Customer Reviews

Lost Books of the Bible For Dummies

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A most informative and highly accurate account of the so-called "lost" books of the Bible, this latest addition to the splendid "Dummies" series, deserves the widest possible readership. By "lost", the authors mean, of course, all the works not included in approved Protestant Bibles, not just early religious books that have in fact either wholly or partly disappeared. Using this yardstick, the authors discuss all the extra books included in current Catholic and Orthodox Bibles, of which the most important are undoubtedly Wisdom and Ben Sirach, as well as compositions regarded as authoritative only by some Orthodox churches, such as Third and Fourth Maccabees and Psalm 151. Also included are celebrated works that "almost" made it into the New Testament (and were in fact actually included in early editions in some instances) like "The Shepherd of Hermas" and "The Didache". Recently rediscovered Gnostic Gospels and other literature are also dealt with at length. In fact, so much information is laid at the reader's fingertips, it is almost overwhelming. The authors have obviously examined much (if not all) of this material at first hand. On a few occasions (perhaps the result of unwarily consulting faulty translations), they miss the point. For example, the whole thrust of the inspired author's argument in the early chapters of the so-called "Wisdom of Solomon" is that the personified Wisdom is the Holy Spirit. Although content to quote Wisdom 6:12-15, the present compilers do not move on to the end of his argument in chapter 7, when the inspired author declares that Wisdom "is a breath of the power of God, a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty," who "in every generation passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets" (RSV). However, aside from this one sticking point, I heartily agree with almost everything that is said about other ancient Biblical writings with which I am expertly familiar and which I have recently translated in my book, BIBLE WISDOM FOR MODERN TIMES: Selections from the Orthodox Old Testament

I must admit, that overall I liked this book. I knew I was in for a treat when I saw the main scholar was a Quaker Christian who was a professor at a Catholic college. I was only disipointed by the fact that there wasn't as much description as I would have liked (author warned in the beginning that this was a brief overview). However, if you never knew anything about the lost books of the Bible, this book gives you a complete overview of all the books that have been discovered. It includes descriptions, cultinural reasons for the writings, dates, basic summaries of what the text talk about, and several reasons as to why these text were not canonized in the Holy Bible. If you are a Protestant Christian, you are in for a treat because he also discusses the Deutrocanonical books that are found in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox texts.

I'm extremely happy with my purchase. It covered everything I wanted to know the authors are experts in the field and they did their research. It explained why the books that were included got in, how some were left out and how some were debated for inclusion but didnt make the cut. it has quotes from some books but it dosent have the actual lost books however it does have a list in the back with alot of books that do.

The book came fast and is in better condition that I expected and VERY affordable; am very pleased. Interesting and historical information on books NOT IN THE BIBLE. I know the professor who wrote this book and he is an exceptional teacher.I have taken a course, by him, of The Old Testament for lay people and it has been eye opening and mind boggling; I have a new respect and understanding of the Old Testament now. The Dummies series are easy to read and often humorous, making the topic easy to digest. Also, I now see that the more I know, the less chance of being fooled by others.

It covers a lot of the so-called "Lost" books of the Bible, books which were either left out of the "standard" Bible we all know today, or even possibly they were suppressed. The scholarship is well researched and the authors' opinions are both lucid and cogent. If you are looking for an introduction to ancient Hebrew Scriptures or researching the evolution of the Christian Biblical canon this is not a bad place for the beginner to start. They also discuss Nontrinitarians, the Gnosticism of the Cathars, Biblical hermeneutics, and Exegesis.

They also reveal a lost section of Genesis where Noah explains why he thought bringing mosquitoes aboard the Ark was such a bright idea, and the lost passage in Exodus that reveals that Moses actually wanted to open a deli at the top of Mt. Sinai: Moe's Original 2nd Avenue Deli. (Not enough foot traffic!)

Even though I am a Biblical scholar I never knew that there was, in addition to the Book of Numbers, a book of Lucky Numbers, and the Book of Mrs. Paul, which finally explains why Catholics must not eat meat on Fridays during Lent.

Finally there is an exhaustive list of quotes that most students of scripture were unaware are historically attributed to Jesus, including: "Where's the beef?", "Reports of my death have been exaggerated.", "Who let the dogs out?", and "Cat's Pajamas".

Overall a fantastic book for either the budding or journeyman scholar.

Reviewed by Hershel Krustofski.

This is a good book for someone like me who doesn't know a whole lot about what "the lost books" are. But I'd like to know a little bit more about each of the books.