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

Bart D. Ehrman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What if Marcion's canon-which consisted only of Luke's Gospel and Paul's letters, entirely omitting the Old Testament-had become Christianity's canon? What if the Ebionites-who believed Jesus was completely human and not divine-had ruled the day as the Orthodox Christian party? What if various early Christian writings, such as the Gospel of Thomas or the Secret Gospel of Mark, had been allowed into the canonical New Testament? Ehrman (The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture), a professor of religion at UNC Chapel Hill, offers answers to these and other questions in this book, which rehearses the now-familiar story of the tremendous diversity of early Christianity and its eventual suppression by a powerful "proto-orthodox" faction. The proto-orthodox Christians won out over many other groups, and bequeathed to us the four Gospels, a church hierarchy, a set of practices and beliefs, and doctrines such as the Trinity. Ehrman eloquently characterizes some of the movements and Scriptures that were lost, such as the Ebionites and the Secret Gospel of Mark, as he outlines the many strands of Christianity that competed for attention in the second and third centuries. He issues an important reminder that there was no such thing as a monolithic Christian orthodoxy before the fourth century. While Ehrman sometimes raises interesting questions (e.g., are Paul's writings sympathetic to women?), his book covers territory already well-explored by others (Gregory Riley, The River of God; Elaine Pagels, Beyond Belief), generating few fresh or provocative insights.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A charting of the full theological kaleidoscope would take volumes, but it is possible, using Ehrman's book as a jumping-off point, to examine some of the more striking and widespread of the Christian roads not taken."--Time Magazine (cover story)

"A well-crafted, scholarly tale of forgeries, burned books, doctrinal feuds, and other episodes in the making of the New Testament and the early Church. Or better, Churches."--Kirkus Reviews

"Ehrman's style is marked by the narrative thrust of a good story or even a sermon."--Christian Science Monitor

"This book offers a fascinating introduction to an astonishing range of 'lost Christianities' that flourished at the time when the Christian movement began. Bart Ehrman has the rare gift of communicating scholarship in writing that is lively, enjoyable, and accessible."--Elaine Pagels, Princeton University

"That Ehrman makes his case without pushing into territory considered heretical by many mainstream Christians shows a deft touch with the most volatile of subjects.... Will shock more than a few lay readers. The 27 New Testament gospels, epistles, acts, and revelations, it turns out, were only a handful of the letters, arguments, visions, and accounts of Christ's life in wide circulation in the early centuries of the religion."--Scott Bernard Nelson, The Boston Globe

"Ehrman displays expert knowledge of the texts and the best modern scholarship, as well as sound critical judgment about their content. His balanced exposition of the Gospel of Thomas, with its careful delineation of the different materials in it, is outstanding. His essay on the Secret Gospel of Mark, with its suggestion that the text may be a modern forgery (perhaps even by its learned editor, Morton Smith), reads like a detective story. Studying a text in Lost Scriptures and reading Ehrman's discussion of it can be both informative and engrossing."--America

"The author of more than ten books on New Testament history and early Christian writings, Ehrman has established himself as an expert on early Christianity. These two works should soundly solidify his stature, as they illuminate the flavor and varieties of early Christian belief."--Library Journal (on Lost Christianities and Lost Scriptures)

"A fascinating look at how Christianity was molded."--Dallas Morning News

"Highly readable and based on up-to-date scholarship, Ehrman's book provides an excellent introduction to early Christianity's diversity and the means by which early orthodoxy, and the New Testament canon, developed from it. This lively study will prove eye-opening to a wide variety of readers."--Elizabeth A. Clark, John Carlisle Kilgo Professor, Duke University

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; illustrated edition edition (October 2, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195141830
• ISBN-13: 978-0195141832
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #284,992 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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553 of 603 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The mysteries of Christian variety, 3.5 stars, October 2, 2003

By	[e-mail] (Edmonton, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (Hardcover)

This is fundamentally a popular treatment of the topic that doesn't tell us that much new about the subject. But it is not a bad introduction. Indeed, if you are not aware that the Christian New Testament was not agreed upon until more than three centuries after the death of Jesus, that there is a whole host of other "Christian" literature some of which has as good (or bad) a claim to holy inspiration as the canon, that there were a whole host of Christian sects which radically deviated from the eventual orthodoxy, that in many areas these Christian sects were the original representatives of Christianity, and that what we now know to be Orthodoxy won its battles by, among other things, altering the text of holy scripture, then you should read this book.

