Man-Made Religion at Its Best: Review of a “New New Testament”: Part 3
Note: The previous posts in this series can be found here, here, and here.
This will be the last installment of my extended review of Hal Taussig’s A New New Testament (Houghton Mifflin, 2013) which attempts to create a new canon, with 10 “new” apocryphal books added to the traditional 27-book corpus.
In prior posts, I have examined the overall purpose of the project, the promotional language on the cover flap, and the apologetic offered in the introduction. In this final post, I will make some observations about the last part of the book entitled, “A Companion to A New New Testament.”
The problems in this section … Continue reading...
Review of a “New New Testament”: Part 2
I have been working through an extended review of the new book by Hal Taussig called A New New Testament (Houghton Mifflin, 2013) which adds 10 “new” apocryphal books to the existing 27 books of the New Testament. In my prior post, I examined the promotional language on the inside cover flap. In this post, I will focus on the introduction to the book (xxxiii-xxvii) where Taussig offers his apologetic for this ambitious project.
1. Taussig opens his defense with the following statement:
…This New New Testament is not simply the produce of one author. The ten added books have been chosen by a council of wise and nationally
Continue reading...
Review of a “New New Testament”: Part 1
There has been much chatter recently about the new book by Hal Taussig called A New New Testament (Houghton Mifflin, 2013). It intends to combine the traditional 27 books of the New Testament along with 10 apocryphal writings from early Christianity. As I observed in a prior post, there is nothing particularly “new” about this sort of project—it has been tried again and again since the time of Marcion.
This post is the first installment of my review of this book, with many more to come. We will focus here just on the promotional description on the inside cover flap. This is an unusual place to begin a book … Continue reading...
A New ‘New Testament’ is an Old, Old Idea
My email inbox has been flooded over the last day or so with queries about the recent book by Hal Taussig called A New New Testament (Houghton Mifflin, 2013). I have to admit, I love the title. When it comes to sensationalistic claims about the New Testament canon, modern publishers know what sells. This volume has bypassed the normal catchwords found in the titles of such books—words like “lost”, “forgotten”, “secret”, or “banned”—and has set a new standard for marketing apocryphal writings.
This volume also sets itself apart by the grandiosity of its claims. Here is the promo for the book:
…To create this New New Testament, Hal Taussig called
Continue reading...