Who Wrote the New Testament?: The Making of the Christian Myth

Disappointing. First, the book is mistitled. Other than Paul, the author, Burton Mack, devotes little time exploring who he believes wrote the New Testament, and appears to be generally uninterested. Instead, the book focuses on the question of why the New Testament was written. Mack contends that Paul created the Christ myth making Jesus a deity as a means of promoting his vision of a Christian Israel composed of both Jews and gentiles living together in purity, holiness, and righteousness, and it was this vision that drove Paul’s entire mission and mythmaking enterprise. Later authors ingeniously perpetuated this myth simply because they delighted in thinking of themselves as a new congregation that was as important in their time as the formation of Israel was in its time. Mack’s intricate theories detailing grand conspiracies by multiple “mythmakers” are fantastic and imaginative, if not reckless. He presents his case as fact, but relies on little more than social profiling to support his fantastic theories. To digest such bold stories and statements requires strong evidence, but Mack offers none. Although an interesting read, Mr. Mack presents little that validates his own brand of mythmaking. For those seeking solid answers to honest questions about the writing of the New Testament, this book is 300 pages of pure conjecture.

Dr. Mack has given us an excellent, albeit opinionated, discussion of how the New Testament came to be what it is. I can't fault him for being opinionated; as a leading New Testament scholar and recognized expert on the subject, he has done his homework and is entitled to be confident of his opinions. Even if he is wrong about a few points, which he probably is, (so which of us is infallible?) he clearly knows a great deal about his subject, and is right for by far the most part. Perhaps he should have noted that the Q hypothesis, of which he is a leading proponent, is somewhat controversial, but the majority of serious New Testament scholars accept it. The leading minority alternative is Michael D. Goulder's one-source hypothesis, more accessibly presented by Goulder's disciple John Shelby Spong in Liberating the Gospels: Reading the Bible with Jewish Eyes I have too much respect for Goulder, Mack, and Spong to have an opinion as to who is right and who is not, but I do strongly recommend Spong's book as well as Mack's. There is much in each that the other doesn't cover. One reviewer recommended Bart Ehrman, and I concur, but as a supplement to Mack and Spong, not an alternative. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus) [email protected]

Since the Higher Criticism efforts in the late 19th Century, biblical researchers have probed deeply into the origins of Scriptural texts. Contributions from archaeology and other disciplines have added new information on the times and places dealt with in biblical texts. Burton Mack, in a sweeping study of the foundations of the Christian myth, offers an in-depth analysis of the progress of the movement. He also broadens the scope of view by placing its growth in a wider social context. Not a "serious" academic tome, Mack has produced a study for a wide readership. He gives us a better understanding of the roots and development of the book considered so fundamental in many people's lives. With astute insights presented in lively style, he has offered much for reflection. Wisely side-stepping the historical validity of Jesus, Mack follows the foundation and likely development of the way one man's teachings became a global movement. Whether Jesus actually lived is insignificant beside how stories of his life and ideas were promulgated. Mack carefully depicts the socio-political scenario in which the Jesus story took root. Palestine's population had undergone severe disruptions in recent times. At the time of Jesus, the Jews, either exiled or conquered, had suffered various dislocations, although the worst was yet to come. During the period under Alexander's domination, many Greek ideas permeated Palestine, including various scholastic practices. These, Mack points out, would have strong impact on how the Jesus story was developed and spread. It also increased the toil of scholars struggling to understand who wrote what and when they did it. Students often composed essays in the name of some emminant scholar as a means of demonstrating their comprehension of the material. From an analysis of text styles, Mack derives the existence of a series of "Jesus movements", several being located in northern Palestine. These "Q" documents are teachings attributed to Jesus, with no biographical description. They could be the ideas of one or more thinkers of the time and locality, but are generally accepted as being from one teacher. The "Q" texts were incorporated into the Mark account, then embellished - the earliest of the Christian "Gospels". Mack notes that unlike the "Q" writings which were closer in time to any actual events, the later "Gospel" authors implied they were witnesses to them. This, of course, along with the many "miracles" related by these writers, was pure fiction, as Mack stresses. The progressive writings making up the "Gospels" transformed the "Jesus movements" into the "Christ cults". Instead of merely an inspired teacher, Jesus now becomes a divine being. The level of divinity - "from" the deity, "of" the deity, or actually the deity was different according to the author[s] location and proclivities. This disparity is the foundation for the multitude of "heresies" arising in later centuries. The various "Chris

By comparison with folks like John Dominic Crossan and Richard Friedman, the work of both of which are excellent, this book is smaller and covers a wider range of material. The writing is clear and makes use of as many of the contemporary contributing sciences as the others. This is one I review prior to any classroom discussions concerning the topic.I recommend this book as a good source for students trying to get a quick picture of contemporary scholarship on the NT.

Burton Mack starts with the premise that the bible is one of the most powerful and influential books in all of human history but also one of the least understood. Using powerful scholarship, he takes the reader back to the first century Near East and paints a vivid picture of the suspected writers and audiences of the New Testament. The writer of the long winded review above presents a stunning example of the closed minded attitudes which have smothered the bible over the centuries. As a devout Christian, I saw the bible with a fresh perspective through the lens of Mack's scholarship. Any serious reader of Paul, for example, has had to deal with Paul's twisted syntax and inherent contradictions. Mack puts Paul's letters in their proper cultural and temporal context. Paul was an evangelist and was writing to specific audiences with specific biases. This book is not for someone who takes the bible literally but it is a must for those who take the bible seriously.