L. David Moore's "The Christian Conspiracy"

This has all the ingredients necessary to get attention: the temptation of a conspiracy uncovered; an author with a "Dr." in front of his name (though that turns out to be in organic chemistry); a garish pink cover with a garish picture.

But attention is not warranted. Packed between tedious recompiliations of highly simplified church history from the first century to the present, this book contains the constructions of a fellow who says that he belongs "to the spiritual and compassionate Christ" who doesn't agree with the "intolerant" Christ of modern Christianity. How he arrived at this Christ is not difficult to see: We are told, for example, that "In the Scriptures, Christ was not defined in any clear-cut way which could be understood by all."

No? What of "Wisdom Theology," or of studying Christ's claims in their context? The complex "Son of Man" title, upon which books have been written, is swept off in just one page. Oral tradition is put down as being like the game of "Telephone." We are told that the Bible teaches reincarnation. But above all, the theme is that no one religion is right, and Christianity has been very intolerant for saying otherwise; Christ was "one of the most tolerant humans ever to walk on earth" -- tell that to the Pharisees! Moore fails to distinguish between tolerance for attributes by Christ (poverty, nationality) and supposed tolerance for ideology.

In short, this is a work without accuracy or scholarship as virtues.

-JPH