When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they … impact they had upon the Bible we use today. He frames his account with personal reflections on how his study of the Greek manuscripts made him abandon his once ultraconservative views of the Bible.
Since the advent of the printing press and the accurate reproduction of texts, most people have assumed that when they read the New Testament they are reading an exact copy of Jesus’s words or Saint Paul’s writings. And yet, for almost fifteen hundred years these manuscripts were hand copied by scribes who were deeply influenced by the cultural, theological, and political disputes of their day. Both mistakes and intentional changes abound in the surviving manuscripts, making the original words difficult to reconstruct. For the first time, Ehrman reveals where and why these changes were made and how scholars go about reconstructing the original words of the New Testament as closely as possible.
Ehrman makes the provocative case that many of our cherished biblical stories and widely held beliefs concerning the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, and the divine origins of the Bible itself stem from both intentional and accidental alterations by scribes — alterations that dramatically affected all subsequent versions of the Bible.
more
I am Christian and the author atheist, and I find his honesty refreshing and enlightening. No matter your faith or lack thereof, intellectual honesty should make this book required reading. No it didn’t destroy my faith in God, but the explanations of how the Bible we read today came into existence help temper “blind faith” in the Bible itself.
I found Ehrman’s book to be both enlightening and unsettling-the questions arise: 1) What is true, and what is not true? That could consume theologians and bible scholars for centuries, and seemingly already has; and 2) What can be done to correct the parts that are untrue?- this question may never be resolved. Nevertheless, it was an outstanding …
Great read for serious students of the New Testament.
Very interesting in deed. I wish he was Moore of a scholar and less of a sensationalist. Yet he makes a few well founded observations. Read well and look deep it the history of his statements and understand his claims and your own do dilagence and you will be better off for your own work. I liked the read all together. I do wish he had Moore …
Poorly written, i often couldn’t tell what he was trying to say. Disagree with his conclusions on many levels.
Gave me a lot to think about.
Bart Ehrmann is one of the most (if not the most) competent contemporary New Testament scholars. He knows his subject from “both sides” having received his first two degrees from fundamentalist schools, and then having received his graduate and post-graduate training from purely academic institutions and faculties. He writes books for other …
Facts presented in a misleading way.
I have great respect for this scholar who has devoted his life to the scrutiny of the manuscripts that are the sources for our canon of scripture. Going from a very conservative Christian school to ending up with a doctorate at Harvard Divinity, he saw his belief system evolve, which he explains at the beginning of this book. This work would …
As typical of academics, this author tells you what he wiil say, says it and then tells you what he said. Being patient with this approach is required
Things I never would have thought about are shown in a new light. Man has used Jesus from the beginning.
The author takes a scholarly, yet readable, look at his vision of how the books of the New Testament, came into existence and how they have probably been changed by the many retranscriptors throughout history. While I think the author was too critical at times, he forces you to rethink how we arrived with the current “books” when letters and …
well researched and very helpful.
A great overview of how the Bible was produced over time
Gave me a whole new perspective.
This is an informative book, but I found it wordy and difficult to follow.
It was a great book because I’m studying the Bible and it’s nice to see how it has been passed on through the centuries.
Common sense, some investigation, and a bit or anti-establishment – I like that.