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"Arguably the most distinctive feature of the early Christian literature," creates Bart Ehrman, "is the degree to which it was forged." The Homilies and Recognitions of Clement; Paul's letters to and from Seneca; Gospels by Peter, Thomas, and Philip; Jesus' correspondence with Abgar, letters by Peter and Paul in the New Testament - all forgeries. To cite just a few cases. Forgery and Counterforgery is the first comprehensive study of early on Christian pseudepigrapha ever produced in British. In it, Ehrman argues that historical critics - pagan, Jewish, and Religious - understood false authorial claims to be a form of literary deceit, and therefore forgeries. Ehrman considers the magnitude of the trend, the "purpose" and motivations of ancient greek language, Roman, and Jewish forgers, and reactions to their work once found. He also assesses the standards ancient critics put on expose forgeries and the techniques forgers used to avoid recognition. With the wider techniques of the historical world as backdrop, Ehrman then targets early Religious polemics, as various Religious authors forged documents in order to give their ideas a veneer of authority in literary fights waged with pagans, Jews, and, most importantly, with one another in internecine disputes over doctrine and practice. In some instances a forger aimed his work against views found in another forgery, creating in so doing a "counter-forgery." Ehrman's evaluation of polemical forgeries starts with those of the New Testament (almost 50 % of whose catalogs make a false authorial say) up through the Pseudo-Ignatian epistles and the Apostolic Constitutions by the end of the fourth hundred years. Shining light on an important but forgotten feature of the early Religious world, Forgery and Counterforgery explores the possible motivations of the deceivers who produced these writings, situating their practice within historical Religious discourses on lying and deceit.
