Gods Ghostwriters

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From an award-winning biblical scholar, the untold story of how enslaved people created, gave meaning to, and spread the word of the New Testament, shaping the very foundations of Christianity in ways both subtle and profound.
For the past two thousand years, Christian tradition, scholarship, and pop culture has credited the authorship of the New Testament to a select group of men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul. But the truth is that these individuals, who have been rewarded with sainthood for their work, did not write alone. In some meaningful ways they did not write at all.

Hidden behind these named and sainted individuals are a cluster of enslaved coauthors and collaborators, almost all of whom go unnamed and uncredited. They were responsible for producing the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament. In fact, there was no aspect of textual production and circulation in which they did not play a part: they made the parchment and papyri on which Christian texts were written. They took dictation, removed grammatical infelicities, and polished and refined the final manuscripts. Those manuscripts were then duplicated and bound by bookmakers and booksellers who, recent research has shown, were also enslaved or formerly enslaved. When the Christian message began to move independently from the first apostles it was enslaved missionaries who undertook the dangerous and arduous journeys across the Mediterranean and along dusty Roman roads to move Christianity from Jerusalem and the Levant to Rome, Spain, North Africa, and Egypt. Finally, when these texts were read aloud to new audiences of curious potential converts, it was educated and trained enslaved workers who performed themdeciding whether a statement was sincere or sarcastic; a throwaway remark or something central to be emphasized. Their influence in the spread of Christianity and making of the Bible was enormous, yet their role has been almost entirely overlooked until now.

Filled with profound ramifications revelations both for what it means to be a Christian and for how we read individual texts themselves, Gods Ghostwriters is a groundbreaking and rigorously researched book about how enslaved people shaped the Bible, and with it all of Christianity.

Reviews

Praise for Candida Moss

This is the best sort of history: delightfully accessible yet based on prodigious scholarship, deeply serious, yet entertaining and enlightening. Above all, it shows the reader the importance of sweeping away myth, in order that we do not behave badly in the present, using the past as our excuse Diarmaid MacCulloch, Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University and author of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years

Compellingly argued and artfully written An important book and a fascinating read Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Brilliant and provocative Publisher's Weekly

Historical argumentation at its most cogent Booklist

Fascinating One of the most enlightening aspects is Mosss ability to find contemporary analogies that make the ancient world more intelligible to the average reader Salon.com

Candida Moss's lithe [writing] investigates all these questions with lively erudition, with humour and with insight Paula Fredriksen, author of When Christians Were Jews

Will shake you to your core This is a must read Reza Aslan, author of the New York Times bestseller Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth

Exhaustively researched, yet accessible Moss's book lays bare the truth and presents us with the opportunity to, instead of retelling myth, begin to explore the actual history Portland Book Review

A brave book in these dishonest times Charles R Larson, Counterpunch

Exhaustively reported and scrupulously fair Sarah Jones, The New Republic

Highly worth reading Tara Isabella Burton, Vox

Impressive Kirkus Reviews

Like the ancient poets, Moss at once instructs and entertains. She also transgresses the boundary between historian and theologian and calls the church to repentance Christian Century

Author Bio

Candida Moss is professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame. A regular contributor to The Daily Beast, Moss has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, CBS News, FOX News, the History Channel, National Geographic, and the Travel Channel, and has served as an expert commentator for the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and other national media outlets.