Ehrman's book is divided into three parts. The first looks at four Christian works that failed to enter the New Testament. Ehrman first looks at the remainder of "The Gospel of Peter," which survives to this day as an account of the crucifixion. Interestingly, Ehrman suggests we have about as many copies and references to it from this time as we do with the Gospel of Mark. We also learn about "the Apocalypse of Peter," which gives a guided tour of hell (women who braided their hair are especially miserable.) Ehrman then discusses the Acts of Thecla, a supposed apostle of Paul. We then get a discussion of the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of supposed sayings of Jesus. Some scholars believe that the Gospel of Thomas may go back to the mid-first century, but Ehrman is rather sceptical. Then we look at the Secret Gospel of Mark. According to leading Biblical scholar Morton Smith there is a seventeenth/eighteenth century copy of a letter of Clement of Alexandria (2nd century) which quotes from the supposed secret gospel. It tells of Jesus raising a man from the dead, and then insinuates a homosexual encounter between the two. Unfortunately, we have only photographs Smith took of the letter, and no-one has been able to find it in the Israeli monastery where Smith supposedly discovered it. Indeed, we cannot rule out the idea that Smith forged the letter himself.

Ehrman then discusses the many groups whom emerging proto-orthodoxy eventually condemned as heretics. There were the Ebionites, who saw Christianity as part of Judaism, and viewed Jesus as fully human. There were the Marcionites, after their founder Marcion who viewed the God of the Old Testament as fundamentally flawed, and viewed Jesus as an emissary from the true God who would liberate humanity. They were the producers of the first Christian canon: ten Pauline epistles and an edited Gospel of Luke. Then there are Gnostics who promoted a variety of views about Jesus, usually denying his humanity. Some, the Docetists, thought that Jesus's suffering was illusory since the real Jesus did not have a real body. Others, known as Adaptionists, thought that Jesus was only adapted to receive the power of the Christ at the time of his baptism, and that it left him on the cross. Ehrman provides interesting reasons why these groups were not successful. Ebionites were too Jewish, the Gnostics were too spiritually elitist, while Marcion's religion was too new to fit the conservative religious prejudices of the day. We also learn that one of the pillars of Orthodoxy had to become an antipope, because the properly elected pope believed in "heresy": the idea that Jesus was not God the son, but God altogether. The majority of the Roman church had come to this view because they believed a) Jesus was God and b) there is clearly only one God in the Bible. The antipope Hippolytus argued correctly that Jesus and God are clearly two separate people in the New Testament, and then argued, not so correctly, that Jesus must therefore be divine in a separate sense from his father.

Ehrman then discusses Orthodoxy's response. By the third century there was consensus about most of the books of the New Testament, though there were heated debates over books such as Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, and the Apocalypse of John. Opponents correctly realized that the apostles did not write these books. (Over the past two centuries scholars would realize that seven Pauline letters are the only books in the New Testament correctly attributed to their author.) We read about the Epistle of Barnabas, an early Christian letter that almost made it into the Bible. It would have been extremely embarrassing had it done so, since it claims that weasels conceive through their mouths, that hyenas change their sex every year, and that rabbits grow a new orifice every year. The most interesting part is Ehrman's discussion of the corruption of the New Testament text. We know that "heretics" altered biblical texts. The Ebionites changed a couple of letters and turned John the Baptist into a vegetarian. Ehrman also discusses Orthodox "corrections." We know about some of them because enough alternate texts survive to see the manipulation. For example the Proto-Orthodox altered passages in Luke where Mary refers to Joseph as Jesus' father. Other Christians tried to alter Jesus' final statements in Mark ("why have you forsaken me,") because it fit too well with the adoptionist heresy mentioned above. But other manipulations are harder to track. It appears that Luke's reference to Jesus "sweating blood" may have been an addition to counter Docetist beliefs. While the addition of "by the Grace of God," to a passage in Hebrews may have countered another heresy. As we do not have the original texts, we cannot tell how much of the New Testament was altered to fit the desires of Orthodoxy.

94 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Critical Review of Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities, October 19, 2004

By	Ry O. Parrish-Siggelkow (St. Stephen, New Brunswick Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (Hardcover)

