Download or read book The Gospel Hoax written by Stephen C. Carlson and published by Baylor University Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Secret Mark first became known to modern scholarship in 1958 when a newly hired assistant professor at Columbia University in New York by the name of Morton Smith visited the monastery of Mar Saba near Jerusalem and photographed its fragments. Secret Mark was announced on the heels of many spectacular discoveries of ancient manuscripts in the Near East, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi gnostic corpus in the late 1940s, and promised to be just as revolutionary. Secret Mark presents what appears to be a valuable, albeit fragmentary, witness to early Christian traditions, traditions that might shed light on Jesus's most intimate behavior. In this book, Stephen C. Carlson uses state of the art science to demonstrate that Secret Mark was an elaborate hoax created by Morton Smith. Carlson's discussion places Smith's trick alongside many other hoaxes before probing the reasons why so many scholars have been taken in by it.

Download or read book The Lost Gospel written by Simcha Jacobovici and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-11-12 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Waiting to be rediscovered in the British Library is an ancient manuscript of the early Church, copied by an anonymous monk. The manuscript is at least 1,450 years old, possibly dating to the first century. And now, The Lost Gospel provides the first ever translation from Syriac into English of this unique document that tells the inside story of Jesus’ social, family, and political life.The Lost Gospel takes the reader on an unparalleled historical adventure through a paradigm shifting manuscript. What the authors eventually discover is as astounding as it is surprising: the confirmation of Jesus’ marriage to Mary Magdalene; the names of their two children; the towering presence of Mary Magdalene; a previously unknown plot on Jesus’ life (thirteen years prior to the crucifixion); an assassination attempt against Mary Magdalene and their children; Jesus’ connection to political figures at the highest level of the Roman Empire; and a religious movement that antedates that of Paul—the Church of Mary Magdalene.Part historical detective story, part modern adventure, The Lost Gospel reveals secrets that have been hiding in plain sight for millennia.

Download or read book Veritas written by Ariel Sabar and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author comes the gripping true story of a sensational religious forgery and the scandal that shook Harvard. In 2012, Dr. Karen King, a star religion professor at Harvard, announced a breathtaking discovery just steps from the Vatican: she’d found an ancient scrap of papyrus in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene “my wife.” The mysterious manuscript, which King provocatively titled “The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” had the power to topple the Roman Catholic Church. It threatened not just the all-male priesthood, but centuries of sacred teachings on marriage, sex, and women’s leadership, much of it premised on the hallowed tradition of a celibate Jesus. Award-winning journalist Ariel Sabar covered King’s announcement in Rome but left with a question that no one seemed able to answer: Where in the world did this history-making papyrus come from? Sabar’s dogged sleuthing led from the halls of Harvard Divinity School to the former headquarters of the East German Stasi before landing on the trail of a Florida man with an unbelievable past. Could a motorcycle-riding pornographer with a fake Egyptology degree and a prophetess wife have set in motion one of the greatest hoaxes of the century? A propulsive tale laced with twists and trapdoors, Veritas is an exhilarating, globe-straddling detective story about an Ivy League historian and a college dropout—and how they worked together to pass off an audacious forgery as a long-lost piece of the Bible.

Download or read book The Jesus Hoax written by David Skrbina and published by . This book was released on 2023-09-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr. Skrbina presents a stunning new thesis: that Jesus Christ, son of God, was a fraud and a hoax, constructed by St. Paul and followers. Their purpose was to undermine Rome and weaken the Gentile masses. The evidence is strong and compelling.

Download or read book The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled written by Peter Jeffery and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2007-01-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this needed and highly anticipated new translation of the Theban plays of Sophocles, David Slavitt presents a fluid, accessible, and modern version for both newcomers to the plays and established admirers. Unpretentious and direct, Slavitt's translation preserves the innate verve and energy of the dramas, engaging the reader or audience member directly with Sophocles' great texts. Slavitt chooses to present the plays not in narrative sequence but in the order in which they were composed: Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannos, Oedipus at Colonus; he thereby underscores the fact that the story of Oedipus is one to which Sophocles returned over the course of his lifetime. This arrangement also lays bare the record of Sophocles' intellectual and artistic development. Renowned as a poet and translator, Slavitt has translated Ovid, Virgil, Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Ausonius, Prudentius, Valerius Flaccus, and Bacchylides as well as works in French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Hebrew. In this volume, he avoids personal intrusion on the texts and relies upon the theatrical machinery of the plays themselves. The result is a major contribution to the art of translation and a version of the Oedipus plays that will appeal enormously to readers, theatre directors, and actors.

