Books by Gerd Ludemann

Dissatisfied with what he regarded as evasive answers given by theologians and scholars about the nature of the resurrection of Jesus, Gerd Ludemann subjected the New Testament traditions to a thorough investigation. In particular, Ludemann was concerned with the story of the empty tomb and the subsequent appearance stories first related by...

The Bible is the most widely read and translated book in the world, and its influence is immeasurable. Nonetheless, according to Gerd Ludemann, its use by Christians is highly selective. Ludemann asks, what about those parts of the Bible that contain God's command to exterminate entire peoples or those texts which demonize other faiths? He...

It is widely recognized by NT scholars that many of the sayings and actions attributed to Jesus in the Gospels do not go back to him. This book provides criteria for distinguishing the authentic material and shows that it cannot support traditional faith.

According to the commonly held view, early Christianity was a time of great harmony, and heresy emerged only at a later stage. To the contrary, Gerd Ludemann argues that the time from the first Christian communities to the end of the second century was defined by struggle by various groups for doctrinal authority. Drawing on a wealth of data...

Focuses on the inauthentic words of Jesus—not only those thought to be clear inventions, but also sayings that exhibit noteworthy alterations to their original form and intent. For his selection, Lüdemann uses sayings that are attributed to Jesus after his crucifixion, presuppose a pagan rather than a Jewish audience, involve situations in a post-Easter community, and reflect the editorial influence of the author.

This is a critical account of the state-of-the-art of scholarship in earliest Christianity, and where and how it should move forward. It offers an authoritative account of contemporary scholarship and evaluates the work of all major scholars in the field.