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

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Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why [Ehrman, Bart D.] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why

Review: A brief wade into textual criticism - This book is a very good introduction to the history of the development of NT canonical text. Ehrman, a historian, provides a historian's rigor and standards to this publication while presenting his findings in a very readable narrative style. "Misquoting Jesus" is a short, fast read which intentionally doesn't attempt to cover all the questions scholars actively research and analyze between historical reality and the versions of manuscripts current laymen read. Instead, Ehrman provides a pleasant wade, especially for those readers unfamiliar with output by credentialed scholars such as Ehrman. He provides a perfect start to a journey towards an intellectual understanding of early Christianity. Ehrman stays away from theological arguments and exegesis of some of the more topical controversies (e.g., Paul's perception of the life of Christ prior to his crucifixion is not covered, nor are textual criticism methods to test the veracity of claims covered, like the criterion of dissimilarity test that would dismiss the Jesus counting fishes miracle since it's the same story as a much earlier Pythagoras story - even down to the fish count). Instead Ehrman focuses on what the manuscripts say, and how we know that some parts have changed over time by comparing texts. Ehrman does cover theories on why they were changed though he does so briefly without getting bogged down in any dense analysis to prove his point. Another reason this is a good introduction to the study of early Christianity is that Ehrman avoids most of the controversies within scholarly circles regarding the divinity of Jesus. I assume this is because to many conservative Christians who appear to be one of Ehrman's primary target audiences, discovering the ease at which scholars have proven the Bible is errant as reported in this book will be contrary to what they've been indoctrinated into by many churches; with that being enough provocation to deal with in an introductory book. My assumption is based on Ehrman's introduction, a short memoir of his own intellectual journey from being an ignorant evangelical to enlightened historian, a "hey, if I can take this journey, so can you" essay I believe would have been more appropriate as an appendix. I don't believe Ehrman is dishonest by avoiding the historical veracity of NT claims for a divine Jesus; most of those controversies require that readers have some foreknowledge of what we know regarding early manuscripts well beyond the scope of an introductory book along with some skills in exegesis to understand the theories presented that challenge a literal reading. However, due to the relative shortness of this book and Ehrman's narrative skills, I believe Ehrman had plenty of room to include some of the easier conceptual contradictions between manuscripts and outside source material, e.g., the corruption of the Josephus texts or some of the miracle stories and how they compared to earlier non-Christian texts. This is my one major criticism of this book; Ehrman would have made a more powerful presentation by adding additional case studies that are conceptually easy to understand for even casual readers. Regarding the claims by some readers who were put off by this book and accuse Ehrman of bias for not better representing the fundamentalist dogma they support. There are very few instances in this book where Ehrman wades into waters where there isn't a peer-accepted theory. Those instances are ones in which Ehrman presents earlier manuscripts with less corruption of text as closer to the original author's version, but these Byzantine texts also challenge current conservative Christian beliefs which use later, more corrupt manuscripts, like the Middle Ages' Textus Receptus. Ehrman does an adequate job in this book of providing a small portion of the empirical evidence available to destroy any notion that this particular manuscript is a trust-worthy source given the lack of source material used along with the suspect quality of source material to develop the Textus Receptus, which was the subsequent primary source for the King James Version. All areas of study have their flat-earthers; ignoring the apologists who are unable or unwilling to use the scientific method as Ehrman does do not deserve attention when one is seeking truth. In fact, I would argue Ehrman bent over backwards by not delving into the more radical claims which do have some empirical evidence supporting them and are reasonable claims (Robert Price's deconstruction of Jesus or Earl Doherty's construction of Jesus from Paul's Christ being two examples). Ehrman's objective with this book is to kick-start an intellectual journey for laymen to bring some intellectual knowledge to their beliefs beyond the traditional paradigm of indoctrination, I can't imagine anyone not appreciating the information Ehrman provides to his readers, even the flat-earthers themselves. While I appreciate his effort, I'm still waiting for Ehrman, due to his talent and skill as a writer, to let us have it with both barrels by writing a more comprehensive analysis of the status of textual criticism of the early Christian manuscripts.
Review: Fascinating but read with an open mind. - If you believe the Bible is infallible then this book is not for you. Bart does an exceptional job of pointing out how scrolls were changed and updated over time. In some cases, it was because of simple error by untrained writers. In other cases, it was on purpose (Luke completely changes the character of Jesus compared to Mark). Over time, we lose the original scribes intent to cultural, political and theological changes. I learned this first hand in seminary school which is why today, the Bible must be taken with a very large grain of salt. The Bible is not inherent. Once we accept that, we can stop taking it literally and read it in it's larger theological context about the character and nature of God. My only issue is that he often repeats himself over and over in chapters which does drag down the book. Comes across as a forgetful person telling you the same story over and over.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #17,266 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #9 in History of Religions #10 in General History of Religion |
| Customer Reviews | 4.5 out of 5 stars 3,194 Reviews |

