Examines the scriptures of Chritianity and their authority, and asserts that the Bible is the word of human beings, not the word of God (view table of contents)

Product Description: Contemporary Christians usually suppose that Christianity is quite congenial to the democratic ideals that are the basis of free, open Western societies. Among these ideals is freedom of religion, which encourages a broad tolerance for different belief systems...read more

(view table of contents)

(view table of contents)

This is a critical account of the state-of-the-art of scholarship in earliest Christianity, and where and how it should move forward. It offers an authoritative account of contemporary scholarship and evaluates the work of all major scholars in the field, from Britain, America and around the world, as well as a critical analysis of all the published writings in Early Christianity over the last 25 years of the 20th century. Gerd Lüdemann evaluates all the contributions and defines the most significant areas for future research.

Product Description: Who was the apostle Paul? That question has provided grist for the scholarly mill for millennia. This fifth volume of the Jesus Seminar Guides opens with summaries of the traditional understanding of Paul that examine its inconsistencies and contradictions and reveal its bankruptcy...read more

Product Description: In this thorough exegesis of the primary texts dealing with the resurrection of Jesus, New Testament expert Gerd Lüdemann (University of Göttingen) presents compelling evidence that shows the resurrection was not a historical event and further argues that this development leaves little, if any, basis for Christian faith as presently defined...read more

Product Description: This book is about Gnostic prayrs, hymns and other material from the beginnings of Christianity, The authors were branded heretics and thrown out of the church. However, many documents of Gnostic spirituality have survived and have become more accessible especially since the spectacular discoveries at Nag Hammadi in Egypt in 1945...read more

Product Description: Die dem Apostel Paulus zugeschriebenen Briefe an die Kolosser, Epheser sowie der zweite Thessalonicherbrief sind erwiesenermaßen unecht. Sie lehnen sich jedoch deutlich an den Sprachgebrauch der echten Paulusbriefe an und nehmen wiederholt auf deren Inhalt Bezug...read more

Product Description: Dieses Buch bietet einen umfassenden kritischen Überblick über die internationale Erforschung des Urchristentums im letzten Vierteljahrhundert. Vom Standpunkt strenger historischer Kritik aus referiert es kritisch Beiträge zur Abgrenzung des Urchristentums, neuere Gesamtentwürfe sowie Arbeiten aus sozialgeschichtlicher oder feministischer Sicht...read more

Product Description: What historical realities lie behind the birth of Jesus and the description of the Holy Family by the evangelists? In this book, controversial New Testament scholar Gerd Lüdemann investigates all of the references to Jesus' birth and the Holy Family in the writings of the earliest church and rival Jewish sources...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Product Description: Biblical historians have long held that the New Testament abounds in sayings incorrectly attributed to Jesus. In order to assemble as complete a collection of authentic sayings as possible, they have, for the most part, been intent on seeing how the sayings deemed authentic are connected to one another, and attempting to picture their specific contexts...read more

Product Description: Dissatisfied with what he regarded as evasive answers given by theologians and scholars about the nature of the resurrection of Jesus, Gerd Ludemann subjected the New Testament traditions to a thorough investigation. In particular, Ludemann was concerned with the story of the empty tomb and the subsequent appearance stories first related by Peter...read more