Thursday 18 November 2010

The Authentic Gospels

Thanks in part to popular works like Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code there is a wide spread impression that the four canonical gospels of the New Testament are not the real deal. The conspiracy theorists suggest that there are lots of documents now available which give a more accurate picture of the historical Jesus. The canonical gospels are dismissed as later products produced by the church to boost its power and standing and the conclusion drawn is that the whole Christian enterprise is based on error.

Tyndale House has produced a new DVD based course for small groups and individuals exploring the validity of the canonical Gospels. Rather than describe what The Authentic Gospels is about I’ll let those behind the project speak for themselves.



Interesting, though I’ll have to have a closer look at the material to assess the level at which it is pitched and how accessible it would be for the average home / bible study group.

There is an excellent booklet by Tom Wright called Decoding Da Vinci which explores some of the myths around Christian origins and the gospels and offers a robust response.

You can order The Authentic Gospels from here or direct from Elevation.

2 comments:

Revsimmy said...

Thanks for posting this. One of my congregation brought up the subject of the apocryphal Gospels in a couple of recent conversations, so I am very tempted to buy this video to see if it could be used with a group in the parish. If you get there first and have any views or guidance on this I should be interested to know.

Richard Brown said...

See also Michael Green's excellent book 'Lies,Lies,Lies' for an expose of all things neo-gnostic, and in particular the apocryphal gospels. The title tells you all, and it has Canon Green's usual exacting and popular style.