My brother gave me this book for my birthday. The author is Bart D. Ehrman, who chairs religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
It is a simple introduction to the topic of textual criticism (a branch of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in the texts of manuscripts) of the New Testament.
The book is light and readable, despite a topic that sounds, at first, rather dry and obscure. Dr. Ehrman manages to keep it fairly readable. It is directed "to nonscholars, to average, normal ordinary readers of the Bible who do not have access to the ancient languages (Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, etc.)"
The main points of Misquoting Jesus can be summarized as follows (the following is taken from page 260 of the paperback edition):
- We do not have the original manuscripts of any of the books of the New Testament, but only copies -- over 5000 copies, just in the Greek language in which these books were originally written
- Most of these copies are centuries removed from the originals
- All of these copies contain mistakes both great and small, as scribes either inadvertently or intentionally altered the text
- The vast majority of these changes are insignificant, immaterial, and of no importance for the meaning of the passages in which they are found
- Others, however, are quite significant. Sometimes the meaning of a verse, a passage, or an entire book depends on which textual variants the scholar decides are "original"
- These decisions are sometimes relatively simple to make; but in other instances they are exceedingly difficult, even for scholars who have spent years working on the problem
- As a result, there are many passages of the New Testament where scholars continue to debate the original wording. And there are some in which we will probably never know what the authors originally wrote
Of interest, from page 265, here is Dr. Ehrman's self-described: Top Ten Verses That Were *NOT* Originally in the New Testament
- 1 John 5:7 There are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one.
- John 8:7 Let the one who is without sin among you be the first to cast a stone at her.
- John 8:11 Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.
- Luke 22:44 In his anguish Jesus began to pray more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.
- Luke 22:20 And in the same way after supper Jesus took the cup and said, "This cup that is poured out for your is the new covenant in my blood."
- Mark 16:17 These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons and they will speak with new tongues.
- Mark 16:18 And they will take up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any poison it will not ham, and they will lay their hands on the sick and they will become well.
- John 5:4 For an angel of the Lord went down at certain times into the pool and disturbed the waters; and whoever was the first to step in when the water was disturbed was healed of whatever disease he had.
- Luke 24:12 But Peter rose up and ran to the tomb, and stooping down to look in, he saw the linen clothes by themselves. And he went away to this own home, marveling at what had happened.
- Luke 24:51 And when Jesus blessed the he departed from them and he was taken up into heaven.
Dr. Ehrman is quick to point out that textual critics do not always agree.
Overall, I found this a very interesting book that demonstrates the very "human" nature of the New Testament (although I admit that I had already formulated that opinion myself long ago).
~Q