Family Life

03.29.11 | Sarah Harnisch

 A new book by a major religious scholar claims 75 percent of all New Testament books-- are forged. The book came out a week ago, and is called "Forged: Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are". It's written by Dr. Bart Ehrman, an agnostic who teaches religion at the University of North Carolina. He says several of the New Testament books claim no authorship at all. For instance, none of the original four Gospels actually have the names of the authors at the beginning of their documents. Christian scholars, like Dr. Mike Licona, say the most prolific biographer of antiquity is widely held to be Plutarch, yet of all the 50 or so existing manuscripts we have of Plutarch, none of them are signed. He says you don't have to have a signed document to have an authentic, original document. He also says no serious scholar believes the New Testament is forged.