'Misquoting Jesus'...anyone reading this?

[cynatnite]

I'm only about a third of the way finished. I normally read pretty fast, but I'm taking my time with this incredible book.

It's really amazing how times really haven't changed that much since the beginning of christianity. Letters were written to the various churches of that time in how to defend one's religion.

Here is an interesting quote by a christian of that time:

(The Christians') injuctions are like this. "Let no one educated, no one wise, no one sensible draw near. For these abilities are thought to be evils. But as for anyone ignorant, anyone stupid, anyone uneducated, anyone who is a child, let him come boldly." (Against Celsus 3.44)

Excellent book so far. I highly recommend.

[Richardo]

1. I loved it. - It's recommended for the Non-Fiction Forum's May Selection

Vote it up!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=209&topic_id=3610&mesg_id=3610

[Goblinmonger]

3. That puppy

is so damn cute. Looks just like my dog when I was in high school. Snowmobile ran her over.

[bluerum]

2. Yes - I read it about a month ago.

Required reading for anyone who makes the bible an important part of their life!

It gets a little thick when he starts using all the biblical scholar jargon - trying to follow the ins and outs of all the historical arguments was hard for me. But the later chapters lighten up and are easier for the biblical non-elite to follow.

[stopbush]

7. Would we atheists find it interesting?

Does the author posit that a historic Jesus existed, or does he put that down
to revisionism?

[bluerum]

8. Well - he really focuses on the bible itself and the number of

variations/inconsistencies in the extant manuscripts and texts.

The main idea is that the bible was, for over 500 years copied by hand. All the errors in spelling and language translation were propagated in subsequent copies and exist to this day.

By the time the printing press came around (roughly 1450) there were many many variations of the texts. Some manuscripts were favored over others for mass printing and these manuscripts were not necessarily the most accurate or least altered. From that point on, the version of the bible that you read/believed became more and more an issue of what biblical doctrines you subscribed to.

Biblical scholars put great effort into reconciling the variations in the manuscripts - the thinking being that gods word could not be errant and it was mans job to straighten out the mess. Of course these biblical scholars left their own marks on the versions of the bible that they produced.

Anyway, you get the point.

Erhman is a biblical scholar who is not so much promoting any one version of the bible - but pointing out that the bible has changed sometimes on purpose and sometimes inadvertently and that any religion that has the bible as it's core doctrine should recognize this.

[bluerum]

10. Ahhh - but he does devote a section to several schools of thought

that argue whether Jesus was in fact human, spirit, or both.

He then points up the sections of the bible that seem to support these points of view and describes how there are variations in the existing manuscripts that seem to support all these points of view.

[greenman3610]

4. outstanding book

have a bible nearby to
refer to passages.
you'll be amazed.

[cynatnite]

5. Yeah, I was thinking that when I started the second chapter...

I got one sitting on the shelf that'll I'll use.

[rkc3]

6. You are going straight to hell - the Bible is the inerrant word of God

Reading books that make you think and help you to connect historical events to the Bible is a sure sign that you are Godless heathens who hate America.

I think that sums up my experience when trying to relate the book to my "christian" friends. I might have to read it again.

[bluerum]

9. Sadly - it is these christian fundy freaks that know the least about

the book that they pound on in their fervor.

[TechBear_Seattle]

11. Finished it recently; GREAT book

It will soon be sent out via BookCrossing

[Redbear]

12. Excellent Book.

The most striking thing is that there are more variations among ancient manuscripts than can be counted.

[godhatesrepublicans]

13. here's another book you might like in a similar vein

Stealing Jesus : How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity by Bruce Bawer