Lost Christianities:The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew

The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Bible & Bible Studies, New Testament, Criticism & Interpretation, Bibles
Cover of the book Lost Christianities:The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew by Bart D. Ehrman, Oxford University Press, USA
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Bart D. Ehrman ISBN: 9780199756681
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA Publication: October 2, 2003
Imprint: Oxford University Press Language: English
Author: Bart D. Ehrman
ISBN: 9780199756681
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publication: October 2, 2003
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Language: English

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.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

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.

More books from Oxford University Press, USA

Cover of the book The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude:What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code:A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Volume 1: Inferno by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Exorbitant Privilege:The Rise and Fall of the Dollar and the Future of the International Monetary System by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book The Great War And Modern Memory by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Freedom Flyers:The Tuskegee Airmen of World War II by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Washington's Crossing by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book The Silk Road: A Very Short Introduction by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Ethics in Psychology and the Mental Health Professions : Standards and Cases by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Hi-De-Ho : The Life Of Cab Calloway by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Thicker Than Oil : America's Uneasy Partnership With Saudi Arabia by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Tiny Terror:Why Truman Capote (Almost) Wrote Answered Prayers by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book China: Fragile Superpower : How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise by Bart D. Ehrman
Cover of the book Rediscovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context by Bart D. Ehrman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy