Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus)

Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus) | Bart D. Ehrman | All Books Should Be Like This

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Misquoting Jesus: ...

	Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus) Bart D. Ehrman HarperOne, 2007 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 372 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Interesting Read

The author has an extensive and well researched knowledge of the subject matter. I am enjoying this book thoroughly. Ehrman explains advanced concepts well, making it an easy read.

All Books Should Be Like This

I will forego any comment on the topic of this book and leave the theological hairsplitting to the learned professors and reverend clergy, and state only that I'd recommend this book because it is written in beautiful English.

Well, perhaps not beautiful, as there is no flowery prose in it, but the writing is clear, concise and cogent. Others have criticized its "chatty" style, because I assume they expect a volume dealing with such a serious topic to be written in recondite academic language (formerly known as gobbledygook).

Instead, the plain English here is a pleasure to read. One is never in doubt as to what Ehrman is saying or what the point of a paragraph is, and it would be fine if, in addition to teaching theology, he were to also teach writing to his fellow academics.

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Interesting look at textual criticism

This is a book I had heard a lot about in discussions debating the inerrancy of the Bible. I found the book to be a fascinating introduction to the world of Biblical textual criticism. I liked the structure of the book where he explained the beginnings of scripture and then explained how copying is done and all of the potential problems. Since we live in a time of computers and printing presses, it is sometimes difficult for us to imagine just how tedious it would be to copy books and just how easy it would be to create errors. He then explained the methods textual critics use to identify the most accurate passages, and then spends a few chapters going into examples of changes to texts and what motivated them. Some of the changes he pointed out were things I was glad to see such as the fact that Paul's statement that women were not supposed to speak in church was really an insertion. Others I was sad about, such as the fact that the story of the woman taken in adultery was also an insertion; I always liked that story.

Ehrman does give us a glimpse into his beliefs and feelings of the Bible in the introduction and at the end of the book. He started out his schooling as an extreme believer in Biblical inerrancy and ended up believing the Bible to be the work of men trying to state their beliefs in the best way they new how. He notes how the gospels have fairly different views of Christ and are emphasizing different things. He also believes that most of the scribes that made changes were doing the very same thing. I personally still feel that the Bible is the word of God, but accept the fact that errors have crept in. I also accept that different prophets and apostles do emphasize some things differently given that many times they were teaching to different audiences, though I feel they were inspired by the Holy Ghost.

I highly recommend this book for everyone with an interest in the New Testament. The history lesson on how the New Testament was put together alone is worth the price of the book.

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Good, but newbie oriented...

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Great writing style and some great information. None of it was news to me, but it was nice to see it collected so well. This is the kind of book I would point beginners to.

My only gripe is that the book takes so long setting up preliminaries. I know that's necessary for readers without a familiarity with textual criticism and the particulars in the transmission of the English Bible. But it was a slow step through it and doubly so for the initiated. If I were re-reading this, I'd start in section three immediately.

Scholarly Approach to Literary Criticism of Scripture

This book is a scholarly look at how the copies of the Bible we read today were altered over the centuries. The title suggestes a somewhat more provacative book than is actually between the covers. Much of the book relates to the science of literary criticism of old texts and the nature of changes, both accidental and intentional, and how they came about.

A good book for anyone who is interested in literary criticism of ancient texts and the evolution of the Bible over the centuries.

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