Gospel Thrillers: Conspiracy, Fiction, and the Vulnerable Bible

by Andrew S. Jacobs

Overview

What if the original teachings of Jesus were different from the Bible's sanitized 'orthodox' version? What covert motivations might inspire those who decide what the text of the Bible 'says' or what it 'means'? For some who ask conspiratorial questions like these, the Bible is the vulnerable victim of secular forces seeking to divest the USA of its founding identity. For others, the biblical canon suppresses religious truths that could upend the status quo. Such suspicions surrounding the Bible find full expression in Gospel Thrillers: a 1960s fictional genre that endures and still commands a substantial following. These novels imagine a freshly discovered first-century gospel and a race against time to unlock its buried secrets. They also reflect the fears and desires that the Bible continues to generate. Andrew Jacobs reveals, in his authoritative examination, how this remarkable fictional archive opens a window onto disturbing biblical anxieties.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781009384612
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/30/2023
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.71(d)

About the Author

Andrew S. Jacobs is Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. Editor of the Elements of Religion in Late Antiquity (published by Cambridge University Press), and the writer and co-editor of five previous books, he is in addition author of Epiphanius of Cyprus: A Cultural Biography of Late Antiquity (2016), which in 2017 was awarded the Philip Schaff Best Book Prize from the American Society of Church History.

Table of Contents

1. The Bible Hunters; 2. Birth of a Genre; 3. Shifting Sands; 4. Texts and Sects; 5. Knowledge Brokers; 6. Academic Thrillers.

Editorial Reviews

‘an amusing and often entertaining sketch about the phenomenon …’ Henry Wansbrough, Church Times

‘An invaluable and unusually accessible book for readers at all levels … Highly recommended.’ L. J. Greenspoon, CHOICE

‘In this evocatively titled volume, Jacobs (Harvard Divinity School) has succeeded in producing, as few others have, a productive synthesis of erudition and entertainment … An invaluable and unusually accessible book for readers at all levels … Highly recommended.’ L. J. Greenspoon, Choice

From the Publisher