About this title: An expert on the Bible reveals how ancient scribes changed the New Testament, forever impacting fundamental Christian beliefs. He claims many widely held beliefs including the divinity of Jesus, and the origin of the Bible are the results of intentional and accidental alterations by scribes.
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Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harperone
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780060859510ISBN:0060859512
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 266 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. Different Isbn#, red mark on bottom edge, appears unread, 97 read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harperone
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060738174ISBN:0060738170
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 242 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Harperone
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780060859510ISBN:0060859512
Description: Fine. No dust jacket as issued. Clean and unmarked inside and out. No creasing to spine. Tight binding. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 266 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: F First Edition
Binding: H Hardcover
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060738174ISBN:0060738170
Description: Very Good- in J Very Good- jacket. Brief summary of content available upon request by e-mail. read more
Description: New. Excellent condition, new, hardcover in new dust jacket. Very, very slight wear along dust jacket edges. Clean and crisp. A nice copy. 0060738170. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harperone
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060738174ISBN:0060738170
Description: Good in fine dust jacket. Some notation and underlining of text. Tight binding. Glued binding. Paper over boards. With dust jacket. 242 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco 2005
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060738174ISBN:0060738170
Description: ISBN 0060738170. Hardback. Book club edition. Very good condition book in a Very good condition dustjacket. Tight, sound, unmarked copy. read more
Description: HarperSanFrancisco, 2005. 242pp. Very good plus, with library stamp on top edge / dust jacket in clear plastic liner that is taped to the boards. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Harper
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780739469842ISBN:0739469843
Description: Very Good. Trade paperback. Very good condition. Pages are crisp and clean. Binding is solid. Dustcover has edge wear. 242 pages. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780739469842ISBN:0739469843
Description: Nearfine. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall 0739469843 Trade Paperback Nice clean unmarked trade paperback. This is the first edition, 242, pages, reprinted in 2007 with a different ISBN. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harper San Francisco
Date Published: 2005-11-01
ISBN-13:9780060738174ISBN:0060738170
Description: NEW. Hardcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780060738174. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco
Date Published: 2005
ISBN-13:9780060738174ISBN:0060738170
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
"Good book. It asks the question, "How can we know what the words of the Bible mean if we don't have the original words?" Very readable and engaging; explains textual analysis of ancient manuscripts in a way understandable to a lay person, but never talks down to the reader.
I found this book helpful since many other books that deal with awkward biblical passages often say things like, "Most scholars now agree that this passage was added by a later redactor..." without explaining how those anonymous scholars came to that conclusion. While this book did not make me an expert on textual analysis, it gave some insight into the problems faced by scholars, the decisions must make and the tools they use to make those decisions (for better or for worse!).
Ehrman is a little repetative, but when he repeats himself it is to keep the reader on track and prevent the threads of the argument from getting tangled. I was a little disappointed that in the end Ehrman didn't say, "And the original words of the bible are...", but maybe that will be his next book."
"Less scholarly than The Closing of the Western Mind, but covers similar historical territory: the first few centuries of the Christian church.
Ehrman reviews the physical evidence we have of the New Testament canon -- several tens of thousands of parchments of Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, etc., and describes how they differ from each other. The short answer is that there are 300k - 400k differences in the texts, and that scholars have spent the last century or so puzzling out why those differences exist, how they came to be, and how best we can determine the original intent of the authors.
Along the way he talks about a number of genuinely surprising misquotes, and the reasons they may have been made. Scribes make simple mistakes, of course, but sometimes they were motivated to change the text because they thought they were correcting a mistake. Less noble changes were made to argue against theological enemies, against women, or to steer the religion in a way that they found more to their liking.
I'm thrilled to notice that this was a NYT best-seller for quite a few weeks. It heartens me that more religious and non-religious people are now aware of the actual history of the Bible, and the history of attempts at interpreting it."
"Whew! Tough read, despite what other's said. Don't even try to listen to this one on audibles. I had to buy the book and start over. If U want to ck his research, this book will take some time. If U trust his footnotes/references - 2-3 day read.
This book is not just an argument against divine verbal inspiration of the scriptures, it's a complete review of available research on the compilation of scripture - addressing the problems of scribes and copyists and just human error that went into producing these works. Some of the academia is dedicated to discussing the reviewers themselves and how they affected these works, both inadvertantly and intentionally.
The argument is not new. Most people already know that there are thousands of manuscripts with versions of the new testament, but Ehrman supplies us with facts and evidence intertwined in the stories of those individuals who had a direct affect on these works. Interesting, their perspectives, backgrounds and biases. The most interesting fact, to me, was how illiterate the Roman Empire was. Even the upperclasses could not read the scriptures. We've all heard of the illiteracy of the time, but I didn't know it was this pervasive. Many of the scribes themselves were illiterate, (by our standards) but could sign their own name, which at that time, made them literate for the time. The majority of scribes could copy texts, but could not read them. They were "letter/character copiers", not readers or writers. Those that could read, were few, and they often did not hesitate to forge or invent an addition. I also did not know that Christianity itself was more prominant among the lower uneducated classes, which is ironic since it is the first religion of "books" (whereby it's sustenance for belief came from the recorded and read aloud and mostly listened to word)."
"Devout Christians should pay attention to this. Not just those strongly adhering to The Word, but those also who fashion a faith on broader foundations that include any writings. People write, take dictation, transcribe, copy, and pass-on traditions that become more and more mistake-prone with each production.
It's not just that we in America are reading English versions which rely on translating notions and cultural contexts almost certainly to veer from the original setting, but for which we can make allowances. It's also those simply great distances of millennia and clumsy technologies. Eyes and hands are not faultless. 'Good faith' guesses and corrections get made. Side notes get incorporated as main text. 'Improved' interpretations swerve one phrasing into another. Sectarian battles get joined.
Ehrman follows this process. Astonishing is the erudition of this man. From his fundamentalist connection to Christianity, he sought God through God's word, and discovered that - through ancient manuscripts and copying traditions they came to embody - whatever the original, whether from the pen of Paul or his amanuensis, from the Evangelists, from embedded 'sayings of Jesus' (overheard on site and then retold for 35 years before being written down?) - he discovered that we can only approximate The Word, come at best into a somewhat blurred focus, an indistinct resolution.
There was an original. The skepticism doesn't drive things to absolute zero. We just don't ever get it.
Lest this be thought simply an agnostic caution to the religious, the textual procedures Ehrman applies to the New Testament apply everywhere, call into some question any text we handle. This book is one of the strongest arguments for scholarly fastidiousness one may find.
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