Get Free Ebook The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities, by Darrell L. Bock

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The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities, by Darrell L. Bock

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From Publishers Weekly

The wild success of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code has spawned a thriving cottage industry of both supporters and critics. One of Brown's more controversial assertions is that the emergence of Christian orthodoxy was based not on its merit but on the politics of the winning side. Here, Bock sums up the evangelical perspective as he challenges the idea that orthodoxy "emerged" at all. Rather, he argues, it survived its many challenges in the early centuries of the Christian church because it best reflected the thoughts and teachings of Jesus and the apostles. The author, who teaches New Testament at Dallas Theological Seminary, considers the idea that Christianity needs to be "reimagined"—reformed in the image of recent archeological and literary discoveries—to be an ill-advised attempt to rewrite history. He takes on those scholars who want to reinterpret Christianity in light of early Gnostic teachings that denied the oneness of the Father and the Son and spiritualized the gospel stories into myths. Bock recognizes this is pretty sophisticated stuff, and offers the reader a helpful chapter outlining times, names and ideas, providing a useful framework for the rest of his book. While not conclusively proving his thesis, Bock does provide a lively and readable survey of competing beliefs in Christianity's earliest days. (Aug. 8) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product details

Hardcover: 230 pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson Inc; Complete Numbers Starting with 1, 1st Ed edition (August 8, 2006)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0785212949

ISBN-13: 978-0785212942

Product Dimensions:

5.5 x 1 x 8.2 inches

Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review:

4.4 out of 5 stars

31 customer reviews

Amazon Best Sellers Rank:

#525,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Excellent review that shows why these are not considered part of the synoptic Gospels. Clearly Gnostic in origin, and dated much later than the Biblical books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,.Jesus said to beware of false prophets - and clearly the authors of these bogus Gospels fit that description. The only surprising thing is how many Liberal Theologians accept these books on face value despite the fact that they conflict with the true word of God as presented in the Bible.

Darrell Bock's "The Missing Gospels" is, in a word, informative. Very informative. Especially for such a relatively small book. Dr. Bock does a truly scholarly job sifting through the so-called "alternative Christianities" and evaluating arguments both pro and con in a fairly even-handed manner.He examines various players (e.g. Bart Ehrman, Helmut Koester, Elaine Pagels, Walter Baeur) and their contributions--most of whom would generally have supported the "makeover" theory.One very important note: the book is very layman friendly. I was surprised at how smoothly and easily it reads, how non-technical the prose is. Of course, the names of some manuscript fragments may sound technical, but there's no avoiding that.Dr. Bock explains the roots and origin of Gnosticism, its relationship to classic Christianity, the claims of the school that favors Gnosticism to traditional Christianity, then contrasts the Gnostic theology and worldview with the New Testament theology and worldview.The chapter titles run as follows:1) Making a Scorecard: The Period and Players of Early Christianity2) Discussion of a Key Alternative View: About Gnosticism and its Definition3) Dating the Origin of Gnosticism4) Early Christianity's Diversity and Historical Judgments5) The Claims of Walter Bauer and the New School6) The Nature of God and Creation, Part 1 (i.e. in Gnosticism)7) The Nature of God and Creation, Part 2 (i.e. in traditional Christianity)8) Jesus: Divine and/or Human, Part 1 (Gnosticism)9) Jesus: Divine and/or Human, Part 2 (traditional Christianity)10) The Nature of Humanity's Redemption, Part 1 (Gnosticism)11) The Nature of Humanity's Redemption, Part 2 (traditional Christianity)12) Jesus' Death: Knowledge, Sin, and Salvation, Part 1 (Gnosticism)13) Jesus' Death: Knowledge, Sin, and Salvation, Part 2 (traditional Christianity)14) Conclusion: The New School, the Missing Gospels, Alternative Christianities, and OrthodoxyThree to four study questions close out each chapter. Following these we have two appendices, containing plentiful information on texts and dates, and a bibliography for further study.Very well written, very well explained. Four & 1/2 stars.

