An excellent explication in layman's terms of biblical criticism

books:

	• Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (Plus) Bart D. Ehrman HarperOne, 2007 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 369 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Ehrman's tendency to simply create problems where none exist

"Ehrman's latest book (Misquoting Jesus) does not disappoint on the provocative scale. But it comes up short on genuine substance about his primary contention. Scholars bear a sacred duty not to alarm lay readers on issues that they have little understanding of... A good teacher doesn't hold back on telling his students what's what, but he also knows how to package the material so they don't let emotion get in the way of reason." Daniel Wallace, Th. M., Ph.D.

Variations on Bart's:
Bart Ehrman, celebrated author of Lost Christianities, in his persistent campaign alleges that the New Testament, that hundreds of millions of intellectual and lay Christians profess as the basis of their faith, was largely shaped by mistakes and bugged by alterations, committed by early and late antiquity scribes who copied the texts, when conflicting Christian doctrines were struggling for prominence during the second and third centuries. Ehrman, who slightly modifies his theme every time, from Orthodox corruption for doctrinal reasons, to excluding Coptic Gnostic books in the canon, to now misquoting Jesus Good news. Ehrman now reveals that when he came to perceive the scribal traditions and scriptorium process, three decades ago, his way of thinking about scripture and its revelation has changed.

Misquoting Jesus:
Professor Ehrman's most recent book, whose title is provocative and chapters misleading, is nothing more than a Lay's 'New Testament basic textual criticism'. Such lay introduction to the field does not stick to the scholarly rules, but sought a Da Vinci style provocative mode. According to the learned author, it is the first book written on NT textual criticism, a discipline that has been exhausted for the past three centuries, for all audience. Sadly, the book failed to deliver what it promised, since none of the variants that Ehrman discussed involve sayings by Jesus! There is nothing new in the bulk of the book, though Ehrman's motive and his agenda are revealed in the last chapters. Ehrman discusses in chapters 5 -7, the findings in his thesis of 'Orthodox Corruption of Scripture.' That any changes in NT text would have any influence on the texts meaning, or impact any theological conclusion drawn from them, he argues to the contrary, that just the opposite is the case. It seems either his textual decisions are wrong, or his interpretation is wrong, conclude some experts.

Example variants:
Any scholar with a perception of the patristic tradition on scripture knows that the early church arrived at their understanding from a careful examination and mutual interpretation of the NT. Some of the examples of the variants that Ehrman discusses are

(1) John 8:3-11 does not belong to the Bible.
Although the most ancient authorities lack John 7:53 -8:11, scholars generally agree that this story was not originally part of the Gospel of John. It could have been detached from the Codex original place and misplaced. It could have originally followed Luke 21:38.

(2) Matt 24:36, "even the Son of God himself does not know when the end will come"
In disagreement with scholars who know little about ancient Jewish wedding customs, although many witnesses record Jesus as speaking of his own prophetic ignorance even including the late Jesuit John Brown, the fathers explained it otherwise. Messianic Jewish experts explain, "the young man (bridegroom) if asked when will be the day of his wedding, replies, "No man knows except my father." In Israel the father had to be satisfied that every preparation had been fulfilled by his son, who was eager to consummate the marriage, before giving him permission to go and claim his bride (the church in this case, at the end of times) Whether "nor the Son" is authentic or not is disputed, but what is not disputed is the wording in the parallel in Mark 13:32

Ehrman's Misquoting:
* "... and Bart D. Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus, whose author has discovered and is informing us that we do not have original gospel documents and that those we have are of diverse quality and display variants--something even fundamentalists freely learn from the footnotes in the Greek New Testaments that they used in seminary." Martin Marty
* "Ehrman, as noted, has a tendency to simply create problems where none exist, and then expects readers to share his overzealous worry. Semantics dictates that his concern to have the 'very words' of the original, inspired text is misplaced. Communication is simply not that difficult to achieve. Nor does it stand well as a claim made in a book where he claims to be solving and explaining the very things he says are problems." J. P. Holding
* "I like Bart though I find his spiritual pilgrimage troubling, and as an alumnus of UNC I am sad to see him as the successor to Bernard Boyd at Carolina. .. I am however glad Bart is honest about his pilgrimage. If only he could be equally honest and admit that in his scholarship he is trying now to deconstruct orthodox Christianity which he once embraced, rather than do 'value-neutral' text criticism. ...he has attempted this deconstruction on the basis of very flimsy evidence, textual variants which do not prove what he wants them to prove." Ben Witherington

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Finally - The Truth About the Bible

Bart D. Ehrman is the leading biblical scholar of our time. Mr. Ehrman's thoroughness and thoughtfulness are bright rays of intellectual and scriptural light piercing the darkness surrounding biblical matters. Here's the bottom line - If your concept about what the bible is isn't enlightened by Ehrman's excellent scholarship, no matter what Pastor you have, you do not fully understand what you are reading in the bible. People would and should be horrified to know that their worship of the bible is based on unsupportable theological positions, because of how the bible was written and passed down. In very readable, clear terms Ehrman demystifies the process the bible went through to become what it is today. Ehrman has done the world a great service with this book and all his others as well. The paperback version also has a wonderful addendum with an interview with the author. [...]

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An excellent explication in layman's terms of biblical criticism

I thouroughly enjoyed the author's discussion of development in biblical criticism. His journey from a position of inerrancy to his acceptance of the human frailties of the authors and the transcribers and redacters is enjoyable. While an uninformed person would think that his conclusions are shocking, most of what he says about the composition of the new testament checks out with authorities such as the New Jerome Commentary.

Achieves What It Sets Out To Do

In Misquoting Jesus' introduction, Bart Ehrman clearly lays out his goals for the book; which are to inform readers of the discipline of Biblical textural criticism, and how application of that discipline illustrates that the Bible is much more a human work than a divine creation. Thus, the question that needs to be posed is: did Ehrman succeed in meeting his goals? The answer is an unqualified "Yes."

Ehrman first discusses the historical efforts to develop the discipline in order to give the reader an appreciation for how textural criticism has evolved. In showing this history, he also provides the reader with some of the discipline's basic methods as a means to illustrate the ways that scholars determine which interpretations were most likely the Bible's original words. Once this background has been presented, Ehrman provides several examples where the New Testament's original text was likely altered for one reason or another. This presentation is an effective method for proving his point.

While the presentation is effective, Ehrman's writing style detracts from the book's message. He uses the classic "Introduction (tell them what you're going to say)/Body (say what you're going to say)/Conclusion (tell them what you just said)" structure throughout the book. While such an arrangement might have been effective had it been limited to each chapter, Ehrman uses that structure for each section within a chapter. As a result, the text seems more repetitive than it should be.

Despite this weakness, Misquoting Jesus meets the goals that Erhman articulated in the book's introduction. But, perhaps more important than meeting these goals, he also shows that a scientific method of thinking and faith are not necessarily opposites. In demonstrating how a scientific approach's application to the New Testament's texts can reveal the original meaning of those works, Ehrman gives the Christian reader a new perspective on which to build their faith. When seen in that light, Misquoting Jesus can be considered an important guide in any Christian's quest for spiritual fulfillment.

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Misquoting Whom?

Fascinating read. Not sure about title. Looks to me that everyone who had something to say in the Christian ("New") Testament was misquoted, perhaps several times.

reviews: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, page 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20

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