Here's the latest example: St Paul: New and Improved by Maureen Fiedler
The renowned scripture scholars, Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan, have just published a great new book on St. Paul. It's called The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church's Conservative Icon.
These writers say what New Testament scholars have known for some time: that Paul wrote only seven of the Epistles ascribed to him in the New Testament. Among the other six, they say three (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) are definitely not written by Paul, and three others (Ephesians, Colossians and 1 Thessalonians) are disputed, although the majority of scholars believe that Paul did not write these either.
Borg and Crossan show that the "authentic" Paul was a radical egalitarian, on issues like slavery, patriarchy and obedience to civil authority. The later authors (whoever they were -- and we don't know) tried to "tone down" the radical Paul, making him more acceptable in Roman culture. It's in the six non-Paul letters that we get admonitions about slaves being subject to masters, wives being subject to husbands, and other passages that contradict the egalitarian message of Jesus.
Isn't it about time that the people in the pews heard about this scholarship? We need this message in parish preaching.
A quick bio on the two authors: Borg and Crossan were prominent in The Jesus Seminar - in fact, Crossan was a co-founder. Here is a citation of Crossan's "theology" - Crossan maintains the Gospels were never intended to be taken literally by their authors. He challenges those who would debate whether Jesus "really" walked on water to recognize that, whether history or parable, the larger issue is the meaning of the anecdote. He proposes the historical probability that, like all but one known victim of crucifixion, Jesus' body never made it to a tomb, but was scavenged by animals (Source). Oh, he's a former priest too. So he's Catholic. No, really, he is! Just because he holds heterodox views means nothing. In fact, that's why the NCR loves his book so much.
What the authors and this reviewer forget (or discount, more likely) is that the Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. If those six letters were written by someone other than St. Paul, my reaction is to shrug my shoulders and say "So? Does that make them any less inspired?"
What this book, and others like it, attempt to do is discredit and distort the truths the Scriptures impart to us. It shouldn't matter if those letters were written by a goat herder named Numidiah - they're still inspired. And the Church is the authoritative interpreter of those inspired words. Not a couple "scholars" who have shed their beliefs for crazy opinions. Saying the disputed letters of St. Paul 'contradict the egalitarian message of Jesus' is ridiculous - for the obvious reason that God cannot contradict Himself - but their opinion makes sense only by accepting the premise that the Scriptures are not the inspired Word of God.
If the Scriptures aren't inspired, then why read them at all? And if they aren't, then this new book is just a wanton waste of trees, more worthless than the alleged uninspired Scriptures they attempt to discredit.
