Who Wrote the New Testament?: The Making of the Christian Myth (Paperback)

by Burton L. Mack (Author) "Cultures clashed in Greco-Roman times, and the Eastern Mediterranean filled to bursting with a heady and volatile mix of peoples, powers, and ideas..." (more)
Key Phrases: apostolic myth, pronouncement stories, named disciples, Jesus Christ, Gospel of Thomas, Asia Minor (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Mack's (The Lost Gospel; A Myth of Innocence) newest book is one of those rare volumes that, upon completion, makes one wonder how we could possibly have lived without it. The clarity of Mack's prose and the intelligent pursuit of his subject make compelling reading. Of course, the question Mack asks is not one Christians have been encouraged to ask, which only adds to the book's interest. Mack's investigation of the various groups and strands of the early Christian Community?out of which were generated the texts of Christianity's first anthology of religious literature?makes sense of a topic that has often been confusing. Regrettably, in an effort to appeal to a popular audience, Mack's treatment has been pruned of much of its scholarly apparatus; his notes would have been a welcome resource. Certainly, as the number of publications emerging from Jesus Seminar draw attack from conservative seminaries, such apparatus will become essential, popular audience or no. Nonetheless, this is an important book; a must-read for any student of the New Testament.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist
Certainly Mack's book should take a place in the front ranks of the many fine introductions available to students of the New Testament in both academic and nonacademic settings. A comprehensive synthesis of New Testament scholarship that is nevertheless popularly accessible, it will make a particularly useful introductory text in an area where such texts are in great demand. But it is more than an excellent introduction. As the subtitle suggests, the book is also a critical account of the making of the Christian myth--an invitation to critical reflection on the social construction of a foundational epic that has shaped (and been shaped by) the history and behavior of the West since Constantine. That makes it an introduction to mythmaking that is more than a colonial criticism or classification of other people's myths; it is an invitation to cultural self-criticism, an invaluable contribution to liberal education that is a potentially important corrective to triumphalist practices as tempting in our multicultural age as they were in the multicultural matrix out of which Christian scripture emerged. Steve Schroeder --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (August 2, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060655186
• ISBN-13: 978-0060655181
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #104,858 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cutting Edge Scholarship, December 22, 2001

By	reason (Texas) - See all my reviews

If you want an honest, no-nonsense appraisal of the origins of the New Testament, then this book is for you. Unlike apologetic writers, who state absolute truths up front and then work backwards into a proof, Mack proceeds in a scholarly fashion to reconstruct who wrote the bible and when they actually did it.. This kind of scholarship is particularly difficult, because the earliest scrap of new testament we possess is a small piece of John's Gospel dated 125 CE(the Ryland fragment), and the earliest complete manuscripts are dated towards the end of the second century CE..Additionally, the only extrabiblical references to Christ in the century in which he lived are limited to one-liners from ancient writers and historians such as Tacitus, Josephus, Suetonius and Seneca.

Given this to work with, Mack proceeds with a remarkable bit of detective work to develop a working hypothesis about the true origins of the New testament. Consequently, and in a manner not unlike the methodolgy employed by the Jesus Seminar, he unabashedly (but carefully)incorporates non-canonical works such as the Gospel of Thomas and the hypothesized "Q" document into his analysis, being aware that an over-arching factor in the early church's assessment of the canonical worthiness of any book lay in its conformity to accepted church orthodoxy and doctrine. As a result, modern scholarship is therefore correct in being suspicious of some canonical works and in accepting(provisionally) the inclusion of other non-canonical works in any analysis. Frankly, this is no different than a paleontologist accepting new fossil evidence, even if it invalidates or alters his or her own pet theories.

I have noted that some reviewers have observed that Mack seems to be doing a lot of guessing, with a minimum of backup from other scholarly sources. I wonder if they read the same book I did, because mine contains a very thorough bibliography of both modern and ancient works.. Perhaps they reject Mack's sources because his rather unique use of them is in disagreement with their own preconceived notions of what constitutes credible research and/or biblical truth. No matter, this book is an excellent source for the general reader who appreciates honest scholarship from an uninhibited and acclaimed expert in this field.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, February 8, 2003

By	Tom Munro "tomfrombrunswick" (Melbourne, Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

If we read the dialogues of Plato the person who is the mouth piece of his thought is a historical character Socrates. It is clear however that Plato is not simply writing down what Socrates has said, but he puts in his mouth ideas that he thinks are correct. Mack thinks that this was a common practice in Greek communities and that a large number of the sayings of philosophers like Diogeneses were constructed after the event to reflect the spirit of his philosophy.

Mack is a biblical expert and has written previous works on the subject including one on the existence of a common source of sayings for two of the Gospels known as Q.

