The untold 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.
For two thousand years, Christian tradition has credited 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 huge number of enslaved co-authors and collaborators. Their influence 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 for reading and understanding the 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. It's also an intimate portrait of lives not often considered by history, and a reckoning with the motives and methods of the early Christians as they spread their message across the known world.