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

Professor Ehrman discusses the various ways scribal errors and purposeful editing have altered the New Testament over the centuries. He also shows how scholars can reconstruct earlier writings and determine as closely as possible the earliest meaning of the text. A bit dry at times but well done. Dr. Ehrman explains terms and writes in a manner that a person without a graduate education can follow. ( )

explanation of scribal errors and changes and impossibility of knowing original words of Bible

While I don't agree with all his conclusions, this is a good introduction into what the New Testament is, where it came from, and why it's imperfect. ( )

Textual criticism. That's what this book about. Factually speaking, the Bible we have is not perfect--there are a range of errors and deliberate changes. The book takes a layman's approach to explaining how scholars compare differences in ancient manuscripts of the books of the Bible, and try to decide which parts were original and which parts were added later, deleted or otherwise changed. The types of changes may include scribal errors, or at times premeditated attempts to harmonize then current Biblical books with beliefs of the time period, or otherwise alter them in a way to diminish the scriptural basis of "heretical" beliefs. What's fascinating to me is the number of problems that arise form trying to explain the creed of the Trinity. The book's title is a little bit of bait. Yes there are important passages concerning Christ which probably were not in the original Bible books, but the majority of the book is about textual criticism in general. ( )

Ehrman submits a good case for showing that the words we attribute to Jesus today are likely not his words. And the actions we think he performed likely weren't his actions. And that in fact we know very, very little about what Jesus said and did. And what little we know is questionable. ( )