Overview

"From an award-winning biblical scholar, the ""monumental and eye-opening"" story of how enslaved people created, gave meaning to, and spread the message of the New Testament, shaping the very foundations of Christianity in ways both subtle and profound (Reza Aslan). For the past two thousand years, Christian tradition, scholarship, and pop culture have credited the authorship of the New Testament to a select group of men: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Paul. But hidden behind these named and sainted individuals are a cluster of unnamed, enslaved coauthors and collaborators. These essential workers were responsible for producing the earliest manuscripts of the New Testament: making the parchment on which the texts were written, taking dictation, and refining the words of the apostles. And as the Christian message grew in influence, it was enslaved missionaries who undertook the arduous journey across the Mediterranean and along dusty roads to move Christianity to Rome, Spain, and North Africa--and into the pages of history. The impact of these enslaved contributors on the spread of Christianity, the development of foundational Christian concepts, and the making of the Bible was enormous, yet their role has been almost entirely overlooked until now. Filled with profound revelations both for what it means to be a Christian and for how we read individual texts themselves, God's Ghostwriters is a groundbreaking and rigorously researched book about how enslaved people shaped the Bible, and with it all of Christianity."

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9780316564670

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Reviews

"""A searing recovery of the role of enslaved individuals in the production and dissemination of the New Testament, God's Ghostwriters is both historically grounded and morally compelling in its delineation of how not only metaphors but also structures of slavery undergird Christian theology. Moss's attention to ancient trafficking, the connection of slavery to disability, and the function of both psychological and physical torture makes her book all the more essential for understanding Christian origins.""--Amy-Jill Levine, Vanderbilt University, and co-editor of The Jewish Annotated New Testament"

"""From the first paragraphs of God's Ghostwriters, I was entranced. Everything that Candida Moss writes is worth reading, but she has outdone herself here by bringing enslaved people in the ancient world to life, in the process shining a new light on the roots of Christianity. The results are thought-provoking, intensely interesting, and immensely readable.""--Eric Cline, The George Washington University, and bestselling author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed ""God's Ghostwriters is a work of historical, theological, and literary scholarship that will hold your attention like a well-crafted novel. I found myself saying, 'Fascinating!' and 'I never knew that' on page after page. Dr. Moss provides a fuller sense of the social and economic milieu out of which the New Testament arose, and in so doing, helps every reader, whatever their religious background, to get a clearer sense of what it might have felt like to be part of the Christian movement at its very early beginnings.""--Brian D. McLaren, author of Do I Stay Christian? ""Erudite... Students of Christian history will find plenty to appreciate in this innovative reinterpretation.""--Publishers Weekly ""A searing recovery of the role of enslaved individuals in the production and dissemination of the New Testament, God's Ghostwriters is both historically grounded and morally compelling in its delineation of how not only metaphors but also structures of slavery undergird Christian theology. Moss's attention to ancient trafficking, the connection of slavery to disability, and the function of both psychological and physical torture makes her book all the more essential for understanding Christian origins.""--Amy-Jill Levine, Vanderbilt University, and co-editor of The Jewish Annotated New Testament"

Author Information

Candida Moss is Edward Cadbury Chair of Theology at the University of Birmingham, prior to which she taught for almost a decade at the University of Notre Dame. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Oxford and an MA and PhD from Yale University. The award-winning author or co-author of seven books, she has also served as Papal News Commentator for CBS News and writes a column for The Daily Beast. She has written for and had her work reported on in the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, Times Higher Education Supplement, The Guardian, Slate, New Scientist, BBC.com, Chronicle of High Education, CNN.com, POLITICO, POLITICO Europe, Huffington Post, Newsweek, Christian Century, The Daily Mail, and Le Monde. In addition to regularly commenting on religious affairs for CBS, Dr. Moss has also served as an on air expert for CNN and Fox News, and presented or appeared in documentaries for CNN, NBC, National Geographic, History Channel, Discovery Channel, CNN, Travel Channel, Lifetime, BBC, PBS, E!, and the Smithsonian Channel. She lives in New York.

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