[Faith-talk] Misquoting Jesus. The story behind who changed the Bible and why by Professor Bart Ehrman. An overview.

[Mostafa]

Misquoting Jesus, the story behind who changed the Bible and why.

This is a highly academic textbook level, on Christian Theology, authored by Professor Bart Ehrman.

The book is quite interesting.

It is filled with dozens of academic information.

It talks in details, about how the Bible got into circulation.

The book thoroughly explains how scribes have omitted and altered the text, throughout the centuries.

It turns out, that there are many Gospels were written by anonymous authors in ancient Christianity.

Some of them were compiled into the New Testament, as for Mark, Matthew, Luke and Jhon.

But, what about the Gospels of Thomas,  Peter, the Gospel of Mary, and the Gospel of Judas.

Why these were somehow excluded from the text of the New Testament?

Surely, the Bible didn't descend from heaven, at its present form.

Noone claims that, in spite of what fundamentalist evangelicals are diluting.

King James version of the Bible is indeed my favorit English Bible.

It reaches a highly level of eloquence. It is a masterpiece of English literature.

I like it.

But, on the theological level, the book was subjected to critical criticism in terms of its accuracy.

Please, you may keep in your mind; that I am a Theology major.

Thus, it is part of my academic curriculum to study various religions.

I willingly chose to be specialized in Christianity.

I intended to present what the scientific standpoint says about the New Testament.

Misquoting Jesus is an excellent textbook, written in a highly academic level. It is beneficial for those who are particularly unbiased.
   It is quite intriguing, and I am on my fourth time reading it.

It is filled of how the Bible got into constant circulations of textual omissions and alterations.

It talks about how the Bible were copied inaccurately.

Ancient scribes, they used to manually copy their scroles, page by page, sentence by sentence, word by word, and even letter by letter at a time.



During this primitive process of copying, the text was     adapted, mistakenly recorded, lost, or simply warn out.

Professor Ehrman talks about mistakes being committed on root, and the incorrect corrections of these radical mistakes.

It was a textual replication of the previously committed mistake.

Subsequently, Professor Ehrman incisively emphasizes, that there is no guarantee, that the one who corrected the mistake, corrects it correctly.

  Someone may assume, that there was a mistake, while there actually wasn't a mistake.

So, instead of correcting the text, the scribe actually corrupted it.

He also talks about how the scribes were really careless of how to spell a word.

And then, he gives numerous instances of clarrifying that scriptural phenomenon of the New testament.

The book is a precious academic gem.

It is definitely worth having.

Professor Ehrman speaks about the Bible in a highly academic level, whilst skilfully criticizing its present textual form. I have a passion of education to learn from his enormous scholarship.

There isn't any intended denouncement to Christian beliefs.

Christian fundamentalist apologists are attempting to convince their  audience, that the Bible is heavenly divine, and it is utterly inerrant.

Well, that might work for untutored believing Christians, who weren’t lucky enough to thoroughly experience the highly theological academic enrollment but, that doesn’t fit with someone who speaks at a majorly competent academic level.    

Christian fundamentalist Apologists are extremely closed-minded. 

 They can’t easily tolerate someone criticizing what they like to think of as the Bible, and thus, they will remain in their elementary level, and they will not step forward, unless they work on significantly adapting their way of thinking.

Christian fundamentalist Apologists are unable to maintain a satisfactory level of academic engagement in terms of the Biblical literature textual criticism.

I read the Bible as it was suggested to me.


I benefited a lot from reading the Bible.

I found it to be similar to the Koranic description of it.

It is filled with the word of God, whilst deliberately  coalesced   with other textual elements.

You may read the Bible vertically rather than just horizontally.

To be perfectly honest, I imitated this suggestion from Professor Bart Ehrman.

Dear friends, you demand to be more open-minded than that.

Can you possibly explain the vast abandonment of Christianity in the recent years?

Please, for those of you who happened to be Bible believing Christians, you may sit down and read the Bible consecutively, from beginning to end.
        
You may read the Bible horizontally rather than just vertically.   

Start over with Genesis 1 1, and make it all the way, to Revelation at a time, and then tell me, what God says to you?

That doesn't mean I am insulting your intelligence.

I am just proposing a suggestion.

Read  the Bible out, the way I just described.

And please, you may temporarily suspend any theological motivations as you are reading, if you chose to implement my suggestion.

Upon you be peace and blessings.

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