Lost Christianity Ehrman Analysis
"What if?" This is the central theme or question of Lost Christianities. What if there we cultivate love and understanding for the early Christian theologies that were unable to survive the trials of time, he forces the reader, the consumer to experience his question. By way of texts, obscure references, and brilliant rhetorical techniques the consumer of this book experiences Christianity, or the lost Christianities in a way akin to that which he or she would in studying the ancient mythologies of Greece. Any reader, like myself, who is ignorant to the ancient sects of Christianity is spirited back in time to the first two "Christian" centuries. Ehrman's rationality for providing this experience is twofold in my opinion, first to acknowledge the void in most of our minds when it comes to early Christianity, and secondly to argue that these texts
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An example of this is the scripture of Tomas, the alleged twin of Jesus. Even though Ehrman doesn’t accept Tomas as the actual author of this text. This makes the information presented seem one-sided at different points throughout the text, furthermore, it takes away from Ehrman’s validity as a neutral source for information.
Ehrman’s overall thesis can be summed up in one statement: “Where did we get our New Testament Gospels in the first place, and how do we know that they, rather than the dozens of Gospels that did not become part of the New Testament, reveal the truth about what Jesus taught?”(p.93). This novel does an exceptional job of both answering and elaborating upon Ehrman’s thesis. The history we are taught is not always the history which occurred as it occurred, instead, we are often limited to the history of the powerful class or those who “won”. Ehrman incites a lust for knowledge and understanding within the
An example of this is the scripture of Tomas, the alleged twin of Jesus. Even though Ehrman doesn’t accept Tomas as the actual author of this text. This makes the information presented seem one-sided at different points throughout the text, furthermore, it takes away from Ehrman’s validity as a neutral source for information.
Ehrman’s overall thesis can be summed up in one statement: “Where did we get our New Testament Gospels in the first place, and how do we know that they, rather than the dozens of Gospels that did not become part of the New Testament, reveal the truth about what Jesus taught?”(p.93). This novel does an exceptional job of both answering and elaborating upon Ehrman’s thesis. The history we are taught is not always the history which occurred as it occurred, instead, we are often limited to the history of the powerful class or those who “won”. Ehrman incites a lust for knowledge and understanding within the