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Is the
Bible we have today trustworthy? Why were certain books included
and others left out? Was Jesus, as the Bible says, really
God? What is the reliability of the missing gospels —
such as the gospel of Thomas and the
gospel of Judas — mentioned in The Da Vinci Code
but not included in scripture.
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 It
was clear to me in reading The
Da Vinci Code that what author Dan Brown had done was
to sloppily work with some of these alternative gospels that
are actually being taught on numerous university campuses
and that are in numerous books in religion sections of Borders
and Barnes and Noble, etc. I recognized that the real issue
wasn't The Da Vinci Code but instead the issue was these missing
gospels. You also have numerous specials, documentaries, etc,
built around this material that keep showing up regularly
on television.
— Darrell Bock |
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In 1945 a set of ancient texts was found in a cave in Nag
Hammadi, Egypt. These books described a different Jesus
and a different God, not to mention a completely different
Christianity. Some scholars claim that these findings call
for a complete rethinking of the Christian religion. Dan
Brown based The Da Vinci Code partially on these findings.
Darrell Bock examines the claims about missing "secret"
gospels and other early forms of Christianity. He analyzes
their estimated dates as well as their content. He says
that the missing gospels are mostly second and third century
works that some claim have equal value to the four gospels
for Christianity. Do they help us understand Jesus better?
Not really, says Bock, as these works are too late and too
detached from contemporary witnesses to fit that role. The
only gospel that really can even come into discussion for
such a question is Thomas. This gospel has overlaps with
the four gospels; that fact makes it an interesting source
in some of its sayings, even though it is likely an early
second century text as a whole. But even this work does
not help us as much with knowing about Jesus as the four
gospels do.
The Da Vinci Code was an exciting mystery novel with twists
around every corner based partly on history but mostly on
fantasy. Bock's book is a serious, scholarly analysis of
historical texts and theology. Bock presents samples of
extra-biblical materials and compares them to biblical texts,
enabling you to make your own judgments. |
 Thomas |
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A
necessary book that corrects many still fashionable but even
more questionable hypotheses about the origin of the Gospels,
the Nag Hammadi texts, and the development of Christian theology
in the first two centuries AD.
— Prof Dr Martin Hengel, Professor Emeritus of New Testament
and Ancient Judaism, University of Tübingen, Germany |
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What
is your response to the "missing" gospels? Have
they caused you to reflect on your faith? |
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The
Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities
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.
 
USA
UK
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The
Truth About Jesus and the "Lost Gospels":
A Reasoned Look at Thomas, Judas, and the Gnostic Gospels
In
this helpful book, world religions scholar David Marshall
examines the popular claims being made about the Gnostic “Gospels,”
and reveals how, in actuality, they fall far short of the
true Gospels in the New Testament. This is an eye-opening
resource that will equip Christians to take a well-informed
and well-reasoned stand against the so-called “Lost Gospels”
that have become so popular today. Reading Thomas, Philip,
Mary, or Judas, one may reasonably respond, ‘So this
is what a made–up Gospel looks like. This is what Jesus
would look like if He were the product of theological spin.’
These conveniently clever texts reveal the startling, unique,
and saving character of the Good News according to Matthew,
Mark, Luke, and John. In a sense, these four Gospels carry
a unique ‘genetic’ signature: fruitful and far
more deeply startling qualities that mark the story as true.
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UK
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Breaking
the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the Questions Everyone's Asking
Many
who have read The Da Vinci Code have questions that arise
from seven codes — expressed or implied — in Dan
Brown's book. In Breaking the Da Vinci Code: Answers to the
Questions Everyone's Asking, Darrell Bock, PhD, responds to
the novelist's claims using central ancient texts and answers
the following questions: Who was Mary Magdalene? Was Jesus
Married? Would Jesus Being Single be Un-Jewish? Do the So-Called
Secret Gnostic Gospels Help Us Understand Jesus? What Is the
Remaining Relevance of The Da Vinci Code? Darrell Bock's research
uncovers the origins of these codes by focusing on the 325
years immediately following the birth of Christ, for the claims
of The Da Vinci Code rise or fall on the basis of things emerging
from this period. Breaking the Da Vinci Code, now available
in trade paper, distinguishes fictitious entertainment from
historical elements of the Christian faith. For by seeing
these differences, one can break the Da Vinci code.
