Extract from Bart Erhman's book - Jesus Interrupted
Of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, only eight almost certainly go back to the author whose name they bear: the seven undisputed letters of Paul (Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon) and the Revelation of John (although we aren’t sure who this John was).
The other nineteen books fall into three groups.
• Misattributed writings
As we have already seen, the Gospels are probably misattributed. John the disciple did not write John, and Matthew did not write Matthew. Other anonymous books have been wrongly attributed to someone famous. The book of Hebrews does not name Paul as its author, and it almost certainly was not written by Paul. But it was eventually admitted into the canon of Scripture (see chapter 7) because church fathers came to think it was written by Paul.
• Homonymous writings
The term “homonymy” means “having the same name.” A “homonymous writing” is one that is written by someone who has the same name as someone who is famous. For example, the book of James was no doubt written by someone named James, but the author does not claim to be any particular James. It was an extraordinarily common name. Later church fathers accepted the book as part of Scripture because they claimed that this James was James the brother of Jesus. In the book itself there is no such claim.
• Pseudepigraphic writings
Some books of the New Testament were written in the names of people who did not actually write them. Scholars have known this for well over a century. The term for this phenomenon is “pseudepigraphy”—literally, “writing that goes under a false name.” Scholars have not been overly precise in their use of this term and tend to use it because it avoids the negative connotations associated with the term “forgery.” Whichever term they use, biblical scholars have argued for a long time that there are New Testament books whose authors knowingly claimed to be someone other than who they were.
(Jesus Interrupted - Pages 112-113)
Bart Ehrman said on a radio broadcast that about 75 percent of the New Testament documents are supposedly forged. He has written a separate book on it - Forged.
Extracts from Bart Ehrman's book - Jesus Interrupted
Below is a brief extract from Bart Ehrman's book - Jesus Interrupted, regarding the death of Jesus Christ.
We will be analysing two Gospel narratives regarding the death of Jesus - Mark and Luke.
Mark's Gospel
The death narrative can be found in the Gospel of Mark Chapter 15, Verses 16 through to 39.
In Mark’s version of the story (Mark 15:16–39), Jesus is condemned to death by Pontius Pilate, mocked and beaten by the Roman soldiers, and taken off to be crucified. Simon of Cyrene carries his cross. Jesus says nothing the entire time. The soldiers crucify Jesus, and he still says nothing. Both of the robbers being crucified with him mock him. Those passing by mock him. The Jewish leaders mock him. Jesus is silent until the very end, when he utters the wretched cry, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani,” which Mark translates from the Aramaic for his readers as, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
(Jesus Interrupted - Page 65)
The point is that Jesus has been rejected by everyone: betrayed by one of his own, denied three times by his closest follower, abandoned by all his disciples, rejected by the Jewish leaders, condemned by the Roman authorities, mocked by the priests, the passersby, and even by the two others being crucified with him. At the end he even feels forsaken by God Himself. Jesus is absolutely in the depths of despair and heart-wrenching anguish, and that’s how he dies. Mark is trying to say something by this portrayal. He doesn’t want his readers to take solace in the fact that God was really there providing Jesus with physical comfort. He dies in agony, unsure of the reason he must die.
(Jesus Interrupted - Page 66)
Luke's Gospel
The death narrative can be found in the Gospel of Luke Chapter 23, Verses 26 through to 49.
In Luke, Jesus is taken off to be executed, and Simon of Cyrene is compelled to carry his cross. But Jesus is not silent on the way to his crucifixion. En route he sees a number of women wailing over what is happening to him, and he turns to them and says, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children” (Luke 23:28). He goes on to prophesy the coming destruction that they will face. Jesus does not appear to be in shock over what is happening to him. He is more concerned with others around him than with his own fate.
(Jesus Interrupted - Page 67)
Moreover, Jesus is not silent while being nailed to the cross, as in Mark. Instead he prays, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34) Jesus appears to have close communion with God and is concerned more for those who
are doing this to him than for himself. Jesus is mocked by the Jewish leaders and the Roman soldiers, but explicitly not by both men being crucified with him, unlike in Mark. Instead, one of them mocks Jesus but the other rebukes the first for doing so, insisting
that whereas they deserve what they are getting, Jesus has done nothing wrong (remember that Luke stresses Jesus’ complete innocence). He then asks of Jesus, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus gives the compelling reply, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (23:42–43). In this account Jesus is not at all confused about what is happening to him or why. He is completely calm and in control of the situation; he knows what is about to occur, and he knows what will happen afterward: he will wake up in God’s paradise, and this criminal will be there with him. This is a far cry from the Jesus of Mark, who felt forsaken to the end.
(Jesus Interrupted - Page 67-68)
Most significant of all, rather than uttering a cry expressing his sense of total abandonment at the end (“Why have you forsaken me?”), in Luke, Jesus prays to God in a loud voice, saying, “Father into your hands I commend my spirit.” He then breathes his last and dies (23:46). This is not a Jesus who feels forsaken by God and wonders why he is going through this pain of desertion and death. It is a Jesus who feels God’s presence with him and is comforted by the fact that God is on his side. He is fully cognizant of what is happening to him and why, and he commits himself to the loving care of his heavenly Father, confident of what is to happen next.
(Jesus Interrupted - Page 68)
Conclusion
It is clear from the above 2 narratives that there are contrasting differences between the accounts. Since Mark was the first Gospel to be written, Bart Ehrman is trying to point out how the story is now changed and edited by Luke.
Is there any way to reconcile these 2 narratives?
Mark is saying Jesus died in agony,felt forsaken by God and not sure of his death. Luke is saying Jesus willfully offered himself to God, in complete control of the situation.
Which is which? You decide.
The Only and True God of Jesus's Answer to this Problem
And [for] their saying,
"Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary,
the messenger of Allah ." And they did not kill him, nor did
they crucify him; but [another] was made to resemble him to
them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about
it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of
assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.
Quran (4:157)
As I have mentioned elsewhere before, one word to sum up 2000 years of Christianity and there is absolutely no difficulty in accepting this word even from a Christian point of view. Assumption. As they are still arguing even in their own denominations about theology and other crucial aspects of Christian creed.
This view that Jesus was not killed and not crucified saves Jesus from the humiliation of dying the death of a blasphemer. Saves him from the cruelties of the Jews. The Jews believe Jesus was the worst Jew to ever live (Heard from a Rabbi's lecture). It elevates Jesus to being a mighty Messenger of God, which is in total conformity with the Old Testament and the Prophets of old.
