Quote:A New New Testament

Is the New Testament missing a few books? In a move that may seem heretical to some Christians, a group of scholars and religious leaders has added 10 new texts to the Christian canon.

The work, "A New New Testament," was released nationwide in March in an attempt to add a different historical and spiritual context to the Christian scripture.

Some of the 10 additional texts -- which have come to light over the past century -- date back to the earliest days of Christianity and include some works that were rejected by the early church.

The 19-member council that compiled the texts consisted of biblical scholars, leaders in several Christian denominations -- Episcopal, Roman Catholic, United Methodist, United Church of Christ and Lutheran -- two rabbis and an expert in Eastern religions and yoga.

Quote:"(The texts seem) so nurturing and inspiring to people's spiritual journeys. It's also important for the public to see a broader picture of early Christianity," said Hal Taussig, a biblical scholar and pastor who chaired the council.

Taussig is a visiting professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary, professor of early Christianity at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College and co-pastor at Chestnut Hill United Church in Philadelphia.

Taussig, a fellow of the Jesus Seminar, which sought to piece together an accurate historical account of Jesus' life that downplayed his divinity, said he hopes the project gives the ancient texts new life beyond the rarefied world of biblical scholarship.


Timothy Paul Jones, a professor of leadership at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said the texts Taussig used in "A New New Testament" don't add real context to the original New Testament.

"Treating these 10 texts as historical context for the New Testament would be like studying 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' to understand the historical context of the 13th Amendment," Jones said.

"These texts that Taussig adds come from a different time period than any New Testament document, and they represent a fundamentally different worldview."


While Taussig said he doesn't believe the New Testament is incomplete, he thinks that the new material "elucidates it and expands it."

In the book's preface, Taussig wrote that parts of the New Testament are "offensive and outmoded," citing verses that tell slaves to obey their owners (1 Peter 2:18) or wives to submit to their husbands (Ephesians 5:22), or passages that refer negatively to Jews (John 8:44).

The council behind "A New New Testament:"

Quote:Margaret Aymer -- Associate professor of New Testament and area chair of biblical studies at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Ga., and a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Geoffrey Black -- General minister and president of United Church of Christ.

Sister Margaret Brennan -- Member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Lisa Bridge -- Program manager for children and youth ministries at Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church in New York City and an expert in yogic and Buddhist traditions.

John Dominic Crossan -- Professor emeritus in religious studies at DePaul University and former co-chair of the Jesus Seminar.

Rabbi Nancy Fuchs Kreimer -- Editor of a forthcoming collection of spiritual essays by female Jewish scholars.

Bishop Susan Wolfe Hassinger -- Retired bishop of the United Methodist Church and the bishop-in-residence and a lecturer at Boston University School of Theology.

Bishop Alfred Johnson -- Retired bishop in the United Methodist Church and pastor of (United Methodist) Church of the Village in New York City.

Chebon Kernell -- Pastor of First American United Methodist Church in Norman, Okla.

Karen L. King -- Professor of divinity at Harvard University.

Celene Lillie -- Doctoral candidate in New Testament studies at Union Theological Seminary.

Stephen D. Moore -- Professor of New Testament at Drew University Theological School.

J. Paul Rajashekar -- Professor of systematic theology at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).

Bruce Reyes-Chow -- Social media consultant and former moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Mark Singleton -- Professor at St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M., and an expert on yoga.

Sister Nancy Sylvester -- Member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Barbara Brown Taylor -- A professor of religion at Piedmont College, author and Episcopal priest.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow -- Director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia and a leader in Jewish renewal and peace movements.

Quote:"All of them share a viewpoint which seems to be decidedly outside that of the historic Christian faith, regardless of whether it is Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant."

Quote:"The title of the book sounds provocative; the reality is just as much so. “A council of scholars and spiritual leaders” was convened to determine which books besides the traditional 27 should be added to the New Testament. Significantly, it’s not called a “council of scholars and church leaders” for a reason. Although, to be sure, there were bona fide scholars on the council, not all were church leaders; arguably, in fact, almost none were. The council of 19—including two rabbis—examined several ancient writings which the jacket blurb euphemistically calls ‘scriptures’ and determined which of these worthies deserved a place at the table with original New Testament books. Ten books were selected for this honor, along with two prayers and one song. The song (if that’s the right term) is called “The Thunder: Perfect Mind” and is one of the Nag Hammadi codices. There are no references to it in the ancient world; it never mentions Jesus and may, in fact, have been written three centuries before he was born. Some of the council members wanted it to be listed first in the New New Testament, in spite of (or because of?) its apparent non-Christian perspective. How it is possible for the jacket blurb to say this book was ancient ‘scripture’ when our only knowledge of it comes from Nag Hammadi staggers the mind."

Quote:"Here is the list of new books added to the New Testament by this council:

The Prayer of Thanksgiving
The Prayer of the Apostle Paul
The Thunder: Perfect Mind
The Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Mary
The Gospel of Truth
The Acts of Paul and Thecla
The Letter of Peter to Philip
The Secret Revelation of John
The First, Second, Third, and Fourth Books of the Odes of Solomon

What strikes one immediately is that most of these additions seem to be of two types: Gnostic or proto-Gnostic essays and writings that exalt women. Further, what is also striking are books that did not make the cut. Among them are the Shepherd of Hermas, the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, First Clement, and other books in the collection known as the Apostolic Fathers. In other words, the books selected by the council were selected with an agenda in mind; they were not chosen because they ever made a serious claim to canonicity. Indeed, as was mentioned above, at least one of them is not even mentioned in any extant ancient writing."