The Historical Reliability of the New Testament

[TheRealJoeFish]

---

...

And then there are the faked letters of Paul.  Why would anyone think a text written by someone fraudulently pretending to be someone else was sacred?

...

Just out of curiosity, which letters do you believe are "faked letters of Paul"?

This whole article on the Authorship of the New Testament is enlightening, but pasted below is the specific section on the Letters of Paul:


"Paul's Letters

By far the largest section of the New Testament is made of the Epistles that are attributed to Paul of Tarsus. Paul lived between 5 and 67 CE, so the dating of his authentic works is generally fairly easy. His influence on the theology, rituals, and cultural beliefs of what is to become "Christianity" in its popular form is far more significant than the (supposed) words of Jesus himself. There are fourteen letters (Epistles) attributed to Paul. Of these, seven are generally undisputed as authentic.

    Romans
    Galatians
    1 Thessalonians
    1 Corinthians
    2 Corinthians
    Philippians
    Philemon

Three of the letters are ones that are debated by scholars as to their authenticity. In several cases, it is argued he wrote part of them, but that they were later highly edited and supplemented.

    Ephesians
    Colossians and
    2 Thessalonians

It is generally accepted by scholars that 4 are not his work

    First Timothy
    Second Timothy
    Titus
    Hebrews (see below)"

---

I guess my follow-up question is this:

Do you agree that some books of the bible have multiple authors? If so, what goes into your Manuscript "M" - just the first author's work, or the additions, or just some of them, or what? And who's to say?