Forged: Writing in the Name of God – Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are is a book by American New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman, published in 2011 by HarperCollins. The book posits that between eight and eleven of the twenty-seven books of the Christian New Testament canon were written as forgeries.
Contents
Arguments and contentions
In antiquity, pseudepigraphy was an accepted practice in which a writer attributed his work to a well-known figure from the past or a teacher who had greatly influenced him. Forged contends that the practice was not in fact accepted and would have been condemned as dishonest by all authorities in antiquity. Ehrman maintains that the more honest term for such falsely attributed writings is "forgery".
Ehrman points out numerous inconsistencies he finds within the New Testament that appear to support many of his claims, such as the fact that in Acts 4, the statement is made that both Peter and John were illiterate, yet in later years entire books of the Bible were then alleged to have been written by them.
New Testament books identified as forgeries by Ehrman
First Epistle of Peter
Second Epistle of Peter
Second Epistle to the Thessalonians
First Epistle to Timothy
Second Epistle to Timothy
Epistle to Titus
Epistle to the Ephesians
Epistle to the Colossians
Epistle of Jude
Epistle of James (Ehrman notes that the author does not specify which James he is, meaning "that he is claiming to be the most famous James of all, Jesus's brother")
False attributions
In addition to the books of the New Testament Ehrman identifies as forgeries, he discusses eight originally anonymous New Testament texts that had names of apostles ascribed to them later and are falsely attributed. These are not forgeries since the texts are anonymous but have had false authors ascribed to them by others:
Gospel of Matthew
Gospel of Mark
Gospel of Luke
Gospel of John
The Acts of the Apostles
First Epistle of John
Second Epistle of John
Third Epistle of John
Epistle to the Hebrews
In addition, Ehrman asserts that the Old Testament books Daniel and Ecclesiastes, whose authors claim to be Daniel (in part of the Book of Daniel) and Solomon respectively, are forgeries, noting that they were written after those men's respective deaths.
Reviews
The book was reviewed by the Library Journal which recommended the book for "sophisticated readers who will come to their own conclusions".
United Methodist pastor and biblical scholar Ben Witherington III (Asbury Theological Seminary) wrote a critique of Ehrman's positions in his blog. Presbyterian pastor and biblical scholar Michael J. Kruger (Reformed Theological Seminary) also wrote a detailed critique of Ehrman's book for the journal Themelios.