In the book Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, Bart Ehrman examines a wide diversity of early Christian texts and the various belief systems they represent. The primary purpose of this book is to shed light on the early Christian writings that came to be "rejected, attacked, suppressed, and destroyed" (ix). As a result of the battle for Christian orthodoxy, these texts and forms of Christian faith were declared heretical. In this book, Ehrman provides a general discussion on the wide variety of " Lost Christianities" in order to show the diversity of Christian beliefs and practices in the second and third century. Ehrman's book is directed toward a general audience that has little to no background in the studies of early Christianity. It is clear that one of Ehrman's main objectives is to educate the general population (both Christian and non-Christian) on the formation of the canonical NT, while emphasizing how one group emerged from the battle victorious. Ehrman encourages the reader to think about the major influence orthodox Christianity has had on western civilization. With this in mind, he asks the reader to imagine what civilization would have been like if a different form of Christianity won the battle for orthodoxy. This critical review will examine some of Ehrman's main discussions in Lost Christianities. It will also attempt to determine the merit of this book according to its general purpose, by analyzing Ehrman's ability to display information and to make clear and distinct arguments.
Ehrman's book is divided into three main parts. The first part, entitled "Forgeries and Discoveries," uncovers some of the discovered hidden Christian texts, including a Gospel claiming to be written by Jesus' disciple Simon Peter, an account of the life of Thecla an alleged disciple of the apostle Paul, as well as other interesting accounts, which represent an even larger number of texts that had been determined to be forgeries either in the second and third century or in recent scholarship. The problem of forgery was fairly widespread in the second and third century and in many cases distinguishing the authenticity of a text has not been an easy task. Ehrman supports the recent arguments questioning the authenticity of some of the canonical NT writings, particularly the supposed Pauline letters 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and 2 Thessalonians. Although most Christian scholars have been reluctant to label any canonical book a forgery (the term "pseudonymous" is usually incorporated instead), almost every scholar has agreed that the non-canonical books (the ones excluded from the NT canon) are indeed, forgeries. Nonetheless, many followers of Jesus would have considered these writings and others to be sacred scripture. Ehrman points out that these writings display drastically different beliefs about Jesus and his message than what is known to us in the canonical books of the NT; the writings are the greatest representation of the diversity of Christianities in the second and third century.
The second part of Ehrman's book called "Heresies and Orthodoxies" deals with various faith movements within early Christianity. Ehrman points out that "this matter of being `right' was a concern unique to Christianity" (91). Although Ehrman's comment appears to be overstated, his argument does make sense in the religious context of the first and second century, especially in the midst of Roman polytheism. In comparison to the Roman religious beliefs, the salvation pronouncements of Christianity had an exclusivist nature. For instance, many of the early Christians believed that salvation comes only through Jesus (e.g. John 14:6). Ehrman discusses the four main early Christian movements about which we have any substantial evidence. He includes the following: the Jewish Christian Ebionites, the anti-Jewish Marcionites, the early Christian Gnostics, and the group he labels proto-orthodox. Ehrman spends a good amount of time on each of these early Christian movements giving the reader a general overview of their belief systems. He points out the difficulty in gaining an accurate assessment of these movements, since most of the evidence comes from biased proto-orthodox sources.
The third part of Ehrman's book deals with major conflicts between the various Christian movements. As each movement began to spread the Christian message, the differing views were conflicting and creating more diversity and confusion. In order for Christianity as religion to gain any sense of unification, it needed to define orthodoxy. Thus, the last part of Ehrman's book discusses the battle for orthodoxy, primarily taking place in the fourth century. Each movement held to particular beliefs on specific literary grounds, and each claimed that their view should be considered as orthodoxy. Hence, the faith that eventually emerged victorious is what has been passed down through the centuries, beginning with the basic orthodox creeds and a NT canon that was deemed authoritative for all Christians.
Overall, Lost Christianities is a good overview and general discussion of early interpretations of the life and message of Jesus of Nazareth. Ehrman addresses some of the foremost controversial texts while provoking a good discussion and rendering liberal conclusions. It appears as though Ehrman has a good understanding of the texts themselves as well as the scholarly debates that have revolved around the various writings over the past century. His task is a difficult one because he is writing for a popular (non-scholarly) audience, yet he is able to maintain a balance between overview and depth in most of his discussions. Ehrman provides definitions for many theological terms, which allows the book to be conducive to a reader who does not have background in theological studies, in particular, studies concerning the formation of the NT canon and orthodoxy.
When speaking about his arguments as a whole, Ehrman generally does a good job providing textual evidence. However, some of his arguments appear to lack a solid foundation and as a result Ehrman's conclusions seem to be based on pure speculation. For example, in the examination of Saying 114 of the Gospel of Thomas, Ehrman makes an argument concerning gender relations in the ancient world. Saying 114 is one of the most controversial Gnostic verses because it quotes Simon Peter and Jesus saying, "women are not worthy of life" and therefore, should become a living spirit resembling a male. "For every woman who will make herself male will enter the kingdom of heaven." Ehrman points out that this view of women is not entirely in line with other Gnostic texts and therefore, has "caused a good bit of consternation, especially among feminist historians" (63). Ehrman then goes on to argue the following: "As we know from medical writers, philosophers, poets, and others, women in the Greek and Roman worlds were widely understood to be imperfect men. They were men who had not developed fully" (64). He does not however, provide any sufficient textual evidence to back up a view that is "widely understood" about women in the ancient world. Ehrman may be accurate in saying that women were viewed as subordinate and unreliable in comparison to men, but he makes an over-generalization in order to make an argument for the Saying of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas. Why would this cause such consternation among feminist historians of early Christianity, if this view of gender relations were "widely understood" in the ancient world?
Another aspect of Ehrman's book that was disconcerting is his overall treatment of the group, which he labels, proto-orthodox. Among his discussion of the four central faith movements in early Christianity the proto-orthodox group is listed. It appears as though Ehrman applies this title as a means to efficiently refer to `what will become' orthodoxy. The term is inherently misleading. Ehrman is referring to proto-orthodoxy as if it were an organized group just as the Ebionite and Marcionite movements. By using the title, proto-orthodoxy to name a group that has yet to be formed, it appears that Ehrman is avoiding the idea, that among the wide diversity of Christianities in the second and third century, there may have been a majority view, which practiced a form of Christianity similar to the victorious orthodox view. Ehrman's argument that there was a wide diversity of Christian beliefs before the emergence of orthodoxy is well based in textual evidence; however, he tends to over emphasize the influence of their presence. As a result, he discredits, does not address, and appears to blatantly ignore the idea that there was a majority view in the second and third century, which prevailed and eventually became orthodoxy. Instead, Ehrman hides behind the ambiguous group called, proto-orthodoxy.
Despite the minor criticisms mentioned, Ehrman's book Lost Christianities is a good general overview of the battle for orthodoxy and the formation of the NT canon. The book introduces a wide diversity of writings that are representative of the various faith movements, which claimed to be Christian in the second and third century. Although some of Ehrman's arguments lack textual support and tend to over generalize in order to make large claims, he provokes a good discussion. The greatest contribution this book has to offer is that it encourages the general public to gain an understanding of the origins of orthodox Christianity and to ponder its profound historical significance.

