As I pointed out in my previous posts, taken from the Preface of my book Forged (HarperOne, 2011), we still have numerous forged documents that emanated from the early church, numerous Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses (these are the four literary genres of the New Testament) all of them claiming to be written by apostles. Many of these non-canonical books are fascinating and still worth reading.[1] I’ve talked about a number of them on the blog before, but here it may be worthwhile to give a quick summary of some of them.
Among the Gospels, for example, there is an account allegedly written by Peter, which gives a detailed narration of the resurrection. This is striking because – most readers have never noticed this – the New Testament Gospels do not narrate the resurrection. They do say that Jesus was buried, and they indicate that on the third day his tomb was empty; but they do not narrate the account of him actually emerging from the tomb. There is such an account in the Gospel of Peter, however, where Jesus walks out of the tomb accompanied by two angels who are as tall as mountains, supporting Jesus who is taller still; and behind them, out of the tomb, emerges the cross, which speaks out to God in heaven. Other “apostolic” Gospels tell yet other amazing stories about Jesus, or record bizarre teachings supposedly spoken by him, Gospels allegedly written by Jesus’ brother Thomas, his disciple Philip, or his female companion Mary Magdalene. All of these books claimed to be authentic, but each of them was classified as a “forgery” by other early Christians who did not believe the apostles had actually written them.
There are also non-canonical Acts, books that narrate the adventures of Jesus’ apostles after his ascension, such as the Acts of Paul and Thecla, in which Paul preaches that to have eternal life followers of Jesus must refrain from sex even if married, and avoid marriage altogether if single. This was a book that was fabricated by a church leader in Asia Minor (modern Turkey) in the second century. We know about it because a famous church father, Tertullian, indicates that the person was caught and put on trial in the church for producing the account, and then unceremoniously removed from his leadership position.[2] Most church leaders did not appreciate fabricated documents. But there were plenty to go around. Today we still have extensive copies of Acts of John, Peter, Andrew, and Thomas, as well as fragments of earlier works that no longer survive intact.
There were also forged epistles, including a set of letters back and forth between Paul and the most famous philosopher of his day, Seneca, which showed not only that Paul was on intimate terms with the greatest minds of the Empire but that also he was respected and revered by them. Some later church leaders maintained that these letters were authentic but others thought they had been forged for the purpose of making Paul look good. There were also debates over the authenticity of other letters of Paul, and of Peter, and even of Jesus. Some of these other writings still survive.
So too there were forged Apocalypses that dotted the Christian literary landscape, including a fascinating account that was discovered in 1886 in a tomb in Egypt, a first-hand account allegedly written by Peter in which he is given a personal guided tour, by Jesus himself, of heaven and hell and the respective blessings of the saved and the gruesome torments of the damned. This is a book, as it turns out, that almost made it into the New Testament, as there were church leaders well into the fourth century who claimed that it was Scripture. Others, though, claimed it was forged.
These are just a few of the documents that were disputed in the ancient world. Some early Christians claimed they really were written by apostles and urged that they belonged in the New Testament. Others insisted that they were not written by apostles but were forgeries. How many other such documents were there? We will never know. At present we know of over a hundred writings from the first four centuries that were claimed by one Christian author or another to have been forged by fellow Christians.[3]
Most of the instances I have just mentioned are forgeries from after the days of the apostles themselves, from the second, third, and fourth Christian centuries. Most of the books of the New Testament, on the other hand, were written during the first century. Is there any evidence that forgery was happening in this earlier period? In fact there is very good evidence indeed, and it comes to us from the pages of the New Testament itself. I’ll talk about that in the next post.
[1] For a collection of some of the most interesting, see Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make It Into the New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003). For a more comprehensive collection see J. K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993).
[2] Tertullian, On Baptism, 17. See further pp. xxx.
[3] This is my own count.