## Images

![Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71RMadHM8kL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ A brief wade into textual criticism
*by M***H on December 29, 2006*

This book is a very good introduction to the history of the development of NT canonical text. Ehrman, a historian, provides a historian's rigor and standards to this publication while presenting his findings in a very readable narrative style. "Misquoting Jesus" is a short, fast read which intentionally doesn't attempt to cover all the questions scholars actively research and analyze between historical reality and the versions of manuscripts current laymen read. Instead, Ehrman provides a pleasant wade, especially for those readers unfamiliar with output by credentialed scholars such as Ehrman. He provides a perfect start to a journey towards an intellectual understanding of early Christianity. Ehrman stays away from theological arguments and exegesis of some of the more topical controversies (e.g., Paul's perception of the life of Christ prior to his crucifixion is not covered, nor are textual criticism methods to test the veracity of claims covered, like the criterion of dissimilarity test that would dismiss the Jesus counting fishes miracle since it's the same story as a much earlier Pythagoras story - even down to the fish count). Instead Ehrman focuses on what the manuscripts say, and how we know that some parts have changed over time by comparing texts. Ehrman does cover theories on why they were changed though he does so briefly without getting bogged down in any dense analysis to prove his point. Another reason this is a good introduction to the study of early Christianity is that Ehrman avoids most of the controversies within scholarly circles regarding the divinity of Jesus. I assume this is because to many conservative Christians who appear to be one of Ehrman's primary target audiences, discovering the ease at which scholars have proven the Bible is errant as reported in this book will be contrary to what they've been indoctrinated into by many churches; with that being enough provocation to deal with in an introductory book. My assumption is based on Ehrman's introduction, a short memoir of his own intellectual journey from being an ignorant evangelical to enlightened historian, a "hey, if I can take this journey, so can you" essay I believe would have been more appropriate as an appendix. I don't believe Ehrman is dishonest by avoiding the historical veracity of NT claims for a divine Jesus; most of those controversies require that readers have some foreknowledge of what we know regarding early manuscripts well beyond the scope of an introductory book along with some skills in exegesis to understand the theories presented that challenge a literal reading. However, due to the relative shortness of this book and Ehrman's narrative skills, I believe Ehrman had plenty of room to include some of the easier conceptual contradictions between manuscripts and outside source material, e.g., the corruption of the Josephus texts or some of the miracle stories and how they compared to earlier non-Christian texts. This is my one major criticism of this book; Ehrman would have made a more powerful presentation by adding additional case studies that are conceptually easy to understand for even casual readers. Regarding the claims by some readers who were put off by this book and accuse Ehrman of bias for not better representing the fundamentalist dogma they support. There are very few instances in this book where Ehrman wades into waters where there isn't a peer-accepted theory. Those instances are ones in which Ehrman presents earlier manuscripts with less corruption of text as closer to the original author's version, but these Byzantine texts also challenge current conservative Christian beliefs which use later, more corrupt manuscripts, like the Middle Ages' Textus Receptus. Ehrman does an adequate job in this book of providing a small portion of the empirical evidence available to destroy any notion that this particular manuscript is a trust-worthy source given the lack of source material used along with the suspect quality of source material to develop the Textus Receptus, which was the subsequent primary source for the King James Version. All areas of study have their flat-earthers; ignoring the apologists who are unable or unwilling to use the scientific method as Ehrman does do not deserve attention when one is seeking truth. In fact, I would argue Ehrman bent over backwards by not delving into the more radical claims which do have some empirical evidence supporting them and are reasonable claims (Robert Price's deconstruction of Jesus or Earl Doherty's construction of Jesus from Paul's Christ being two examples). Ehrman's objective with this book is to kick-start an intellectual journey for laymen to bring some intellectual knowledge to their beliefs beyond the traditional paradigm of indoctrination, I can't imagine anyone not appreciating the information Ehrman provides to his readers, even the flat-earthers themselves. While I appreciate his effort, I'm still waiting for Ehrman, due to his talent and skill as a writer, to let us have it with both barrels by writing a more comprehensive analysis of the status of textual criticism of the early Christian manuscripts.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fascinating but read with an open mind.
*by J***E on September 3, 2025*

