The Early Church On Killing

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The Early Church on Killing

Author : Ronald J. Sider
Publisher : Baker Books
ISBN 13 : 1441238689
Total Pages : 323 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis The Early Church on Killing by : Ronald J. Sider

Download or read book The Early Church on Killing written by Ronald J. Sider and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2012-07-01 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What did the early church believe about killing? What was its view on abortion? How did it approach capital punishment and war? Noted theologian and bestselling author Ron Sider lets the testimony of the early church speak in the first of a three-volume series on biblical peacemaking. This book provides in English translation all extant data directly relevant to the witness of the early church until Constantine on killing. Primarily, it draws data from early church writings, but other evidence, such as archaeological finds and Roman writings, is included. Sider taps into current evangelical interest in how the early church informs contemporary life while presenting a thorough, comprehensive treatment on topics of perennial concern. The book includes brief introductions to every Christian writer cited and explanatory notes on many specific texts.

The Patient Ferment of the Early Church

Author : Alan Kreider
Publisher : Baker Academic
ISBN 13 : 1493400339
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (934 download)

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Book Synopsis The Patient Ferment of the Early Church by : Alan Kreider

Download or read book The Patient Ferment of the Early Church written by Alan Kreider and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How and why did the early church grow in the first four hundred years despite disincentives, harassment, and occasional persecution? In this unique historical study, veteran scholar Alan Kreider delivers the fruit of a lifetime of study as he tells the amazing story of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Challenging traditional understandings, Kreider contends the church grew because the virtue of patience was of central importance in the life and witness of the early Christians. They wrote about patience, not evangelism, and reflected on prayer, catechesis, and worship, yet the church grew--not by specific strategies but by patient ferment.

By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed

Author : Edward Feser
Publisher : Ignatius Press
ISBN 13 : 1681497689
Total Pages : 426 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (814 download)

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Book Synopsis By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed by : Edward Feser

Download or read book By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed written by Edward Feser and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2017-05-10 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Catholic Church has in recent decades been associated with political efforts to eliminate the death penalty. It was not always so. This timely work reviews and explains the Catholic Tradition regarding the death penalty, demonstrating that it is not inherently evil and that it can be reserved as a just form of punishment in certain cases. Drawing upon a wealth of philosophical, scriptural, theological, and social scientific arguments, the authors explain the perennial teaching of the Church that capital punishment can in principle be legitimate—not only to protect society from immediate physical danger, but also to administer retributive justice and to deter capital crimes. The authors also show how some recent statements of Church leaders in opposition to the death penalty are prudential judgments rather than dogma. They reaffirm that Catholics may, in good conscience, disagree about the application of the death penalty. Some arguments against the death penalty falsely suggest that there has been a rupture in the Church's traditional teaching and thereby inadvertently cast doubt on the reliability of the Magisterium. Yet, as the authors demonstrate, the Church's traditional teaching is a safeguard to society, because the just use of the death penalty can be used to protect the lives of the innocent, inculcate a horror of murder, and affirm the dignity of human beings as free and rational creatures who must be held responsible for their actions. By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed challenges contemporary Catholics to engage with Scripture, Tradition, natural law, and the actual social scientific evidence in order to undertake a thoughtful analysis of the current debate about the death penalty.

Abortion and the Early Church

Author : Michael J. Gorman
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1579101828
Total Pages : 119 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (791 download)

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Book Synopsis Abortion and the Early Church by : Michael J. Gorman

Download or read book Abortion and the Early Church written by Michael J. Gorman and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 1998-10-26 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is abortion? A convenience to society? A legal offense? Murder? The twentieth century is not the first to face these questions. Abortion was a common practice two thousand years ago. The young Christian church, growing up in influential centers of Greco-Roman culture, could not ignore the practice. How would church leaders define abortion? Gorman examines Christian documents in their Greco-Roman context, concluding that Christians held a consistent position throughout the church's first four hundred years.

Church Behind the Wire

Author : Barnabas Mam
Publisher : Moody Publishers
ISBN 13 : 0802483151
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (24 download)

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Book Synopsis Church Behind the Wire by : Barnabas Mam

Download or read book Church Behind the Wire written by Barnabas Mam and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the oppression and terror of the killing fields in Cambodia, this is the story of how one man's conversion led to a rebirth of faith that brought hope to a nation. Commissioned by Communists to spy on a Christian evangelistic crusade, Barnabas Mam instead discovered Jesus and came to faith in Him. After spending four years in prison camps at the hands of the Khmer Rouge Barnabas emerged as one of only 200 surviving Christians in all of Cambodia. God raised him up to became the foremost evangelist and church planter in a land broken by genocide. An inspiring story on a personal, church, and national level, this is more than a narrative--it's a blueprint for success for church growth of the most powerful kind.