Download or read book Christianity written by Josh McDowell and published by Tyndale House Publishers. This book was released on 1989 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A popular speaker and author answers key objections to the Christian faith today. McDowell's evidence will challenge seeker and believer alike. A helpful, concise reference tool.

Download or read book The Tithing Hoax written by R. Renee and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008-12-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Does the Bible command Christians to tithe? Is tithing necessary to prosper? Will God curse you if you do not tithe? Will God bless you if you tithe? Is it possible that many preachers are misleading the body of Christ into practicing an obsolete religious ritual that places most Christians in financial and spiritual bondage? Authors and teachers R. Renee and Cynthia Harper answer these and other questions. The Tithing Hoax exposes the lies and reveals the truth about this controversial practice The church has it wrong about tithing"--Back cover.

Download or read book The Secret Gospel written by Morton Smith and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Secret Gospel gives the first real evidence of the method by which Jesus of Nazareth initiated his disciples into the esoteric practices of his teaching, making this is a very important book for the history of humankind. In 1958, Morton Smith traveled to Jerusalem to do research in the monastery library of Mar Saba, in the Judean Desert. What he found was no routine corroboration of New Testament history, but a precious fragment of a second-century document that would change our understanding of the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth. As exciting as the most suspenseful adventure story, Professor Smith's book is a lively and readable account of the discovery and unraveling of some of Christianity's most intriguing mysteries. ??The Secret Gospel invites a wide community of readers to share in the challenge of [Professor Smith?s] discovery, and to evaluate for themselves the provocative?and fundamental?questions it raises.? from the Foreword by Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels

Download or read book Faith Based Fraud written by Warren Cole Smith and published by WildBlue Press. This book was released on 2021-05-04 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leader of Ministry Watch examines how cases of abuse and financial corruption have hurt the church—and how to bring back integrity. We live in a secular, skeptical, and cynical age. Many Americans have lost faith in institutions—including the church. Although the vast majority of Christian leaders serve faithfully, examples of financial fraud, greed, sexual and emotional abuse, and other systemic problems are almost everyday occurrences. And a watching world has a right to ask even those who are faithful ministers of the Gospel: “If you knew this was happening, why didn’t you say something?” Whether or not honest and above-board Christian leadership like it, in the eyes of the world, our silence makes us complicit. That’s why this vital book takes a clear-eyed look at scandals in the church—from Jim and Tammy Bakker’s PTL Network to Mark Driscoll, Todd Bentley, David Jeremiah, and Bill Hybels. It is an answer to those who say that the silence of Christian leadership is approval. And although this book is sometimes tough on the church and its leaders, its purpose is not to tear down the evangelical church, but to restore it to its rightful place of influence in the culture and in the lives of people who desperately need its message of grace and truth. “Explains why shining sunlight on churches and ministries in America is important.” —Paul Glader, Director of the McCandlish Phillips Journalism Institute, The King’s College

Download or read book Jesus the Magician written by Smith, Morton and published by Hampton Roads Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-27 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A twentieth-century classic, uncannily smart, incredibly learned."--from the foreword by Bart Ehrman This book challenges traditional Christian teaching about Jesus. While his followers may have seen him as a man from heaven, preaching the good news and working miracles, Smith asserts that the truth about Jesus is more interesting and rather unsettling. The real Jesus, only barely glimpsed because of a campaign of disinformation, obfuscation, and censorship by religious authorities, was not Jesus the Son of God. In actuality he was Jesus the Magician. Smith marshals all the available evidence including, but not limited to, the Gospels. He succeeds in describing just what was said of Jesus by "outsiders," those who did not believe him. He deals in fascinating detail with the inevitable questions. What was the nature of magic? What did people at that time mean by the term "magician"? Who were the other magicians, and how did their magic compare with Jesus' works? What facts led to the general assumption that Jesus practiced magic? And, most important, was that assumption correct? The ramifications of Jesus the Magician give new meaning to the word controversial. This book recovers a vision of Jesus that two thousand years of suppression and polemic could not erase. And--what may be the central point of the debate--Jesus the Magician strips away the myths and legends that have obscured Jesus, the man who lived.

