CX

Has anyone read this yet? I just received this along with Lost Scriptures and Crossan's Excavating Jesus. I made it through section 1 last night and so far it's outstanding. A fascinating and in depth look at early forms of Xian belief which are now lost written in a highly accessible manner. Section 1 ends with a very compelling discussion of Morton Smith and The (Secret) Gospel of Mark. I'll post a full review once I've read the whole thing, but so far I can strongly recommend it to anyone who's interested in early Xian writing and belief.

godfry n. glad

Yep. I finished it about three weeks ago. I found it superlative. His look at the early diversity of belief is enlightening.

From what I can tell, he still thinks Jesus was historical. A failed apocalyptic prophet, but historical, none the less.

Great stuff and his writing is top-drawer. From my lay perspective, _Lost Christianities_ is more attuned to the lay reader, whereas his _Orthodox Corruption of the Scriptures_ is more pedantic. I recommend anything and everything he writes.

godfry

Roland

"Lost Christianities" is also on video.

The Teaching Company taped a series of lectures by Ehrman on this topic.

The series runs about 12 hours.

Steven Carr

By pedantic, you mean scholarly. For such a scholarly book it is extremely readable.

His book 'Jesus Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium' was also good.

Somebody should get him an NT Wright to clash on the apocalyptic nature of early Christianity.

godfry n. glad

I stand (or sit, actually) corrected. My usage was wrong. Yes, it's definitely more scholarly than either "Lost Christianities" and "Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium", but I still think it was written for the informed lay reader, rather than fellow scholars. Yes, it's still very readable, but more demanding of the reader's attention.

Agreed. An excellent read, despite my disagreeing with his final conclusion.

Why should he waste his time with the likes of Wright?

godfry

Vorkosigan

I await your review, CX, with bated breath.

Think I have to buy Ehrman now....<sigh>

godfry n. glad

Vork!

You don't have ANY Ehrman? How can this be? Not even _Orthodox Corruption_?

Man, if you haven't read any Ehrman, you're going to have to dig deep in the pocket for the price of more than one tome. As noted here, he's got several excellent titles out on the market.

godfry

MiddleMan

I have an extensive library of texts regarding the Bible but, I too, do not have anything by Ehrman. What would a fan of his writing suggest as the first book to purchase?

godfry n. glad

Hmmm... Well, that depends on your interests.

If it's historical Jesus, then _Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium_ is his spin on the historicity and personae of the founder figure.

_Lost Christianities_ is an excellent overview of the early diversity of belief amongst "Christians".

_Orthodox Corrupution of the Scriptures_ is a more detailed and fussy analysis of how the scriptures came to be as they are today; how the polemics betwixt the various sectarians of the second and third centuries changed the scriptures and why he thinks it occurred.

I've not read _Lost Scriptures_.

I personally enjoyed _Lost Christianities_ most, myself.


godfry

Toto

Check out the secweb bookstore:

Ehrman

for

Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium

The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader

The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings

The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament

Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millenium is a really good read, and I would recommend it highly.

Lost Christianities should also be there.