Misquoting Jesus
The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
2005 • 288 pages
Ratings19
Average rating3.7
15
The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
Ratings19
Average rating3.7
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 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.
Reviews with the most likes.
There are few times that I miss my first husband, but this is one of them. I do wish that I had someone with whom I could seriously discuss this book, someone who would also read it and Ehrman's other works. I participate in a Facebook group that provides some of that need, but it isn't quite the same as a face-to-face conversation.
Anyway, I finished the book today. It was wonderful. Now I want a copy of the New Testament with all of these changes that Ehrman points out marked. I don't know what translation to trust, or if any of them are trustworthy! And what about the Old Testament - he doesn't even address that! Even if one were fluent in all the languages in question, who would have access to all the relevant manuscripts, let alone the lifetime it would take to compare them all? No, it's been done by various scholars, so a definitive “this is what we THINK is what the autographs said” version needs to be in print.
Author concluded that, because God did not preserve texts of New Testament, even though He could have, they therefore are not divinely inspired.
Errors were made as a result of accieent - wrong word, skipped lines, etc.
Changes made deliberately to emphasize point being made by individual authors.
I had never thought of the books in the Bible as either literary or political texts before - e.g. why do the four Gospels have different versions of the Passion - depends on what each author wanted to emphasize. “Duh” moment for me.
“Genealogy” of individual manuscripts is traceable through common errors.
King James Version of the Bible is complete crap.
(Recommended reading: Living Text of the Gospels by David C. Parker 1997 Columbia Univ. Press)
This was really fascinating, just had some repetitive moments.
The book describes the field of textual analysis, where biblical researchers go back through manuscripts to try and ascertain which sources for the New Testament are oldest and/or best based on variations in words and phrases.
It's incredibly cool. The entire chapter on the gospel of Mark was so intriguing. I read the first half of this book with Wikipedia open on my laptop so I could research all the apologists and heretics who are referenced.
I went to Catholic school and let me tell you, we never did anything like this. Every bit of the Bible we read was parceled out in isolation. I don't remember reading any part of the the NT in context to another, despite the fact that MMLJ share so much in common. In fact, I don't really remember understanding the context of why Paul and Timothy wrote all the letters they did.
It would have been a gripping history/historiography class.
Another fine work by Dr. Ehrman, this time detailing modifications to the text of the New Testament. Ehrman dedicates chapters to topics including but not limited to:
Historical attempts to reconstruct the original text
The methods used by textual critics
Theological motivations for modifying the text
Social motivations for modifying the text
As is typical of his books written for laypeople, Ehrman gives a general overview of his arguments but does not delve into great detail. Perhaps I ought to attempt one of his academic works one day. For anyone unfamiliar with the field, I think that this book would serve as an excellent introduction to Biblical textual criticism.
