Bart D. Ehrman stands as one of the most prominent and, for many, challenging figures in contemporary New Testament scholarship. A former fundamentalist Christian who became an agnostic scholar, Ehrman has built a reputation for demystifying complex academic concepts about the Bible and presenting them to a broad audience. Two of his most influential and widely discussed books are Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why (2005) and Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don’t Know About Them) (2009). Together, these works offer a powerful critique of traditional evangelical and fundamentalist views of biblical reliability, focussing on both the physical transmission of the New Testament text and the internal diversity of its content.
Misquoting Jesus: The Unstable Text
Misquoting Jesus plunges readers into the world of New Testament textual criticism. Ehrman’s core argument is straightforward yet profound: we do not possess the original writings (autographs) of the New Testament authors. What we have are thousands of copies, made by hand over centuries, and these copies contain millions of variations, or “textual variants.”
Drawing on his expertise in paleography and ancient languages, Ehrman explains how scribes, sometimes intentionally but often accidentally, altered the texts as they copied them. These changes range from minor spelling variations to significant alterations that affect the meaning of a passage. He explores various types of errors – accidental omissions or additions, confusing similar-sounding words, or even deliberate changes motivated by theological concerns (like harmonising different accounts or smoothing out perceived difficulties).
The book’s impact stems from its clear demonstration that the New Testament text, as it exists in various manuscript traditions, is not a perfectly preserved record of the original words. While many variants are insignificant, some are not, leading to debates among scholars about which reading is most likely original. Ehrman argues that because of these variants, we cannot be absolutely certain of the precise wording of the New Testament in every instance. This challenges the doctrine of “biblical inerrancy” (the belief that the Bible is without error in its original writings) often held in conservative Christian circles, especially as the “original writings” are, by definition, unavailable for comparison with later copies.
For Ehrman, this textual instability was a key factor in his own journey away from evangelical faith, highlighting the human, historical process by which the biblical texts have been transmitted.
Jesus, Interrupted: The Diverse Voices Within
Following the success of Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman turned his attention from the transmission of the text to the content of the New Testament itself in Jesus, Interrupted. This book tackles the idea that the New Testament presents a single, unified, and consistent theological message. Ehrman argues forcefully that the New Testament is, in fact, a collection of diverse writings reflecting different authors, communities, theological perspectives, and historical contexts, often exhibiting significant contradictions.
Ehrman highlights numerous examples of this internal diversity:
Different Portraits of Jesus: The Gospels present strikingly different pictures of Jesus – compare the apocalyptic prophet in Mark, the teacher in Matthew, the compassionate saviour in Luke, and the divine being in John.
Conflicting Theologies: The relationship between faith and works appears differently in the writings of Paul (salvation by faith alone) and James (faith without works is dead).
Varying Views on the End Times: Some texts anticipate Jesus’ immediate return (e.g., parts of Paul’s letters), while others suggest a longer timeframe or deal with the disappointment of delay (e.g., 2 Peter).
Historical Inaccuracies: Apparent discrepancies between different Gospel accounts of the same event (like Jesus’ birth or resurrection appearances).
Pseudepigraphy: Ehrman discusses the scholarly consensus that several New Testament books were not written by the apostles or figures traditionally attributed to them (e.g., 2 Peter, some of the Pastoral Epistles).
Jesus, Interrupted argues that these differences are not minor harmonizable variations but reflect distinct, sometimes contradictory, viewpoints held by different early Christian writers grappling with who Jesus was and what his message and significance meant in their time and place. Ehrman contends that traditions which emphasise biblical harmony and inerrancy often overlook, explain away, or are simply unaware of the extent of this diversity.
For Ehrman, recognising these “interruptions” within the New Testament narrative reveals the human authors, their specific concerns, and the evolving nature of early Christian thought. It treats the biblical books as historical documents with complex origins and differing perspectives, rather than a seamless, divinely dictated handbook.
The Combined Impact
Together, Misquoting Jesus and Jesus, Interrupted represent two prongs of Ehrman’s broader project: encouraging a critical, historical approach to the New Testament. Misquoting Jesus shows that even the words themselves have been subject to human change and uncertainty over time. Jesus, Interrupted demonstrates that the ideas within those words were already diverse and sometimes conflicting from the outset.
Ehrman’s books are written for a general audience, using clear language and compelling examples to make complex scholarly findings accessible. His work has undeniably shaped public discourse about the Bible. He has successfully brought academic debates about textual criticism and New Testament diversity out of the ivory tower and into mainstream conversation, challenging many readers to reconsider long-held assumptions about the nature and reliability of the Christian scriptures. They stand as significant popular expositions of critical biblical scholarship, urging readers to see the New Testament as a collection of complex, historically situated, and undeniably human documents.
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