In this book he uses as a tool of exposition the recent finding of the Gospel of Thomas. A manuscript written in Coptic which was found in 1945. Rather than being a Gospel which purported to tell Jesus life, this is a collection of his sayings. Mack believes that all of the Gospels have a similar background. A series of sayings which have been developed by different Christian communities to reflect their teachings over practical and theological issues. The interesting thing about the Gospel according to Thomas is that there are no miracles, there is no crucifixion and no physical resurrection, suggesting that these things became important somewhat later.

He sees the writing of the Gospels as something akin to fiction writing. The authors of the Gospel wrote their stories to illustrate and to explain the doctrinal intricacies of their belief system. In much the same way that an ancient Greek may have developed a saying of Diogeneses to illustrate a point about his philosophy.

Later these stories have become something else and have been seen as literal history. The book is interesting as an exposition of what is common knowledge about the study of the bible. I personally would have preferred more detail about some things such as the means of dating the Gospels. However the book is aimed to be an introduction to a complex field.

86 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous fables and garbled Gospels, January 29, 2005

By	Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Since the Higher Criticism efforts in the late 19th Century, biblical researchers have probed deeply into the origins of Scriptural texts. Contributions from archaeology and other disciplines have added new information on the times and places dealt with in biblical texts. Burton Mack, in a sweeping study of the foundations of the Christian myth, offers an in-depth analysis of the progress of the movement. He also broadens the scope of view by placing its growth in a wider social context. Not a "serious" academic tome, Mack has produced a study for a wide readership. He gives us a better understanding of the roots and development of the book considered so fundamental in many people's lives. With astute insights presented in lively style, he has offered much for reflection.

Wisely side-stepping the historical validity of Jesus, Mack follows the foundation and likely development of the way one man's teachings became a global movement. Whether Jesus actually lived is insignificant beside how stories of his life and ideas were promulgated. Mack carefully depicts the socio-political scenario in which the Jesus story took root. Palestine's population had undergone severe disruptions in recent times. At the time of Jesus, the Jews, either exiled or conquered, had suffered various dislocations, although the worst was yet to come. During the period under Alexander's domination, many Greek ideas permeated Palestine, including various scholastic practices. These, Mack points out, would have strong impact on how the Jesus story was developed and spread. It also increased the toil of scholars struggling to understand who wrote what and when they did it. Students often composed essays in the name of some emminant scholar as a means of demonstrating their comprehension of the material.

From an analysis of text styles, Mack derives the existence of a series of "Jesus movements", several being located in northern Palestine. These "Q" documents are teachings attributed to Jesus, with no biographical description. They could be the ideas of one or more thinkers of the time and locality, but are generally accepted as being from one teacher. The "Q" texts were incorporated into the Mark account, then embellished - the earliest of the Christian "Gospels". Mack notes that unlike the "Q" writings which were closer in time to any actual events, the later "Gospel" authors implied they were witnesses to them. This, of course, along with the many "miracles" related by these writers, was pure fiction, as Mack stresses.

The progressive writings making up the "Gospels" transformed the "Jesus movements" into the "Christ cults". Instead of merely an inspired teacher, Jesus now becomes a divine being. The level of divinity - "from" the deity, "of" the deity, or actually the deity was different according to the author[s] location and proclivities. This disparity is the foundation for the multitude of "heresies" arising in later centuries. The various "Christ cults" were adapted to suit the locality Christians inhabited. In seeking converts, a different approach might be used for Jews than for gentiles, Romans than for Greeks. Making Christianity attractive to its foundations, the Jewish epic, was a particularly daunting task. Calling a man who had no discernible record of godly manifestations a "messiah" outraged Jews. Another tack had to be found. The scheme adopted was the projection of Jesus as the reason for creation. These strategies relied on different writings for authority. Mack traces the changes in outlook with patient skill - it's an immense task. Writers, teachers, historians and philosophers are thoroughly intermixed in creating and modifying the "Holy Book". Unravelling is a challenge to the finest intellect.

The admixture of so many contributions of such varying basis demanded unravelling. It is unlikely there would be a "bible" or even such singular Christianity as there is without the accident of Constantine. His "conversion", incomplete as it was, came with his elevation to Emperor. That immense power led him to quell the continuing internecine dissent among his Christian population by having one scholar, Eusebius, collect and merge the existent writings into one volume. The result was the bible available today. With the stamp of Imperial approval, Mack notes, Christianity was free to follow where Rome led.

One place it led to, of course, is Mack's North American audience. In his conclusion, he urges all who revere this book to look at it realistically. He is scathing in his description of those who "turn the crank 'round and 'round" to justify actions or policies with citations from the book. This "quoting scripture" for selfish purposes has a special role in America, he notes. Using Christian mythology to justify actions in a multicultural world is fallacious and dangerous, he feels [the irony of recent events fulfilling this stance is staggering]. This book is a true resource and will stimulate further research and discussion for years. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]