I’m sometimes struck by certain kinds of Christian theology which make it seem “easy” to be a Christian and be saved. Of course the best known example is that salvation comes from faith not works. On top of that is the idea that faith itself is a gift of God. There’s also the idea that the good we do is God acting through us. God’s grace can and does accomplish everything. God’s willingness to forgive sin is another example. Many of the Reformers questioned the reality of free will. There’s nothing the individual can do even if s/he wants to. At most it’s a matter of surrendering one’s intellect and will to God—or to the church.
I suppose the other side of this particular coin is that this version of Christianity requires obedience, maybe even a kind of passiveness. And, in a society like ours, it’s difficult for people to resist the lure of self-assertion and self-fulfillment.
Do you see some truth in this description for certain versions of Christianity? It doesn’t seem to me that churches emphasize this very much. They make Christianity seem difficult which people usually fail at, ie sin. Why would this be?
It’s say there are so many different forms of Christianity today that it’s virtually impossible to characterize it! But most people in the faith do seem to see willful obedience as more palatable than ordained disobedience.
Ordained disobedience? Do you mean disobedience of the ordained? Or some kind of disobedience somehow ordained by God?
I mean commanded obedience.
Bart, I enjoyed your Finding Moses lectures this weekend. But I’m still looking for the Gold Q&A, which you promised by Dec 8. You did say to ask earlier, so…
Thanks!
THanks for the nudge! I just put out the call for questions. Ask one!
When was the Gospel of Peter approximately written?
I usually date it to around 120 CE or so.
So, we know over a hundred books signed by the apostles and other famous figures from early Christianity. Out of them only the seven Pauline letters were written by the person who allegedly wrote them. It means well above 90 % of all books that we know are probably forgeries. Have I got it right?
Depends how “early” one means. BUt yes, a whole boatload — the majority — were not written by their alleged authors.
Bart, I was asking about the November Gold Q & A, to which I have already submitted a question, and which was supposed to have been posted by Dec. 8.
Yes it was! I’m looking into it. (I thought it was posted, but there appears to have been a … glitch. We’re working on getting rid of the blasted glitches…)
Did I miss an invite to the Gold members live webinar with you? It really was a pleasure participating in it, although I just mostly listened. Last (and only one I made) was several months ago.
On another note, loved your book “Gods Problem”. As a committed Christian since my youth, I saw myself in your descriptions of the issue you had accepting all the B.S. I feel so incomplete now. I want to worship, but now I don’t even go to church. I am afraid to speak to my adult kids about my findings, as they are doing well without the need to bringing unneeded conflict into their world. Another point, the FB group “Seeking Historical Truth Based on the Teachings of Professor Bart D. Ehrman”, is closed minded and does not allow discussion that though flawed, people need present their views too. Otherwise, the discussion are just self serving and reinforcing our own views. If people found our group, is because they want the truth too; they should not be kicked out, or comments not posted.
Sincerely, Jay
Nope — there’s a Gold Q&A every month that I record, and we make it available on both audio and video. But it’s not live with attendees. I tend to squeeze it in whenever I have an hour (like … tomorrow!) rather than schedule it.
I don’t think I knew about that FB page! But good luck with your struggles. There certainly are online groups of peole in the same or comparable boat!
The resurrection account in the Gospel of Peter was originally a crucifixion story—you don’t put a cross in a tomb! Jesus is being led out for execution by two angels, which is the earliest form of the crucifixion myth. The cross is not talking, for that would make no sense; Jesus talks from the cross after he has been crucified. The author of the Gospel of Peter has confused the two angels with the two at the resurrection, and so applied the story as a resurrection account. With this new perspective, you will see that the story does, in fact, make sense. The author of Mark thinks the crucifixion took place in the recent past, under the Romans. So he turns the angels who are crucifying Jesus into two “robbers” who are crucified one on each side of Jesus. “Robber” is a common name for the fallen angels/demons. I explain all this in my book “The Judas War”. SP Laurie