Most Christians believe that there was essentially only one early church which was later imperiled by false teachings. The New Testament was the developing statement of this early church, and from it grew the whole structure of Christian belief. In this remarkable book, Michael Goulder sets out to disprove this commonly held theory.

Michael Goulder is a scholar who has always taken an original approach to the Bible and biblical criticism. He has developed five major theories, which challenged received opinion among the learned; and the book tells the story of how these 'stones' fared when confronting the biblical establishment. He wryly admits that his slinging has been rather less successful than David's against Goliath. Among his five theories a special place must be given to his demonstration of how much of the teaching ascribed to Jesus actually derived from the evangelists-the Lord's Prayer for example being...