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The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon cover art

The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon

Written by: Bart D. Ehrman,The Great Courses
Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
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Publisher's Summary

What different kinds of books are in the New Testament? When, how, and why were they written? And why did some books, and not others, come to be collected into what Christians came to consider the canon of scripture that would define their belief for all time? With these 12 lectures, get a fast-moving yet thorough introduction to these and other key issues in the development of Christianity. Designed to deepen the understanding of both Christians and non-Christians alike, this lecture series takes as its perspective the historical, rather than the theological, issues behind the development of the Bible. And it's an illuminating perspective, indeed, ranging across issues of language, oral history, the physical limitations of spreading the written word at a time when the printing press lay far in the future, and, of course, the theological forces that were shaping Christianity, molding a commonly accepted canon from the various expressions of the faith spreading across the ancient world. Professor Ehrman recreates the context of the times in which the canon was being assembled so that you can understand what the message of each written work would have meant to ancient Christians. You'll come to see how the diverse books of the New Testament were gathered together into the form we now know, whether it's the four canonical Gospels (whose authorship was only attributed by later Christians), the book of Acts, the 21 Epistles, or the book of Revelation (sometimes called the Apocalypse of John).

These lectures are a compelling introduction not only to the development of the Christian canon, but to all of the forces that would play a role in early Christian history.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2005 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2005 The Great Courses

What listeners say about The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon

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The Making of the New Testament Canon

This was very interesting and makes one think about the New Testament. Not only do I wonder what could have been if Infancy Gospel of Thomas or the Apocalypse of Peter was added, but also I understand better why the New Testament is organized like it is. Honestly, it makes you look at it and think about it in different ways. You start to understand that each gospel was written for a different audience, which now it makes sense that they were are so similar but also why they have their differences.

Like the best of the Great Courses, it makes me wonder and think.

Honestly, I'm a little disappointed that there isn't one about the Old Testament.

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Good

The instructor set clear from the beginning that the perspective is historical and not theological. This is not a course about faith. It is a critical view on the documentation of sacred text. Keep this in mind throughout, otherwise you will not have a good time.

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Not for me. He's not a believer in the Bible

Listening to the course, it is clear this man does not believe the Bible is God-inspired, I had hoped to find a Christian who was able to discuss how the New Testament came together.. apologetics. Then hearing bits of him saying some accounts in the Bible didn't really happen, I switched off. I do believe the entire Bible is God inspired-- and all of it.
If you are a Bible-believing Christian, I wouldn't recommend this audiobook. Even in his other videos, he clearly calls himself an agnostic who used to be a Christian.

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Fascinating Course. Highly Recommended

Whether you read the Bible nightly or are only vaguely familiar with Christian thinking, this course will enrich your understanding of how one of the world's great religions developed and solidified its core belief structure. Dr. Ehrman is a skilled, thoughtful, and surprisingly funny, communicator. He does an excellent job of approaching the material with respect and objectivity, neither proselytizing nor denigrating the faith. He explains how stories about the life of Jesus and interpretations of the meaning of Christ's teachings were captured and catalogued in the nascent years of the faith; how richly varied was the early Christian theology, and how one strand of this theology became predominant through the inclusion of certain texts and rejections of others in the collected canon of Christian writing, the New Testament. A fascinating and deeply educational lecture series. I highly recommend it.

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I am enjoying this one much more than the other instructor’s

I originally started out listening to a lady do a course in this series on the old testament, but got really bored because she just goes through the contents and not much else. I went to this book instead and it is so much better because it gives you the historical context which is much more interesting to me than the contents. I find myself looking forward to hearing more. He delivers something you can accept as fact while at the same time really leaving food for thought. I only wish the same instructor could do a historical course on the old testament, though it would be much harder as there is less historical cross reference from those times. But it would be nice to hear his teaching style applied to even what historical
accounts we DO have of those older writings because this course in the New Testament us very good.

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  • Justin Bailey
  • 2015-09-03

An Abridged Version of "The New Testament" Course

MAIN POINT: The content should've been more focused on the "making" of the canon as opposed to a quasi-survey of the canon. Ehrman's "The New Testament" course covers almost the same exact material with just a little more detail.
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Ehrman starts the second to last lecture reminding listeners that it was (I'm paraphrasing) a long and detailed history leading up to the selection and discrimination of books. Yes, Bart! That's why I bought your course. I wanted to learn about that part of Christian history in particular. Problem is, he spends an inordinate amount of time (75%) walking listeners through historical discrepancies in the gospels, pseudonymous Pauline epistles, scribal errors, orthodox corruption, conflicting theologies, et cetera. All interesting topics.. WHICH SHOULD BE AND WERE COVERED IN DETAIL DURING 'THE NEW TESTAMENT' COURSE! Direct listeners, if they would like to learn more about those areas, to purchase that course.

This course could've briefly touched on those issues to show there are prior questions one should be asking of the New Testament as well, but it should've focused primarily on particular arguments, detailed interactions with patristic fathers and other "heretics", from the second to fourth centuries, culminating in the Athanasian canon.

Ehrman is a fine scholar of the New Testament and a great expositor of tricky textual and interpretive issues. I've learned a lot from him. But he has particular pet project areas he focuses on, and it seems to dominate his lecturing style. I feel like he is constantly trying to prove the same things over and over again, even when what he's looking to prove doesn't exactly fit the course aim.

31 people found this helpful

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  • Tim Cook
  • 2013-10-08

Interesting, but not conclusive

What did you like best about The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon? What did you like least?

