Forged: Writing in The Name of God, Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are by Bart D. Ehrman, Harper One (2011)
Book 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.
In Forged, Ehrman reveals:
- The Apostle Peter was illiterate, and therefore could not have written two letters (1 & 2 Peter) credited to him in the Bible.
- Six of the Pauline letters in the New Testament are forgeries.
- The First Book of Timothy, known to be a forgery, is still used today to oppress women, and provides the Scriptural basis for the Roman Catholic Church’s refusal to ordain female priests.
Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He came to UNC in 1988, after four years of teaching at Rutgers University. At UNC he has served as both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies. A graduate of Wheaton College
Bart Ehrman's "Forged" A Review (by Leon Bloder): Bart Ehrman's latest book, Forged is bound to garner some attention---both negative and positive, depending upon the reader's theological bent, I am sure. It should be said, first and foremost that this is not a theological work. It is an historical study by one of the most preeminent and prolific New Testament scholars in the field of Biblical studies.
Forged is, by Ehrman's own admission, a more easily accessible version of a larger scholarly work on the subject of pseudepigrahpy (which literally means "written under a false name") in the New Testament. . . continue reading>>