The Early Christian Writers site includes most of the New Testament Apocrypha (pseudegriphal works that Eusebius would have called "really spurious") and the works of the men who came to be called the Apostolic Fathers (books accepted by the church as orthodox in doctrince, though not authoritative).
Please choose either one of the Apocryphal books or the Apostolic Fathers (the first nine on the link here). What is your evaluation of this book? Is it a book to die for? Does it seem to you useful and/or interesting? Or is it a book you wouldn't mind seeing burned by government officials? Why?
If you have fallen behind on the blogs, you may do multiple entries for extra credit here.
If you have fallen behind on the blogs, you may do multiple entries for extra credit here.
I read one of the Apocryphal books, Secret Mark.
ReplyDeleteIt seemed pretty interesting, the overall message seemed to be that if you take something true and present it in a deceitful and manipulative way, it is just as bad as a lie. It mentions that when Mark wrote his Gospel he left out certain parts, keeping only what he thought would bolster the faith the most. The omitted parts he left to the church so that only the high members could read them to understand more fully the nature of God. However a man named Carpocrates takes them and interprets them in his own "demonic" way, adding things that the Church didn't approve of. I thought it was interesting; What Carpocrates did was basically theological espionage and the church responded like any organization would when their secrets are revealed: the totally slammed the person who outed them and discredited him as much as possible, lest the common people get the wrong idea. -Sean M.
I read the Gospel of Thomas. When I was reading many of the passages I had a feeling that I read them somewhere before. Many of the verses seem to be repeats of what the Bible teaches. It talks about how to treat others and how to be a good Christian. Some of the verses are a little out there in idea, which makes it easy to understand why this book is not in the Bible. I think the book is interesting, but not worth dying for since some of the more legitimate gospels have the exact same lessons. It does not have to be burned, but it is not something I would want in my library. -Kelly Longden
ReplyDeleteI read the Gospel of Thomas. Much of what is written in it has some ties to somewhere else in the Bible and like Kelly said, some of the verses are a little bit strange to think about. Another thing about this book, is that nothing connects together; some are random sayings of Jesus, and some are small stories that he has. Most of them are somewhat helpful morally but I would agree that it really doesn't need to be included in the Bible.
ReplyDeleteThe book of Eclesiasticus is a very relatable book. Although it obviously does not claim to be inspired by God, there are a lot of valuable life lessons and pieces of wisdom within its passages. For myself it is by far the most life applicable, making it a book that I would consider to be quality, and really is just something that I can sit, read, and digest. I really don't get into Christian fiction, although I really did enjoy the story of Tobit, especially after the class lecture on the story I talked to my Dad about it, and we shared quite a few laughs. All around I really enjoyed the work with these apocryphal writings.
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