ezravasq's review
4.0
An interesting and enlightening book on some of the historical aspects of how the Christian Bible came to be in its current state. Incidentally, I learned as much about textual criticism and the process by which old books are edited and translated as I did about the Bible. It was very interesting.
randomprogrammer's review
5.0
Of all the Ehrman books, this one is the best introduction to the subject. The rest are also easy to read and enjoyable, but they occasionally cover the same ground, with the exception of God's Problem, which I bought but never read.
hadeelolla's review against another edition
4.0
“The Bible, at the end of the day, is a very human book.”
thechris's review
4.0
An overall interesting textual criticism. What I really like is how Ehrman not only makes the information accessible but explains how he got to the point he is today. The most "powerful" thing that this book explains is the fact that it was put together by people and over time.
It could be just me but I love seeing religious texts, including my own, subjected to this kind of inquiry.
It could be just me but I love seeing religious texts, including my own, subjected to this kind of inquiry.
blueskygreentreesyellowsun's review against another edition
4.0
I think that every person should be compelled to read this book before being baptized or confirmed in the Christian faith. Actually, I think that every would-be Christian should be compelled to read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, but for those who would still commit to religion this book should be a mandatory follow-up.
The book is written by a born-again Christian, and the purpose of it is to help lay Christians (and others) see how the New Testament cannot be viewed as the inerrant word of God because there are literally thousands of different versions of the texts which make up the New Testament. The differences were sometimes accidental (misspellings, etc.), but other times the scribes creating the texts made deliberate changes to the New Testament in order to justify and propagate their own beliefs. I thought that the book would contain more examples - I found myself wanting ten examples for every one that the author provided - but the ones he did include were very interesting.
The book is written by a born-again Christian, and the purpose of it is to help lay Christians (and others) see how the New Testament cannot be viewed as the inerrant word of God because there are literally thousands of different versions of the texts which make up the New Testament. The differences were sometimes accidental (misspellings, etc.), but other times the scribes creating the texts made deliberate changes to the New Testament in order to justify and propagate their own beliefs. I thought that the book would contain more examples - I found myself wanting ten examples for every one that the author provided - but the ones he did include were very interesting.
davehershey's review
2.0
Ehrman did a good job of explaining textual criticism for the average person. The reason I only give two stars is because I learned pretty much everything he says in this book at a conservative evangelical seminary. In other words, he writes as if these things are a shocking secret to Christians when most Christians, even the most evangelical ones, learned this ages ago and are fine with it. This book should encourage Christian teachers and pastors to teach these things to the people in their churches so that books such as this do not seem so shocking.
cfred371's review
5.0
I highly recommend this book to anyone curious about the development of the Bible, and the Christian religion in general.
misscalije's review
5.0
At first, I was excited.
Then, I was shook.
I finished, I now feel at peace.
I am a Christian who before reading this book was sincerely open to the idea of textual variance in the New Testament. I never could have been prepared to learn HOW textual variance can and should severely change everyone’s understanding of the Bible and church doctrine.
The Bibles that we have today are not divinely inspired documents. If you claim to believe that, I feel that you are lying or are willfully ignorant. I cannot go into the evidence as to why this belief (which I grew up with and very much believed) is false without recapping the entire book. (Read it yourself.)
But rather than shaking my faith to the ground, this book has given me the opportunity to understand the world, Christianity, and Christ himself in more personal ways. Like Ehrman says in the conclusion to Misquoting Jesus, “...to read a text is, necessarily, to change a text.” No one, not the writers of the gospels, the scribes who disseminated them, the translators, the pastors, our parents, or us ourselves, has completely understood the stories of the Bible in the way that they were “originally” intended. All we can do is take what we have, become the best scholars we can be, and decide for ourselves what these influential and very human texts mean for us.
I’m giving this book five stars because it was well written, and I do think that if someone wishes to, they could get something important from this book. It might not be what I took from it, but again...that’s kind of the point.
Then, I was shook.
I finished, I now feel at peace.
I am a Christian who before reading this book was sincerely open to the idea of textual variance in the New Testament. I never could have been prepared to learn HOW textual variance can and should severely change everyone’s understanding of the Bible and church doctrine.
The Bibles that we have today are not divinely inspired documents. If you claim to believe that, I feel that you are lying or are willfully ignorant. I cannot go into the evidence as to why this belief (which I grew up with and very much believed) is false without recapping the entire book. (Read it yourself.)
But rather than shaking my faith to the ground, this book has given me the opportunity to understand the world, Christianity, and Christ himself in more personal ways. Like Ehrman says in the conclusion to Misquoting Jesus, “...to read a text is, necessarily, to change a text.” No one, not the writers of the gospels, the scribes who disseminated them, the translators, the pastors, our parents, or us ourselves, has completely understood the stories of the Bible in the way that they were “originally” intended. All we can do is take what we have, become the best scholars we can be, and decide for ourselves what these influential and very human texts mean for us.
I’m giving this book five stars because it was well written, and I do think that if someone wishes to, they could get something important from this book. It might not be what I took from it, but again...that’s kind of the point.