Justin Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Can anyone recommend any good books on biblical contradictions, inaccuracies, lies or anything on deconverts? I know of one called 'Leaving the Fold', written by a deconvert, but i cannot find it anywhere. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thunderbolt Posted January 23, 2006 Share Posted January 23, 2006 Hi Justin There is such a wide range of books to choose from, but I can guarantee you, that should you pick a book that is not written by an evangelical, then they will certainly claim it not to be "scholarly". Here are some books to choose from on both sides of the coin: Defending historicity: R. T. France, The Evidence for Jesus (1986) Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz, The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide (1996) Robert Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament (2000) ...and in this same genre, but very unreliable and untrustworthy are (Habermas borders on deceitful, while Blomberg is significantly incompetent): Gary Habermas, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (1996) Craig Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (1987) Books by Contemporary Scholars Defending Ahistoricity: Arthur Drews, The Christ Myth (1998) Earl Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle: Did Christianity Begin with a Mythical Christ? (1999) Harold Liedner, The Fabrication of the Christ Myth (2000) Robert Price, Deconstructing Jesus (2000) and The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man (2003) Thomas Thompson, The Messiah Myth: The Near Eastern Roots of Jesus and David (2005) ...and of course: George Wells, The Historical Evidence for Jesus (1988); Who Was Jesus? (1989); The Jesus Legend (1993); The Jesus Myth (1998); Can We Trust the New Testament? (2005) Other Essential Reading: Charles Talbert, What Is a Gospel? (1977) Robert Segal, et al., In Quest of the Hero (1990) Alan Dundes, Holy Writ as Oral Lit: The Bible as Folklore (1999) Burton Mack, Who Wrote the New Testament? (1996) and The Christian Myth (2003) Randel Helms, Who Wrote the Gospels? (1997) and Gospel Fictions (1990) Frederick Murphy, Pseudo-Philo: Rewriting the Bible (1993) Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians (1987) Personally, I have not read Wells, and from what I have read from his critics, he is not entirely competent, though he is not a quack either. I would not trust anything he says that you can't confirm yourself or find corroborated by several other scholars (like Doherty or Ehrman, etc.), but if you can find confirmation or corroboration, he's probably right. Personally, I enjoy Bart Ehrman, Robert M. Price, Richard Carrier, Earl Doherty (Jesus Puzzle). But at the end of the day, it's really up to your personal preferences. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted January 23, 2006 Author Share Posted January 23, 2006 Thank you kindly. I shall look into some of those. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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