Lost Scriptures: Books That Didn’t Make it into the New Testament – Bart D. Ehrman – 2 Stars

Lost Scriptures: Books That Didn’t Make it into the New Testament – Bart D. Ehrman – 2 Stars

Title: Lost Scriptures: Books That Didn’t Make it into the New Testament

Author: Bart D. Ehrman

Publisher: Oxford University Press          

Year: 2005 Softcover

Rating:  2 Stars

Price and Purchasing Options: This book is unlikely to be found in secondhand stores for the LDS Community, but occasionally can be found on bargain book shelves.  However, it is a mass production printing and is available on Amazon new for under $15 – no real need to dig to find this one cheap.  Also, I believe there is a google book format for free.

Review: I actually liked this books despite the 2 Star review!

I am giving it a two star review for the LDS Community, as for the most part there is not reason the LDS Community needs to read it.  There is little value for the masses in it.  However, for those who are interested in early Christian beliefs from the Gnostic and other splinter groups from Christianity this is interesting.  I will quantify that statement a little.  I don’t mean the early Church – I mean the early Christians (first 1,000 years) – there is a difference.

The book included a translation of about 25 books or writing that didn’t make it into the New Testament that claim from one source or another to be attributed to New Testament characters: Letters of Clement, Gospel of the Savior, Second (Secret) Gospel of Mark, Acts of Peter, Gospel of Thomas, etc.

There is also very good reason why these texts were not included in the New Testament.  For the most part it is clear that they are not written by the apostolic authors, but were attributed to them at a much later date in order to give their writing credibility, and also the thoughts and theories credibility as well. 

Most of these writings were written well after (maybe centuries after) their attribution, and among the various different splinter sects of Christianity, mostly Gnostic, and they were written to sanction a believe, theory, or general practice.  Many of these writings also contradict the general teachings put forth in the New Testament. 

When the New Testament was compiled some of these writings were proposed, some of them not known, and some might not have even been written yet.  But there was good reason why they were not included.

For the purpose of the LDS Community, it can be intriguing because of our widely held understandings of the censorship within the Bible, and the reality that there are more sacred works out there.  But for the purpose of this collection, this is not the place to find them – the book really yields no faithful additions to the active LDS member.  However, for those of us who are interested in general knowledge of these beliefs it is a great reference.  I love source material, and so when reading other books about the Gnostic belief system it is great to have a reasonable translation of some of their sources.  For that reason I appreciate the book, and so would most hard core Bible Students – but outside of that it is skippable.

There were maybe a handful of interesting tidbits that came out of it that I found interesting, but maybe five quotable moments out of the whole text (Secret Gospel of Mark, and the experience of Peter’s vision of the resurrected cross).

I will also add, I am not giving it a low rating because I am concerned that there is anything here that would threaten your faith either.  The book is pretty straight forward, and the writings are clear, as well as clearly not relevant.  For the most part if you are not a die hard fan of boring source material I would be surprised that anyone would finish it.  You are not going to rock your faith reading this – it just isn’t going to be worth your time one way or the other.

  

Suggestions:  No need to worry about the book, as sensational and intriguing as it sounds.  It doesn’t really add anything to your faith, or belief system.

I hope you have enjoyed this review, and I encourage you to follow this blog as I update more reviews in the coming days, weeks, months, etc.  Please feel free to also follow my YouTube page – however, I enjoy writing more than being on camera!

Review #45

Tags: 2 Stars, History, Lost Scriptures, Scripture Commentary, New Testament Commentary,  Bart D. Ehrman, LDS Book Review, Ryan Daley