I liked the historical context of the lectures and how they detailed the writing of the books in the New Testament.

What I didn't like was that there seemed to be an undertone of doubt about the validity of any of the books. Prof. Ehrman began the lectures by stating that any two texts that were virtually identical in subject, writing style, or account could almost certainly be considered copies of eachother. (he went into a very convincing example in his lecture) He references several corresponding accounts in the gospels that he supposes had to be copied from other resources. Later, though, Ehrman references discrepancies in accounts of the same events in different gospels and uses this as reason to doubt the validity of scripture. I think a reasonable doubt is healthy when digesting any information, but you can't have it both ways. Ehrman is suggesting that similarities in scripture are reason to doubt their validity, and again later suggesting that discrepancies are reason to discredit.

These lectures are written from a historical perspective, not a theologic one. That said, it still seems that the goal of the lectures isn't only to educate about the writing, assembly, and preservation of the New Testament.

Would you ever listen to anything by The Great Courses again?

Possibly

What three words best describe Professor Bart D. Ehrman’s performance?

Knowledgable, Informative, Biased

Do you think The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

I would like to see a point by point rebuttal from a biblical historical perspective. After independently researching many points made in the lectures and finding that they weren't entirely based in fact, I would love to listen to lectures that are based on biblical explanations.

24 people found this helpful

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  • eric
  • 2013-09-11

Very informative

I disagree a bit with the previous reviewer in that although there are iTunes U courses that are excellent, Prof. Ehrman is the top of his field. I very much enjoyed the lecture series, Prof. Ehrman is an excellent lecturer and presents information in a clear and interesting way. I enjoyed this course more than the books, but I prefer to hear history and science in lecture form.
I highly recommend this lecture series if you are interested in the subject. I feel prof. Ehrman presents the subject in a fair and objective light, he is only presenting his academic studies and is not teaching a sermon or ranting against religion.
Thank you

24 people found this helpful

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  • jeremy m nocchi
  • 2020-01-17

buyer beware

Bart is an avowed Atheist and used this course to further his agenda. spent more time on early Christian sects than any book of the bible. completely skipped some books of the bible. offered a bunch of one sided arguments attacking authenticity of the books while not providing any of the supporting arguments. a waste of time and money. very dissappointed and Will avoid great courses in the future.

21 people found this helpful

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  • ZiggyZ
  • 2013-07-29

Good but no better than FREE iTunes U courses!

Prof. Ehrman is a respected scholar, and the lectures are very interesting. Only thing is, iTunes U has very similar material for free. Right now I'm listening to a course on the NT from Yale University. Audible / Amazon should give these away or at least dramatically reduce the prices.

Go to iTunes U and get lots of great courses for nothing!

19 people found this helpful

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  • Jason
  • 2015-01-30

Overlap beware

Any additional comments?

This book has too much overlap with other courses by this same lecturer. If you've already heard the others, it's not as good as his lectures on the early Christian church and the ones on the controversies of the Bible. I was hoping for new or more information than what I got in the other lectures.That being said, as a whole, good information. Ehrman is a good lecturer.

14 people found this helpful

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  • Amazon Customer
  • 2020-03-22

The History of the Bible as Seen by a Pagan

This is Christian history as seen by a cynical secularist. Interesting but flawed. Unbalanced and unfair. Thel professor presents the story of the Bible from the perspective of a skeptic and cynic+certainly not orthodox nut rather a summary of what non-believing scholars speculate-which is the academic reality of post- modern theology schools, but disengenuous because the lecturer allows the neophyte to believe this is what Christians actually think. In this regard, the lectures are worse than flawed, they are deceptive.

12 people found this helpful

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  • Wurm
  • 2013-09-25

Objective Historical lecture on the New Testament

A scholarly and historical (not devotional) perspective on how the New testament came to exist in its present form. The course is a lecture series given by premier Bible Scholar Bartrand Ehrman. If you're looking for an objective view into the history of the Bible and Christianity, I highly recommend this series.

11 people found this helpful

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  • Kerouac_jack
  • 2014-12-09

Beware, the author IS NOT A BELIVER IN JESUS

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Atheists would probably enjoy the author's sarcasm. Example, as a proposed joke the author puts a spin on to a saying of The Lord' s. "I am Divine and you are the branches" whereas the true reading is "I am The vine and you are the branches". Total unneeded sarcasm !!! This type of sarcasm is not flattering and runs somewhat rampart throughout. The author has potential to make the new Christian listener start to doubt. It should be noted that the author/narrator attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, as well as simular places of academia. From my understanding he was once a "believer" but now calls himself an agnostic, but for all practical purposes he is probably closer to being an atheist. My understanding is that he us married to a true BELIVER in Christ. Please pray for her as well as the author Mr. Bart Ehrman.

Would you ever listen to anything by The Great Courses and Bart D. Ehrman again?

I would not consider listening to an other titles by Bart Erhman, not unless he becomes a true follower of Christ.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Professor Bart D. Ehrman?

For the most part the narration was ok, it was the content that had the issues.

What character would you cut from The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon?

N/A

Any additional comments?

While initially, Bart Erhman's narration enlightened my mind as to how old history such as the Bible (in a physical sense) came about. It leaves a very deep void, the faith component.

9 people found this helpful

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  • Joe Nifong
  • 2019-12-03

Don’t Waste Your Time

This was the worst purchase ever. I did not read the whole book but what I did read was not what I expected based on the book’s description. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

6 people found this helpful