Friday, September 22, 2006

Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman

The Channing book group met this week to discuss Misquoting Jesus. The group felt that this was a great read and essential to anyone wanting to talk about Biblical authenticity. It has pictures, too!

Ehrman, a UNC professor and protege of preeminent scholar Bruce Metzger, makes biblical criticism accessible to an audience beyond the seminary. (Not that I fully grasped it in seminary.) He gives a concise and engaging history of the early "back to the sources" guys who pioneered the efforts to translate accurately and carefully. He also describes how texts were altered in the first place: the why, who, and why of the ancient typo.

Needless to say, there are significant religious implications to Ehrman's work. Our group didn't have any issues with that at all. In fact, several were wondering how to get this book on the nightstands of some of their co-workers and family members.

Fans of this work, Rev. Jeanne is scheming up a Spring class on this topic, so keep your eyes and ears open for more.

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