and Ehrman is excellent at this. He’s head of the Religious Studies Department at my alma mater, UNC, Chapel Hill, and he formerly taught at Rutgers, another alma mater of mine. Bottom Line: most people live their lives with the religious education of a twelve year old and are not susceptible to new information. This book is for the intellectually curious, whether church-goer or not.

⭐The author makes an attempt to discredit the Bible as we know it today.Here is what I know to be true of the Bible or the “Scriptures”, i.e. God’s letters to mankind. I have found them to be a reliable, trustworthy roadmap to bring myself and others I have known into the Presence of the Resurrected Christ.At age 19 I came to faith in Christ. With no follow up it wasn’t long before I quit going to church. I didn’t know the basics of maintaining a relationship with God. I forgot about God and was working my way through college. Then, at age 21, while at the college student center, a young person talked to me about God. This guy kept a log of his prayer requests, like he actually expected answers to the requests. He showed me promises from the Scripture that he said God had given him. I became involved in Bible study with him and over time observed him as he lived out his faith. God was real to him. Years later I met this person (“Bob”) again briefly. (More about that later in this piece)In April, 1972, one night after a Christian fellowship, I went by myself to a park to pray. God filled me with His Divine Presence. (I am summarizing the most important aspects of my walk with God in very brief statements here. A lot more occurred than what I am telling you here. ) It was overwhelming. Very intense feelings of peace, love, and security accompanied this intense filling by His Holy Spirit. This powerful filling by the Holy Spirit lasted for 3 days.A few weeks before this I had witnessed to another young man about Christ. This guy’s name was “Jim”. “Jim was pretty cold to what I had tried to share with him, so that’s the only contact I had with him at this time.So, believing I had power of some sort after the intense filling of the Holy Spirit on the first night at the park, I returned to the park the night after, seeking to make use of that power in a manner that would be in accord with the will of God. I prayed for “Jim” that night, seeking to make use of the power I sensed I had. As I prayed for Jim’s salvation, God confirmed to me through the Holy Spirit that “Jim” was going to come to faith in Him. In other words God was telling me, through the power of the Holy Spirit, of a future event that was to take place before it happened. I didn’t know the “when”, but I knew Jim was going to be saved.I’ve never had experiences like this since and I didn’t know how to put them in perspective at the time they occurred.In the Fall of 1972 I returned to college to sign into the dorm to get a room for the semester. While signing in someone whispered my name, so I turned around to see who it was. It was “Jim”. We began to talk and he said he had come to faith in Christ over the summer. He said he wanted to get into Bible study with me and wanted me to teach him what I knew about God. So we became friends and we ministered together on campus.All of this was a validation that Christ had risen, as the Scriptures tell. God is a real being. Before April, 1972, my walk was by faith. After that it was still by faith, but God had revealed to me his existence, so it wasn’t only by faith after that. It wasn’t until the mid 1990s that I had any scriptural reference for what had happened to me. In the mid 1990s I found Ephesians 3:19 in the Amplified Bible which mirrors what I experienced. That verse states:”19 [That you may really come] to know — practically, through experience for yourselves — the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge (without experience); that you may be filled (through all your being) unto all the fullness of God — [that is] may have the richest measure of the divine Presence, and become a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself! “In April, 1972, God filled me with the richest measure of His Presence, a Presence that lasted for 3 days. That experience was validated through the prayer for Jim, the fact that Jim came to faith in Christ not long after, and finding a scriptural reference for the intense filling by the Holy Spirit some 20 years later.Mr. Ehrman attempts to cast serious doubts that the Scriptures are inspired by God, that they are God’s Word. My own experiences over the years confirm they are God’s Word, and that what has been handed down over two millennia is reliable and can be trusted to bring people to a real and saving relationship with a risen Christ.I find Mr. Ehrman’s book to be trash.Ask, Seek, Knock. The Scripture states that God is a rewarder of those that seek Him. You will have to pray, study the Bible, witness when you have opportunity, but if you believe Christ is risen and live as though that is true I think you will find God “showing up” in your life and revealing Himself to you. Give God a year or two and see for yourself.Back to “Bob”, the person that witnessed to me on the college campus in 1971. He left the college I was attending in May, 1972. In 1986 he returned to my city seeking to raise support for his ministry in New Mexico. He came to visit me during this time. Bob was married when he came to visit. He told me that he and his wife were trying to have children but were having problems in that goal. He said that two different doctors had told him that they couldn’t have children. Bob said that God had given him a promise for children from the Scripture and that he was believing in faith in that promise. This was the same faith I had witnessed on display when we were going to college. I believed that Bob was sincere and so began praying for him and his wife, Claudia, after our visit, that God would grant them children. Soon after this I believed that God was going to make good on that promise to Bob. And He did. Bob and Claudia had 4 children, in all.Concerning the Life and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, John 20:30-31 states:”Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”Hebrews 11:6 states:”And without faith it is impossible to please him. For whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”There are two requirements for God to “show up” in your life:(1) You must believe He exists(2) You must believe He will reward your seeking HimHe does and He will. Nothing can stop that.

⭐If you’ve ever wondered how the writings of the various Apostles who lived in a fairly backward country not known for the literacy of it’s population, and whose Gospels, etc. appear in the New Testament could have survived the centuries, you’re on the right track. Author Bart D. Ehrman, a Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina tells a fascinating and very necessary story of how very little related to Jesus and the original Apostles survived the First Century AD. Forensic analysis of the language in a few letters that can reliably be attributed to Peter and, especially, to Paul were then used as a basis for speculative telling of the life and teachings of Jesus by writers in the Third Century. Writers in succeeding centuries took these and embroidered them further, reflecting on legends, current teachings, misinterpretations, etc. until what emerged bore little relation to to anything provable about the life and works of Jesus.It is a fascinating story, told well enough, with documentation explained and supposition exposed which, unfortunately at times bogs down in the minutia of research. But if you have an open mind and any stake in Christianity, Professor Ehrman’s book should be of great interest.William Fregosi

⭐Unfortunately publishers sometimes resort to a bit of sensationalism with titles in order to increase book sales. Perhaps this is the case here, as New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman has produced a highly readable and thoroughly researched book on the origins of the New Testament and related writings. This is a trade book, not one of Ehrman’s volumes for his fellow academics. As such it for the most part relates scholarship which is well established and widely accepted by New Testament scholars, other than fundamentalists. It is the kind of work that should be read by the laity, who usually have either no idea of how the New Testament was produced or a very distorted one. Hopefully the title will not frighten them away before they give this excellent work a chance.

⭐Oh God! this is an eye opener. You will never view or read the Bible quite the same again!

⭐erhman always writes wonderfully on his subject. full of interesting facts presented in a clear way

⭐Another hard going biblical study but very informative to those who want to know!

⭐not my favourite but its nice to know the arguments against the gospels

⭐If you believe that ‘holy books’ came from God – read this!

Keywords

Free Download Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are in PDF format
Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are PDF Free Download
Download Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are 2012 PDF Free
Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are 2012 PDF Free Download
Download Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are PDF
Free Download Ebook Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are