Bock adds great questions, but he provides incomplete answers and while his point becomes clear at the end, it’s unclear through most of the book. Furthermore, he sufficiently points out a problem, but does not provide an adequate solution.

Bock's Missing Gospels is an interesting tome, but not for the faint of heart. This is not just a casual discussion of the Gnostic texts made so popular recently by the Di Vinci Code, but a thorough comparison and discussion of these texts with respect to the Orthodox Christianity of the period. Although it gets to be heavy going at times, it's quite clear from the author's discussion that the two types of text are quite different.For one thing, anyone who has the notion from the Di Vinci Code that the Gnostics were early feminists can get that out their mind right away. While the texts make mention of women and what the Di Vinci Code popularized as the "Divine Feminine," most of them make it quite clear that the females in question are inferior in quality to men. At one point Jesus says he will make Mary Magdalene male so that she is worthy of receiving the mysteries he imparts to his disciples. Definitely not politically correct from the modern perspective.I'm not entirely certain I agree with the author that the earliest Gnostic ideas were later than those of Orthodoxy and therefore do not reflect the "true" teachings of Jesus. While I do agree that one can't argue from lack of evidence, neither do I agree that lack of evidence is evidence of absence. I suspect that much of what was circulating after the death of Jesus was rich and varied. That the texts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were committed to parchment earlier than the Gnostic works is hardly surprising given the characters of the two distinct beliefs.What has become the traditional church position is pretty clear cut. In fact I was surprised at just how clear cut it was from these earliest 1st Century works. Essentially one is expected to follow the Golden Rule, the Ten Commandments, and confess your belief in Jesus Christ as the savior of mankind. The Nicean Creed, which I learned in confirmation class says exactly that. Do these things and your future in heaven is guaranteed. And it's not just an ethereal future either. Your mind, body and soul will be resurrected in a much better, much fairer world.This form of Christianity is accepting and open to all; in fact it urges everyone to become part of it. No one is considered unworthy to participate. Furthermore, the various centers of the faith tended to communicate with one another, instruct, and support adherence to the core beliefs.On the other hand, the Gnostic texts portray a variety of beliefs with no sense that their proponents have respect for or even contact with the others. In these texts, the speaking disciple has become a repository to which the master has committed some very special knowledge about reality, the soul, the hereafter, and right living. The contents of these tracts suggest secretiveness, divisiveness, and exclusivity. It reminds me of the Masons and the Eastern Star, both of which are secret societies. My guess is that these beliefs appealed to an educated elite more than to the average man in the street.The message transmitted by these texts is couched in language that is almost like that of Eastern philosophies, which is probably why the Gnostic texts are enjoying a renaissance in modern times. The neophyte is encouraged to get to "know" themselves, to find their "inner deity" in order to find God. The resurrection is of the soul or spirit of the devotee. There are no apparent clear cut "how tos" involved. Even to learn the very secret words imparted by Jesus, the individual must be inducted into the group. Because of this, I'm not at all surprised that the Gnostic texts were set to paper later than that of the Orthodox religion. I'm more surprised that they were committed to the written word at all.It is precisely because the differences between the two types of belief are so very apparent that I am inclined to believe this author and others who maintain that the Orthodox Church was not responsible for their suppression. The early Romans might have been, but they were an equal opportunity culture, they suppressed all Christian texts.The reason for my position is that Gnosticism itself, with its secrecy and exclusiveness, simply failed to survive the intellectual "survival of the fittest" Just as biological beings survive or suffer extinction by virtue of the numbers, so too do ideas.Orthodoxy included everyone who wanted to join, was open with its liturgy and beliefs, appealed to the average person's understanding of life and its demands, gave clear cut rules for achieving grace, and encouraged everyone to "spread the good word." Their formula was extremely successful for over 2000 years.

A cunning theory.

This book was purchased for our library upon request of our Theology Dept Chair as an excellent resource for student learning and research.

I have not experinced the Gnostic Gospels extensively so found fhis book very enlightening

Not for the unthinking every day church goer. The book will make you think about what you accepted without thought. Excellent read!,

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