USA
UK
Canada |
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Fabricating
Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels
Fabricating Jesus inquires into the thinking and the methods
of scholars and popular writers. What presuppositions do they
hold? What methods do they use? Why do they move from valid
observations to audacious conclusions? Indeed why and how
do they fabricate a Jesus different from the one we find in
the New Testament? Are these scholars actually using sound
historical method? These are some of the questions this book
explores. Fabricating Jesus is designed to speak to a variety
of readers. First, this book is written to assist anyone who
is confused by the wild theories and conflicting portraits
of Jesus, the claims that he really didn’t see himself
as the Messiah or as God’s Son, or that the New Testament
Gospels are not trustworthy, or that other sources are better
or at least equally valid, and so forth.
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UK
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Reinventing
Jesus:
How Contemporary Skeptics Miss the Real Jesus and Mislead
Popular Culture
From the international sensation The Da Vinci Code
to the national bestseller Misquoting Jesus, popular culture
is being bombarded with radical skepticism about the uniqueness
of Jesus and the reliability of the New Testament. Reinventing
Jesus cuts through the rhetoric of extreme doubt to reveal
the profound credibility of historic Christianity. Meticulously
researched yet eminently readable, this book invites a wide
audience to take a firsthand look at the primary evidence
for Christian origins. Reinventing Jesus shows believers that
it's okay to think hard about Christianity, and shows hard
thinkers that it's okay to believe. A serious, detailed, yet
eminently accessible refutation of the exaggerated skepticism
of bona fide scholars like Bart Ehrman or Robert Price and
of the outright misinformation in frequently-believed pseudo-scholarship
circulating on the web.
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UK
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Cracking
Da Vinci's Code
In
Cracking Da Vinci's Code, top Christian researchers tackle
the ideas presented as historical data in the Doubleday novel
The Da Vinci Code. James L. Garlow, PhD, and Peter Jones,
PhD, address the growing controversies and the historical
misconceptions that form the basis for much of Dan Brown’s
bestseller. In their easy-to-follow style, Garlow and Jones
confront what many consider the novel’s heresy with
compelling evidence that supports Christianity’s foundations
and exposes the possible agenda behind the fiction. Cracking
Da Vinci's Code will help readers understand the roots of
the modern heresy found in The Da Vinci Code — where
it began, what it means — and its possible hidden agenda!
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UK
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The
Da Vinci Code: Fact or Fiction?
People
are talking. The DaVinci Code has been on the New York Times
best-seller list for over a year and is raising a variety
of responses from Christians and non-Christians alike. Some
are outraged and upset by the claims of Dan Brown, while others
are left utterly confused and don't know what to believe.
The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction? explodes the myths of the
book and shows the reliability of Scripture, the divinity
of Christ, as well as the historical facts for the Priory
of Zion and the Knights Templar. This is the only hands-on
accessible reference guide. The DaVinci Code: Fact or Fiction?
helps you turn debate about the book into an evangelistic
opportunity.
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Joining
many other recently found and publicized "gospels,"
the gospel of Judas has found its way into the limelight as
the subject of some recent books and television programming.
The ancient manuscript appears to be genuine — so what
are we to make of the claims therein?
Judas
and the Gospel of Jesus |
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In his new book Guy Harrison details such reasons for god-belief as the obviousness of God, "playing it safe," the fear of hell, that belief in gods brings genuine happiness and comforts, and the fact that so many people are religious.
50 Reasons People Give For Believing In A God |
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Discover
magazine recently called Richard Dawkins "Darwin's Rottweiler"
for his fierce and effective defense of evolution. Now Dawkins
turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing its
"faulty logic" and the "suffering it causes".
A
Christian Response to Richard Dawkins |
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Modern
historical study of the Gospels seems to give us a new portrait
of Jesus every few weeks. Why are scholars so prone to fabricate
a new Jesus? Why is the public so eager to accept such claims
without question? What methods and assumptions predispose
scholars to distort the record?
Fabricating
Jesus
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Author
Neil Rees believes that the word of God is revealed in the
Bible completely and sufficiently. But, he claims, not everything
in the Bibles we carry around and have on our shelves is the
inspired text. If true, the consequences of that simple truth
could be far-reaching.
Is
Everything in Our Bibles Inspired?
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