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A review by rodhilton
Forged: Writing in the Name of God by Bart D. Ehrman
3.0
Forged is an unapologetic book, which claims that a number of books in the New Testament are not merely inaccurate, not merely misattributed, but intentional forgeries by the authors. The author, Bart Ehrman, is a well-respected biblical scholar and has done a great job of writing a book intended for consumption by laypeople.
I would argue that "Forged", "Misquoting Jesus", and "Jesus, Interrupted" make up a perfect little trilogy of scholarly books about the New Testament's history (I don't include God's Problem because, while it is an excellent book, it is devoted much more to the Old Testament and is somewhat more philosophical in nature). I think any Christian owes it to him or herself to read the books.
That said, Forged is the weakest of the three. First and foremost, the book title is slightly misleading. The subtitle of the book is "Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are", implying the book is largely about the actual books of the canonical Bible. This is not wholly accurate, as a very large portion of the book (though I am reluctant to call it the majority) is devoted to talking about forgeries in a broader sense, specifically with regards to books written about Jesus or his followers that did NOT make it into the modern Bible.
These stories are interesting, but not quite what I was expecting. They are important for comparison purposes as well, to understand the broader context of forgeries in the time of early Christianity, but it often felt like not enough of the book was devoted to the ACTUAL books of the Bible. I can easily see a religious person responding to a great deal of it with "well, of course THOSE are forgeries, that's why God didn't let them into His Bible!"
There is still quite a lot of material devoted to the actual Bible. In particular, Ehrman argues that a number of Paul's and Peter's letters are forgeries, but I was particularly astonished by the allegation that the book of Acts is a forgery. Ehrman makes strong, well-informed, intellectually stimulating arguments in laying out his case, and I felt like I learned a great deal.
He spends a lot of time arguing that the premise is even worth discussing. A lot of pages are devoted to simply proving that there were any forgeries during early Christianity at all, and he spends a great deal of time mentioning opponents to his arguments in order to dismantle their counterclaims. I understand that this is necessary, but it dragged on a bit for me. Ehrman already won me over with Misquoting Jesus and Jesus, Interrupted, so I didn't personally need these sections, though I understand that some might.
Overall, the book is very interesting, with only a small amount of content rehashed from his other books. If you are a fan of Ehrman's, as I am, I think you will really enjoy reading Forged. If you are not already a fan of his, however, I'd recommend starting with Misquoting Jesus and Jesus, Interrupted, which are significantly better books overall.
I would argue that "Forged", "Misquoting Jesus", and "Jesus, Interrupted" make up a perfect little trilogy of scholarly books about the New Testament's history (I don't include God's Problem because, while it is an excellent book, it is devoted much more to the Old Testament and is somewhat more philosophical in nature). I think any Christian owes it to him or herself to read the books.
That said, Forged is the weakest of the three. First and foremost, the book title is slightly misleading. The subtitle of the book is "Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are", implying the book is largely about the actual books of the canonical Bible. This is not wholly accurate, as a very large portion of the book (though I am reluctant to call it the majority) is devoted to talking about forgeries in a broader sense, specifically with regards to books written about Jesus or his followers that did NOT make it into the modern Bible.
These stories are interesting, but not quite what I was expecting. They are important for comparison purposes as well, to understand the broader context of forgeries in the time of early Christianity, but it often felt like not enough of the book was devoted to the ACTUAL books of the Bible. I can easily see a religious person responding to a great deal of it with "well, of course THOSE are forgeries, that's why God didn't let them into His Bible!"
There is still quite a lot of material devoted to the actual Bible. In particular, Ehrman argues that a number of Paul's and Peter's letters are forgeries, but I was particularly astonished by the allegation that the book of Acts is a forgery. Ehrman makes strong, well-informed, intellectually stimulating arguments in laying out his case, and I felt like I learned a great deal.
He spends a lot of time arguing that the premise is even worth discussing. A lot of pages are devoted to simply proving that there were any forgeries during early Christianity at all, and he spends a great deal of time mentioning opponents to his arguments in order to dismantle their counterclaims. I understand that this is necessary, but it dragged on a bit for me. Ehrman already won me over with Misquoting Jesus and Jesus, Interrupted, so I didn't personally need these sections, though I understand that some might.
Overall, the book is very interesting, with only a small amount of content rehashed from his other books. If you are a fan of Ehrman's, as I am, I think you will really enjoy reading Forged. If you are not already a fan of his, however, I'd recommend starting with Misquoting Jesus and Jesus, Interrupted, which are significantly better books overall.