The Lost Gospels

I was in Barnes and Noble today and my head nearly spun at how many books are out right now on the so called “lost gospels.”

In short, ever since the discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library (a collection of gnostic texts including The Gospel of Thomas) there has been a movement to minimize the authority of the traditional gospels and New Testament books by suggesting that there were many variants of early Christianity. The suggestion is usually made, either openly or subtly, that “history is written by the winners” and the New Testament that we have is more a reflection of politics and power than consensus and unanimity in the early church.

Since the discovery and publication of The Gospel of Judas last year (a 2nd century gnostic gospel that scholars knew about through secondary sources, but didn’t have actual fragments of until the recent find) the number of books being written on gnostic texts and the “lost gospels” is dizzying.

Much of the hype has to do simply with money and what sells. The hype is also laregly a by-product of the runaway bestseller The DaVinci Code, which referred to many of these texts. What is sad, however, is that many people who don’t understand the context of the debate are easily challenged by marketing phrases that suggest a person has to rethink everything about Christianity based on archeological finds such as The Gospel of Judas. This is ludicrous. It’s like saying a jury has to rethink everything they’ve heard from a series of eyewitnesses because a new testimony of a non-eyewitness has been brought into court.

It’s a big topic and there are several things going on all at once, which makes it a tough subject to explain or teach.

I’ve decided, though, that come winter we’re going to tackle the topic of the lost gospels and the development of the New Testament on a couple of Sunday mornings. I think it could be a lot of fun and I’m hoping that it will bring much needed clarity and confidence to the whole question of the authority of scripture.

Anyway, there’s nothing like getting to look forward to a sermon series that will involve tons of history!!

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