Presby-Musings

Forged: Writing in The Name of God, Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are by Bart D. Ehrman , Harper One (2011) Book Description: Bart D. Ehrman, the New York Times bestselling author of Jesus, Interrupted and God’s Problem reveals which books in the Bible’s New Testament were not passed down by Jesus’s disciples, but were instead forged by other hands—and why this centuries-hidden scandal is far more significant than many scholars are willing to admit. A controversial work of historical reporting in the tradition of Elaine Pagels, Marcus Borg, and John Dominic Crossan , Ehrman’s Forged delivers a stunning explication of one of the most substantial—yet least discussed—problems confronting the world of biblical scholarship. In Forged , Ehrman reveals:  The Apostle Peter was illiterate, and therefore could not have written two letters (1 & 2 Peter) credited to him in the Bible. Six of the Pauline letters in the New Testament are forgeries. The First Boo...

Justification: God's Plan And Paul's Vision by N.T. Wright (IVP Academic)   I was watching an interview with Bishop N.T. Wright recently when he was asked about the "big" issues in his writing and teaching--issues like resurrection, salvation and justification.  The question was essentially, "What about these big issues can you simplify for us lay people who struggle to understand them?"  Interestingly, Bishop Wright chose to focus on justification, particularly on the way in which it cannot be understood in Paul's writings apart from it's context.  Evangelical, conservative author and pastor John Piper had just written a book which was directed as a refutation of Wright's Pauline scholarship, particularly as it related to the 1st century Jewish context within which Paul was writing.  Piper actually warned his readers in his book not to get "misled" by the historical and textual criticism used by Wright to lift up how 1st century Jud...