Book Review of 'The Lost Gospel, The Book of Q' by Burton L. Mack

Book Review of "The Lost Gospel,
The Book of Q and Christian Origins"
by Burton L. Mack

Review by Bill Schaeffer

copyright (c) 2013, 2018
William Schaeffer

Excerpts from

THE ORIGINAL BOOK OF Q

These are the teachings of Jesus.
Seeing the crowds, he said to his disciples,

"How fortunate are the poor; they have God's kingdom.
How fortunate the hungry; they will be fed.
How fortunate are those who are crying; they will laugh."

"I am telling you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer your other cheek as well. If anyone grabs your coat, let him have our shirt as well.
Give to anyone who asks, and if someone takes away your belongings, do not ask to have them back.
As you want people to treat you, do the same to them.

If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even tax collectors love those who love them, do they not? And if you embrace only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Doesn't everybody do that? If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even wrongdoers lend to their kind because they expect to be repaid.
Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend without expecting anything in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of God.
For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good; he sends rain on the just and on the unjust."

...

"How can you look for the splinter in your brother's eye and not notice the stick in your own eye?
How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the splinter in your eye,' when you do not see the stick in your own eye?
You hypocrite, first take the stick from your own eye, and then you can see to remove the splinter that is in your brother's eye."

"A good tree does not bear rotten fruit; a rotten tree does not bear good fruit. Are figs gathered from thorns, or grapes from thistles? Every tree is known by its fruit.
The good man produces good things from his store of goods and treasures; and the evil man evil things.
For the mouth speaks from a full heart."

...

When someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go," Jesus answered, "Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head."
When another said, "Let me first go and bury my father," Jesus said, "Leave the dead to bury their dead."

...

Go. Look, I send you out as lambs among wolves.
Do not carry money, or bag, or sandals, or staff; and do not greet anyone on the road.
Whatever house you enter, say 'Peace be to this house!' And if a child of peace is there, your greeting will be received [literally, "your peace will rest upon him"], But if not, let your peace return to you.
And stay in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.
And if you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Pay attention to the sick and say to them, 'God's kingdom has come near to you.'

...

"I am telling you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Think of the ravens. They do not plant, harvest, or store grin in barns, and God feeds them. Aren't you worth more than the birds? Which one of you can add a single day to your life by worrying?
And why do you worry about clothing? Think of the way lilies grow. They do not work or spin. But even Solomon in all his splendor was not as magnificent. If God puts beautiful clothes on the grass that is in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into furnace, won't he put clothes on you, faint hearts?
So don't worry, thinking, 'What will we eat,' or 'What will we drink,' or 'What will we wear?' For everybody in the whole world does that, and your father knows that you need these things.
Instead, make sure of his rule over you, and all things will be yours as well."

...

"Whoever does not hate his father and mother will not be able to learn from me. Whoever does not hate his son and daughter cannot belong to my school.
Whoever does not accept his cross [bear up under condemnation] and so become my follower, cannot be one of my students.
Whoever tried to protect his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life on account of me will preserve it."

"Salt is good; but if salt loses its taste, how can it be restored? It is not good for either the land or the manure pile. People just throw it out."

[End of text]

**

[redstang]

Very well explained and delivered review and opinions. Thanks.

[svendbosanvovski]

This is more than a review. It is an excellent overview and very consistent with Burton Mack's own condensed presentation in Who Wrote the New Testament? I enjoyed it very much. Thank you.

[jesselatour]

Great review!  I just finished reading this book, and like how you hi lighted some of the book's more interesting insights.  

[fotmasta]

Well done. I enjoyed your review very much. 

[張三-cl]

Good review ; and Gospel Q is definitely an interesting book to read.

[voidisyinyangvoidisyinyang]

I found out about this book from Marian Hillar's book, "From Logos to Trinity" - a very fascinating expose on Justin Martyr LIFTING the Platonic philosophy of Numenius to create the historical Trinity.

[sheilacape]

Jesus was 12 when he started his ministry, and was hung on the cross/tree at age 33. For 21 years Jesus ministered. And I do believe that as many books as we have today, would not hold all of Jesus's words and sayings! There are "so much of *under-standing" that we still don't know!!!

[unbroken]

It's a interest book. There was also a book called The Book of J

[danielhurley]

Sorry to burst your bubble dude but...we then finally have a time tested compilation of writings- our 66 book cannon, the bible- which makes claims that no other body of writing would make. Firstly, it claims to be gods "inspired" word recorded by men. Second, there were over 40 different authors who's writings were compiled over thousands of years, most of whom never new each other. And what came of it was a chronicling of a time period which stunningly adds up with modern day archeological finds in way of artifacts and, which in many instances lends as a verification measure with the geography of biblical days. Maps along side buried ancient artifacts in finds today and in the recent years, all seem to match with the biblical historical accounts impeccably. All historical claims can been verified. Third is, .we have the dead Sea scrolls. And most of the writings discovered in the 50's, the decipherable ones, are mostly identical, matching in word for word with in theme and in central point. Fourth point is, the entire book of the Bible penned by many authors over thousands of years, strangely is able to maintain a singular stream of consciousness. THATS UNBELIEVABLE! On top that, prophecy after prophecy fulfilled - from the coming of Christ and certain details regarding his crucifixion. And that's odd because in Isaeh, before the concept of a crucifixion was even cogent at the time, prophecy in the old testament offers us some description about that, despite. AMAZING! And even Jesus prophesied his death and resurrection. Theres good reason why the books of the Bible are what they are and that any other body of writings that happen to share similarities and or from proximal time lines are demonstrably to be considered "uninspired" writings. Scripture can interpret scripture...and most importantly Jesus claims to be God, and as actually existing in history (eye witness accounts, dispelling any refutation to what claims show up in the Bible) as the man Jesus. All other writings in one way or another seem incoherent and across the board all share the one common twist in that, they all call into question particular key aspects regarding Jesus. As if what the actual bible is telling us can be called into question by interior sources. HA HA HA HA HA etc...oh please ! Anything put down on stone parchment of paper, and by men....need to take what ever it is that they have written about Jesus and need consider there observations in subject to the authoritative truth claim the Bible makes. The Bible stands alone. The outside writings and fanciful interpretations can never undo or re write the divinity of Jesus, Gods word, and the historically factual time line layed out in the Bible.