Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication, Prof. Bart D. Ehrman (24 Lectures / 30 Minutes Per Lecture / 12x CD - The Great Courses)
 
In Lost Christianities, Prof. Ehrman takes listeners into the "theological battlefield" of the first three centuries of the Common Era. Before the New Testament was finalized, early Christianity was a diverse collection of competing movements, each with its own distinct scriptures and understandings of Jesus. Ehrman meticulously examines groups such as the Ebionites, who believed Jesus was human but not divine; the Marcionites, who argued there were two different Gods; and various Gnostic sects, who claimed salvation came through secret knowledge. By exploring these "lost" perspectives, the course illustrates that the version of Christianity we recognize today was not the only one available to early seekers, but rather the one that emerged victorious from these intense ideological struggles.

The course moves beyond mere description of these groups to analyze the battles over authentication—the process by which certain books were labeled "scripture" while others were branded as "heresy." Ehrman details the fascinating history of "lost" texts like the Gospel of Thomas, the Secret Gospel of Mark, and the Apocalypse of Peter, explaining how the early "proto-orthodox" church utilized specific criteria to decide which writings would form the final New Testament canon. Through these 24 lectures, Ehrman provides a historical roadmap of how a single, unified tradition eventually suppressed its rivals, forever shaping the religious and cultural landscape of the Western world.
 
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