243 of 268 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How Did We Get the Bible and Modern Christianity?, September 29, 2003

By	M. L Lamendola (Merriam, KS USA) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (Hardcover)

Review of Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew, by Bart D. Ehrman

Reviewer: Mark Lamendola

The advice "Don't discuss politics or religion" usually makes good sense, because such discussions often pit one uninformed opinion against another-with a net negative result.

What happens, however, when a person undertakes massive research to present an objective, respectful, scholarly view of a religious subject? One possible result is a captivating book that opens your mind and touches your heart. Bart Erhman achieved that result with this book.

Ehrman discusses the various agendas of the authors behind both "scripture" and "heresy." He discusses how various writings supported the case for one faction of Christianity or another. He discusses what these writings were, how they came to be, how they were discovered after centuries of being lost, and how scholars have analyzed them.

During all of this discussion, Ehrman doesn't push an agenda of his own. Indeed, he appears to explain the views and goals of each faction without taking the side of any of them. Consequently, the book moves the reader to a deeper, more informed, appreciation of Christianity. That appreciation creates a desire to replace divisive dogma with healing spirituality.

The New Testament did not exist in early Christian times. It came about much later, and was a weapon in the battle for dominance among various factions. It served to unite many disparate churches into an orthodoxy. But, that orthodoxy necessarily negated the views of those whose "scriptures" weren't included in the New Testament. The New Testament is a collection of writings that support a particular set of views of Christianity (Ehrman explains why this is both a good thing and a bad thing).

Many of the canonized books are not what they are commonly purported to be. In fact, some of them are forgeries. At first glance, such a statement seems inflammatory. Perhaps that's why Ehrman takes the reader through the evidence-rather than making simple proclamations. Here's a tidbit to consider. You may not know that III Timothy was considered for canonization, but then dropped-while II Timothy was included though it was known to be a forgery. What about the other books of the New Testament? And what about the other books that didn't make it into the New Testament? Ehrman answers those questions in a manner that does not attack Christianity, but instead reframes it in the spirit of truth.

Many churches have split over differences in "following God's Word." Often, the underlying disagreements arise over interpretations of a passage in the New Testament. The "combatants for Christ" may mean well, but they both are most likely basing their differing interpretations on a forgery-rather than an Apostolic letter. As a result, we have many sects of Christianity rather than one true way.

As varied as our flavors of Christianity are today, however, the variance was much greater in the early years of Christianity. Understanding this basic fact and understanding where our divisive doctrines came from will help anyone be a better member of the Christian family. For anyone who seeks to achieve such a goal, this book tills the soil and plants the seed. If you can do just a little watering and weeding, your faith will grow like a mustard seed.