Forged: Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are

Look, I have to be up-front here : I'm a red pill kind of guy. Red pill people like me (i.e. Free, not still Trapped) will enjoy this book on a few levels.Blue pill people won't read this book, so if you're unable to deal with reality, you might want to go to the crayon and faith section of the website - or perhaps you can go join the other non-readers and leave a one-star comment.I have to also admit : I *have* read this book, completely (Location 1 - location 5168 :) Twice. (I have a lot of time on my hands, unfortunately!)So if you're still reading (congratulations, you're using your mind!), you'll find that the book entertains on a couple of different levels. If one doesn't appeal, I'm sure the others will!First, the technical details quoted are excellent food for thought. (They're also irrefutable, but I'm seen the One-Stars who've already attempted to refute what they haven't actually read - again.) He clearly defines the parameters of the book, where he's aiming it, and I think for the most part he gets it right.As a bonus, the less scholarly, tongue-in-cheekiness of some of the chapter headings, plus the wonderful implied asides, show a dry sense of the ridiculous. (That alone was worth a second read!)The very clear explanation of how the non-canonicals made it out of the bible is the best I've read (and I've read a LOT). The apocryphal forgeries so clearly show how the canonical forgeries stand out from the crowd, you'll kick yourself for not seeing the words as they are on the page. As always, Bart is able to draw back the delusional to see the actual, and the explanations are clear enough even for me! Great arguments well expressed - and they should be : they're the actual words of the actual bible. No "made up" excuses or circular reasoning here, folks. (For that, you'll need to go to the other side of the aisle!)If you haven't decided one way or the other, may I suggest you try this book first, as it's relatively gentle towards faithers, and certainly eases into the subject slowly and carefully : not for any selfish or cruel reason, but simply so that anyone reading this will understand the concepts extremely well, and they can make their own way through the book as it feels right to them. This is not a book based on hyperbole, one way or the other, so it shouldn't make any fundamental readers awkward or hesitant. As an ex-born-again (or "DA" = Dead Again ;) myself, I certainly couldn't take _anything_ the wrong way - unless I misread the actual words of the actual bible. Anyone saying different is lying through their teeth, unfortunately.As with the rest of his scholarship, the pupil has definitely exceeded his master, and he doesn't brag or trumpet anything. What a quiet, refreshing experience this was!I have to say, anyone who truly reads this with a truly open mind, will begin to see things that may disturb them. That's fine, that's all part of the process of learning the truth behind what you believe! Those who *do* want to learn the truth, don't be afraid! Those who don't want to learn the truth (or who already believe in "The Truth" beyond reason, could still learn something about impeccable scholarship, balanced and even judgements, and the clearest descriptions of some of the more difficult ideas you'll read. You may not agree totally with his conclusions, but only a moron would disagree with the method! I mean, it's the actual words OF the bible! You can't get closer than that!Wonderful. I can't wait to read his technical paper - I would guess that irrefutable wouldn't even begin to do it justice!This is worth a second (and third) read. Excellent.I was going to drop a star, as the footnotes aren't linked at all, you have to chase through to the footnotes section manually. But then I thought, naaah. If the Trapped reviewers couldn't be bothered reading any of the book themselves (for whatever physical or intellectual reason) and took off 4 stars each, I could leave one star alone.

Ehrman applies mainstream methods of historical critique to the Bible - not giving it any of the theological exemptions that some biblical scholars allow. I'm particularly attracted to his books because I too was trained from an early age to seek the truth through evidence above all else. I too went through an early adult stage of religiosity, although mine did not extend past age 21. In this book Ehrman applies his considerable teaching skills to the study of forgery in early Christianity and its close allies - lies, deceptions, false attributions, fabrications, falsifications, and pseudoepigraphal writings. During the process he thoroughly debunks the commonly stated opinion of some scholars that these techniques were not considered wrong at that time in antiquity - again with clear and convincing evidence. Why do these scholars state these things? Because they haven't read the evidence or perhaps they just prefer to look other way.As stated by other reviewers, Ehrman uses repetition as a teaching tool. This is a tried and true teaching method that I don't mind a bit. Most of his chapters will not be new to those well-read on the subject - but it will be eye-opening to those who aren't. Early Christianity took centuries to form a concensus, generating hundreds of documents attesting different things: that there was only one God - no, there were three, and they were equal - no, they weren't...the world was made by a good and great god - no, the OT God was a cruel God and the NT had a different God who was kind - no, the world came because of a cosmic disaster, a giant mistake...Jesus was completely flesh - no, completely spirit - no, he was both...he became God at conception - at his baptism - no, at the crucifixion...Paul taught eternal life comes through faith alone - no, he also stressed works...he was a true apostle - no, he misunderstood the story of Jesus...Peter and Paul agreed on everything - no they didn't...etc. Whether a book survived the politics and made it into the canon of the Bible or not, Ehrman says, "the vast majority of these apostolic books were in fact forged."Although Ehrman's primary focus is forgeries from the first two or three centuries, he provides data on others, including:* "Diaries of Hitler" - a forgery from 1984. Forger Kajua had learned to "imitate Hitler's handwriting, had read authoritative biographies of the Fuhrer to get his facts straight, and had painstakingly produced the accounts over a three-year period in the early 1980s. To make the pages look old and worn, he blotted them with tea and repeatedly slapped them on the table. And he fooled the experts, long enough, at least, to be paid $4.8 million for his efforts."* "The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ" - a fabrication from 1894 about Jesus's travels in Tibet as a young man, "published as a factually historical account and was widely believed as providing the key to the questions that Christians had long asked about the lost years of Jesus."In short, this is an exciting book that is hard to put down. Although it's impossible to get to the absolute truth, Ehrman's methods of presenting the evidence from sources that are as original as possible is as close as we're going to get and I like his style.

Fantiskt bra bok! KÖP! Mycket finare och större än vad jag trodde. Mycket bra kvalite! 5/5

I loved this book for its absolute intellectual honesty about forgeries at the beginning of Christian scripture. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? NOT written by these apostles, but written hundreds of years later. The Apostles were mostly poor people who couldn't read or write. How much of what Christians believe is actually true? Yet the writer had at first set out to be a total Christian, a devout believer-scholar, in search of the Truth.For those readers who have an ethical outlook and are concerned by religions who reject other religions as being "wrong". Excellent.

This book is EXTRA because Bible is really FORGED, and those people who give one star is Christians who hate truth that their "Word of God" is FORGED!! Their heartsis closed and doesn't want to accept the truth!!!

Para ampliar a visão bíblica e teológica leia Bart Ehrman.Esse livro, como todos do autor, ajuda a expandir a consciência para um melhor entendimentodas escrituras sagradas.Recomendo demais.

I could not put down this book. Early on in my life I read the Bible from cover to cover and just took it for granted that everything in it was the Word Of God direct from the creators lips. I was a Bible believing Christian and nothing could shake me into believing anything else. Years later I began to question certain areas of the bible and wondered what really happened. Who actually wrote this book and how did they write it? Did Jesus actually do all of the miracles? Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John copy down verbatim what they saw and what Jesus said? Are the letters of Paul actually the letters that Paul wrote? What about the Gnostic Gospels? What's that about? Is there more than one book of Revelations?All of these questions and more are answered by this book. Once you begin your journey of discovery into the reality of the Bible it may change your life!