FORGED
Writing in the Name of God — Why the Bible's authors are not who we think they are
By Bart Ehrman. HarperCollins. 292 pages. £19.99
ISBN 978 0 062 012 616
By now, readers of EN will be aware of the nature of the works of Bart Ehrman, former evangelical turned agnostic propagandist and biblical critic.
His special gift is popularising biblical liberalism. This latest book attacks the traditional authorship of biblical writings. The issue is vital: the central issue in canonicity is apostolicity — that the New Testament books were written by apostles or close associates such as Mark (with respect to Peter) and Luke (Paul), and were written in the Apostolic Age — i.e. before the end of the first century. This is a major reason for rejecting later apocryphal works such as the so-called ‘Gospels’ of Thomas and Peter. Clearly, if someone other than Paul wrote Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, the author was lying, and his book, not being possessed of apostolic authenticity, has no place in the canon. If what Ehrman says is true, this would apply to most of the New Testament! Hardly surprising that Islamic polemicists find his writings so useful.