If you believe the Bible is infallible then this book is not for you. Bart does an exceptional job of pointing out how scrolls were changed and updated over time. In some cases, it was because of simple error by untrained writers. In other cases, it was on purpose (Luke completely changes the character of Jesus compared to Mark). Over time, we lose the original scribes intent to cultural, political and theological changes. I learned this first hand in seminary school which is why today, the Bible must be taken with a very large grain of salt. The Bible is not inherent. Once we accept that, we can stop taking it literally and read it in it's larger theological context about the character and nature of God. My only issue is that he often repeats himself over and over in chapters which does drag down the book. Comes across as a forgetful person telling you the same story over and over.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Easy to read examination of the textual variations in the modern Bible and how they got there.
*by M***T on April 4, 2018*

A well written book about the evolution of the Bible, particularly the New Testament, and how our present text came to be in all its various forms. Dr. Ehrman begins with a brief summary of his own life. From an "ordinary kid" he becomes a fundamentalist Christian believing the Bible to be wholly inspired. During his graduate program in a Christian school he develops an interest in the wide variety of historical documents that have, through many generations come down to us a our present Bible. He becomes, in short, a textual-scholar, and has an epiphany! Ehrman quickly learns that there are no longer any "original texts" anywhere. The earliest texts found, more fragmented the farther back one goes, come from the 2nd century some 100 years after Jesus' death. None of the original Apostles, nor Paul are any longer alive at that point, and what early notes exist for geographically fragmented communities are already copies of lost originals. Even if the literal-original writing was "inspired by God" as fundamentalists claim, by the opening of the 2nd century the earliest copies of these writings have already passed through human hands and the real originals are no more. Except for the Christian community of Alexandria where professional scribes already existed, all of the early copies were made by amateur believers who, as it happened could read and write, and so copied texts for their congregations; sometimes well and sometimes poorly. It was not until late in the 4th century that more professional scribes assumed the copyist role. Roughly the first half of the book is taken up with the history of textual criticism. Ehrman leads us through early (17th century) classification attempts and the techniques developed to determine which texts were "more original" than others. Ehrman notes that in many many cases even that matter cannot be decided with any finality. That the modern obsession with the text began after the Reformation is no accident. Protestant scholars were far more compulsive about the text than Catholics. Protestant theology and doctrine rests entirely on the text, while Catholicism has its priestly class for precisely the task of interpreting the text in what ever form it takes. By the 18th century, scholars had identified some 30,000 textual variations in the manuscripts that come together as the then relatively stabilized New Testament. Most of these variations were simply mistakes made by non-professional copyists. Sometimes they left out a word or whole sentences. Sometimes what there were of literal originals were physically degraded even when first copied. Copyists sometimes had to "fill in the blanks", a smudged word, or a bleed-through from some earlier text on the page for example. So why not go back to the more professional Alexandrian texts and call those "closest to original"? Because while the vast majority of changes were copy errors, not all were merely that. Here and there changes were made for theological and socio-political reasons. In point of fact (something he does not mention) the Alexandrian scholars were among those who, by the early 5th Century, were considered among the heretical sects by the then solidifying Roman Church. Ehrman does not mention is the textual difference between the modern Western (Roman) and Eastern (Greek and Eastern European "Orthodox") churches. His aim is historical, and he does cover the early Greek texts whose alterations became mixed in with all of the others. In the second half of the book Ehrman covers three types of changes made deliberately by one group of copyists or another so as to make the text easier to read and better line up with the various theological opinions and social controversies of the time, each propounded by groups of believers who were doing their own copying! In the end, Ehrman is forced to conclude that even the lost originals were probably not autodidacts (texts dictated by God) because if God had wanted Christians to have his un-corrupted words in perpetuity, He would have made sure the originals survived. I gave the book 5 stars not because the book's subject was of great interest to me, but because Dr. Ehrman does such a marvelous job of treating a scholarly subject (many many references are provided) with easy to read language aimed at non-scholars of the subject like myself.

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