I thought I'd give a brief update on the reading list I mentioned a while back. I finished the Bart Ehrman book, and I gotta say, I really appreciated it. I don't really see him as having a major anti-religious vibe at all. To me, it's clear that he cares about the textual tradition of the Bible, and I feel like I came away learning a lot. "Misquoting Jesus," if you're curious.
I also got into the Nag Hammadi scriptures... and I gotta say, wow, Gnosticism is WILD. It's like it's alternate dimension mirror-world Christianity and it acknowledges that from time to time in subtle ways. You can read a summary and think you get it, but the scripture has a really arresting, shocking quality when you read it. So that's a neat dive into early Christian history.
I also got into the Nag Hammadi scriptures... and I gotta say, wow, Gnosticism is WILD. It's like it's alternate dimension mirror-world Christianity and it acknowledges that from time to time in subtle ways. You can read a summary and think you get it, but the scripture has a really arresting, shocking quality when you read it. So that's a neat dive into early Christian history.