The Truth about Jesus and the "Lost Gospels": A Reasoned Look at Thomas, Judas, and the Gnostic Gospels

Well, yes, it's admittedly yet another book on the topic; but David's writing style is more popular and accessible than other more 'official' scholarly rebuttals, while still packing a level of detail and breadth for its size that frankly I can only envy. While I was personally hoping for a treatment of the Gnostic material in accord with his innovative genre comparison method from Why the Jesus Seminar Can't Find Jesus... I'm sure not inclined to be ungrateful for what actually arrived! [...] Considering the relative brevity of the book, my only complaint is with two or three editing blips that somehow slipped through proofreading, generally involving sentences that clearly were meant originally to be finished one way and then were redesigned during composition to try to make the same point another way. (A proofreader wouldn't normally catch them, since the grammar works out correctly. It's only in context that it becomes apparent David meant to be saying something else.) Certainly an improvement from the original printing of _Why the Jesus Seminar..._ in that regard, though. I would recommend TLG for pastors or laity looking to run a seasonal class on the topic at their church. David isn't mean-spirited, the prose is punchy with touches of real artistry, the topical layout is reasoned and well-defined and broad in scope, and the data quality is certainly on par with an academic work of about the same length. David Marshall is coming along fine in the crowded world of popular Christian apologetics, and should have a solid future ahead of him in the field.

Written by David Marshall, founder and director of the Kuai Mu Institute for Christianity and World Cultures, The Truth About Jesus and the Lost Gospels: A Reasoned Look at Thomas, Judas, and the Gnostic Gospels is a thoughtful examination of the ancient "Lost Gospels" that portray Jesus Christ in a different manner than the canonical New Testament. Chapters discuss what the "Lost Gospels" are and where they came from, whether these writings can be trusted on par with the Bible, and whether certain popular perceptions of Jesus have been mistaken all along. The Truth About Jesus and the Lost Gospels is sharply critical of Gnosticism, going so far as to declare "'Gnostic Christianity' is a contradiction of terms", and emphasizes that true freedom can only be found through Jesus Christ. Delving into examples of how Christianity has transformed lives throughout history up to the modern day, The Truth About Jesus and the Lost Gospels is a persuasively written, passionate treatise, accessible to readers of all backgrounds.

This latest book is a nice addition to the other thoughtful works that David Marshall has written in recent years. Concise and well written, this is well worth reading by anyone interested in a critical overview of the so-called Gnostic gospels.

With the (somewhat) recent discussions on the gospel of Judas, this book's purpose seems to be threefold: 1- Introduce "gnostic gospels" (Judas, Thomas, Mary, etc) and explain their many flaws; 2- Show how they differ from biblical gospels, and 3- Contrast the positive, uplifting message of the biblical gospels with the not-so-positive (sometimes regressive, sometimes sexist, etc) message of the gnostics. Gnostic gospels are too often considered 'on par' with the biblical gospels by many popular skeptics, and their message usually comes across as more uplifting, tolerant, reliable, etc than the bible. This book swiftly addresses such issues and explains why such ideas are untrue. This book elaborates on Marshall's studies into the Thomas gospel found in his previous book "Why the Jesus seminar can't find Jesus." That book can be seen as complementary to this one, and helps explain not only how the Jesus seminar's ideas are flawed, but also why we shouldn't trust the gospel of Thomas. Both books are recommended if you wish to learn more about how the gnostic texts differ from the biblical gospels, and how the biblical gospels are not only more reliable but far more "progressive" and enlightening in their overall message.