Download or read book How Jesus Became God written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-03-25 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times bestselling author and Bible expert Bart Ehrman reveals how Jesus’s divinity became dogma in the first few centuries of the early church. The claim at the heart of the Christian faith is that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God. But this is not what the original disciples believed during Jesus’s lifetime—and it is not what Jesus claimed about himself. How Jesus Became God tells the story of an idea that shaped Christianity, and of the evolution of a belief that looked very different in the fourth century than it did in the first. A master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, Ehrman reveals how an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state came to be thought of as equal with the one God Almighty, Creator of all things. But how did he move from being a Jewish prophet to being God? In a book that took eight years to research and write, Ehrman sketches Jesus’s transformation from a human prophet to the Son of God exalted to divine status at his resurrection. Only when some of Jesus’s followers had visions of him after his death—alive again—did anyone come to think that he, the prophet from Galilee, had become God. And what they meant by that was not at all what people mean today. Written for secular historians of religion and believers alike, How Jesus Became God will engage anyone interested in the historical developments that led to the affirmation at the heart of Christianity: Jesus was, and is, God.

Download or read book Joyfully Spreading the Word written by Kathleen Buswell Nielson and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Revelations written by Elaine Pagels and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A startling exploration of the history of the most controversial book of the Bible, by the bestselling author of Beyond Belief. Through the bestselling books of Elaine Pagels, thousands of readers have come to know and treasure the suppressed biblical texts known as the Gnostic Gospels. As one of the world's foremost religion scholars, she has been a pioneer in interpreting these books and illuminating their place in the early history of Christianity. Her new book, however, tackles a text that is firmly, dramatically within the New Testament canon: The Book of Revelation, the surreal apocalyptic vision of the end of the world . . . or is it? In this startling and timely book, Pagels returns The Book of Revelation to its historical origin, written as its author John of Patmos took aim at the Roman Empire after what is now known as "the Jewish War," in 66 CE. Militant Jews in Jerusalem, fired with religious fervor, waged an all-out war against Rome's occupation of Judea and their defeat resulted in the desecration of Jerusalem and its Great Temple. Pagels persuasively interprets Revelation as a scathing attack on the decadence of Rome. Soon after, however, a new sect known as "Christians" seized on John's text as a weapon against heresy and infidels of all kinds-Jews, even Christians who dissented from their increasingly rigid doctrines and hierarchies. In a time when global religious violence surges, Revelations explores how often those in power throughout history have sought to force "God's enemies" to submit or be killed. It is sure to appeal to Pagels's committed readers and bring her a whole new audience who want to understand the roots of dissent, violence, and division in the world's religions, and to appreciate the lasting appeal of this extraordinary text.

Download or read book Where We Got the Bible Our Debt to the Catholic Church written by Reverend Henry G. Graham and published by Aeterna Press. This book was released on 2015-07-31 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: IF all were true that is alleged against the Catholic Church in her treatment of Holy Scripture, then the proper title of these papers should be ‘How we got’, but ‘How we have not got the Bible’. The common and received opinion about the matter among non-Catholics in Britain, for the most part, has been that Rome hates the Bible-that she has done all she could to destroy it—that in all countries where she has held sway she has kept the Bible from the hands of the people—has taken it and burned it whenever she found anyone reading it. Or if she cannot altogether prevent its publication or its perusal, at least she renders it as nearly useless as possible by sealing it up in a dead language which the majority of people can neither read nor understand. And all this she does, (so we are told), because she knows that her doctrines are absolutely opposed to and contradicted by the letter of God’s written Word—she holds ­and propagates dogmas and traditions which could not stand one moment’s examination if exposed to the searching light of Holy Scripture. Aeterna Press

Download or read book The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross written by John M. John M. Allegro and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-12-10 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first published statement of the fruits of some years' work of a largely philological nature. It presents a new appreciation of the relationship of the languages of the ancient world and the implication of this advance for our understanding of the Bible and of the origins of Christianity.

Download or read book The Life of Saint Issa written by Nicholas Notovitch and published by . This book was released on 2018-07-25 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Notovitch's biography of Saint Issa, in which he asserts that Jesus Christ spent many of his missing years traversing India, is presented here. A Crimean Jewish adventurer and explorer of India, Notovitch traveled widely across the East in the late nineteenth century. He claimed to have discovered a biographical document in Hemis Monastery - located in modern-day India - from which he created this book. The bold and fantastical claims about Christ attracted attention from scholars of Christianity and the popular media of the time. Spotting inconsistencies in Notovitch's account, it was only after being confronted with these that he apparently confessed to having fabricated the biography of Jesus Christ. For some years the entire matter was considered a hoax; until the Indian mystic Swami Abhedananda visited the Hemis Monastery where a monk confirmed that Notovitch had stayed some six weeks there, convalescing with a broken leg, whereupon he read the disputed documents concerning Christ.

Download or read book The C S Lewis Hoax written by Kathryn Ann Lindskoog and published by Multnomah. This book was released on 1988 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: