Can We Trust the New Testament?: Thoughts on the Reliability of Early Christian Testimony [Paperback]

George Albert Wells (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 2003

Can We Trust the New Testament? questions the historical accuracy of widely held views of early Christianity. In this book radical Bible scholar G. A. Wells examines Biblical accounts of the lives of the apostles Peter and Paul and presents evidence that the events described in the New Testament were written over time to support the agendas of the Christian church. He embarks on a close analysis of the Book of Acts, questioning its authorship and casting doubt on the events it and the gospels describe.

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Open Court (November 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812695674
• ISBN-13: 978-0812695670
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,098,069 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Skeptical, scholarly, and recommended, March 10, 2004

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can We Trust the New Testament?: Thoughts on the Reliability of Early Christian Testimony (Paperback)

Knowledgeably written by G. A. Wells (Emeritus Professor of German, University of London), Can We Trust The New Testament? Thoughts On The Reliability Of Early Christian Testimony is a meticulous exploration of whether the testimony that traces back to the origin of Christianity is truly reliable. Examining the sharply antagonistic sects that divided early Christianity from its very beginnings, and using the power of logic to evenhandedly evaluate the New Testament, Can We Trust The New Testament? is a skeptical, scholarly, and recommended for Biblical Studies collections and reading lists for it's practicality and for the intellectual necessity of pointing out what few other references to Biblical times do with respect to the reliability of these basic formative texts that have shaped the Christian movement from the first century A.D. down to the present day.

28 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Careful, May 12, 2005

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calmly - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Can We Trust the New Testament?: Thoughts on the Reliability of Early Christian Testimony (Paperback)

I had a difficult time reading this book. I'd characterize the writing style as "choppy": it doesn't flow. All in all reading it made me dizzy. I'd suggest reading the exceptionally clear Robert M. Price (e.g. Incredible Shrinking Son of Man: How Reliable Is the Gospel Tradition?) instead.

4.0 out of 5 stars Good addition to Wells' cumulative case against historicity of the Gospel Jesus, June 25, 2011

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Robert Bumbalough (Mesquite, Texas) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Can We Trust the New Testament?: Thoughts on the Reliability of Early Christian Testimony (Paperback)

This book is worth owning. While Wells is not employed as a religious apologist, nor does he use his scholarship as a launch pad for religious ax grinding. He is indeed a competent scholar and Professor in his field, and his more than 40 years of rigorous study of Christian origins, theology, and New Testament makes him an authoritative voice urging reason and rationality regarding the question of whether the NT canonical Gospel stories can be trusted as nominally historical. Taking note of the vast chasm in meaning between the preexistent cosmic Christ Jesus being of pure consciousness that somehow became a man in an unspecified time, place, and setting imagined by Paul versus the schizophrenically diverse redactional impressions of late first/early second century Hellenistic Jesus cults, Wells clearly identifies the facts that prove fatal to assigning trust to the NT as history. The silence of the genuine Pauline epistles of any detail of the Gospel Jesus stand with the equally resounding silence of the deutro-Paulines, the general epistles including those of Peter, James, John, Jude as well as that of the anonymous letter to the Hebrews. However, the canonical but pseudepigraphical forgeries, 1st, 2nd Timothy, and Titus, followed by the writings of Ignatius and 1st Clement (regardless of whoever actually did pen them) do show traces of the Gospel stories indicating a time span wherein the details of Gospel Jesus were propagated subsequent to Mark's invention of them. Throughout CWTTNT, Wells refers the reader to supporting arguments in his other books while deconstructing and demonstrating falsification of counter arguments offered by various religious scholars or apologists. Professor Wells also points out the misgivings of many Christian scholars regarding the complete dearth of evidence for historicity of the Gospel Jesus. This short book does answer the question titling it with an unqualified no. The faulty argument of other reviewers notwithstanding.