I think Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities may provoke exactly the same question I've asked. (Maybe early Christian writings without general Bible perspective contain more ideas and/or Inspiration then in the old Bible-box of the old Church?). Avalos is more radical. He wants to show that biblical studies basically "conceal the irrelevance of the Bible" for today's ethics and lifestyles.

I've read Bible in modern versions unless there was a controversy with the transmission or the translation of a particular text.