The Early Church (33–313)

Author : James L. Papandrea
Publisher : Ave Maria Press
ISBN 13 : 1594717729
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (947 download)

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Book Synopsis The Early Church (33–313) by : James L. Papandrea

Download or read book The Early Church (33–313) written by James L. Papandrea and published by Ave Maria Press. This book was released on 2019-11-22 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of a 2020 Catholic Press Association book award (first place, best new religious book series). Church history is a lot like the tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, according to Catholic historian James L. Papandrea: No one wants to seem unenlightened, so they pretend to see what’s not there. In The Early Church (33–313): St. Peter, the Apostles, and Martyrs, Papandrea refutes fourteen fashionable “mythconceptions” about early Christian history and enables believers to make sense of the Church’s beginnings. The first Apostles spread the message of Jesus Christ and were willing to suffer and die for their faith. The next generations of believers followed their example with zeal, producing inspiring martyrs including Sts. Justin and Perpetua, and great thinkers such as Irenaeus, and Tertullian. In this book, you will learn: No money or power was attached to being a bishop or priest in the early Church. Christian holidays were not adaptations of pagan celebrations. Christians have never believed in an eternal life for souls without bodies. The doctrine of the Trinity was not forced upon the Church by Constantine, but rather was a belief from the beginning of Christianity. Books in the Reclaiming Catholic History series, edited by Mike Aquilina and written by leading authors and historians, bring Church history to life, debunking the myths one era at a time

Killing Jesus

Author : Bill O'Reilly
Publisher : Henry Holt and Company
ISBN 13 : 0805098550
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Killing Jesus by : Bill O'Reilly

Download or read book Killing Jesus written by Bill O'Reilly and published by Henry Holt and Company. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of readers have thrilled to bestselling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln, page-turning works of nonfiction that have changed the way we read history. The basis for the 2015 television film available on streaming. Now the iconic anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly two thousand years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God. Killing Jesus will take readers inside Jesus's life, recounting the seismic political and historical events that made his death inevitable - and changed the world forever.

Rethinking Hell

Author : Christopher M. Date
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1630871605
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (38 download)

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Book Synopsis Rethinking Hell by : Christopher M. Date

Download or read book Rethinking Hell written by Christopher M. Date and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the "second death"--an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earl Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism. These readings will give thoughtful Christians strong evidence that there are indeed compelling reasons for rethinking hell.

The Darkening Age

Author : Catherine Nixey
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 0544800931
Total Pages : 373 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (448 download)

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Book Synopsis The Darkening Age by : Catherine Nixey

Download or read book The Darkening Age written by Catherine Nixey and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book, winner of the Jerwood Award from the Royal Society of Literature, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and named a Book of the Year by the Telegraph, Spectator, Observer, and BBC History Magazine, this bold new history of the rise of Christianity shows how its radical followers helped to annihilate Greek and Roman civilizations. The Darkening Age is the largely unknown story of how a militant religion deliberately attacked and suppressed the teachings of the Classical world, ushering in centuries of unquestioning adherence to "one true faith." Despite the long-held notion that the early Christians were meek and mild, going to their martyrs' deaths singing hymns of love and praise, the truth, as Catherine Nixey reveals, is very different. Far from being meek and mild, they were violent, ruthless, and fundamentally intolerant. Unlike the polytheistic world, in which the addition of one new religion made no fundamental difference to the old ones, this new ideology stated not only that it was the way, the truth, and the light but that, by extension, every single other way was wrong and had to be destroyed. From the first century to the sixth, those who didn't fall into step with its beliefs were pursued in every possible way: social, legal, financial, and physical. Their altars were upturned and their temples demolished, their statues hacked to pieces, and their priests killed. It was an annihilation. Authoritative, vividly written, and utterly compelling, this is a remarkable debut from a brilliant young historian.

Killing Christians

Author : Tom Doyle
Publisher : HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN 13 : 0718030699
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (18 download)

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Book Synopsis Killing Christians by : Tom Doyle

Download or read book Killing Christians written by Tom Doyle and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Could you retain your faith even if it meant losing your life? Your family’s lives? To many Christians in the Middle East today, a “momentary, light affliction” means enduring only torture instead of martyrdom. The depth of oppression Jesus followers suffer is unimaginable to most Western Christians. Yet, it is an everyday reality for those who choose faith over survival in Syria, Iran, Egypt, Lebanon, and other countries hostile to the Gospel of Christ. InKilling Christians, Tom Doyle takes readers to the secret meetings, the torture rooms, the grim prisons, and even the executions that are the “calling” of countless Muslims-turned-Christians. Each survivor longs to share with brothers and sisters “on the outside” what Christ has taught them. Killing Christians is their message to readers who still enjoy freedom to practice their faith. None would wish their pain and suffering on those who do not have to brave such misery, but the richness gained through their remarkable trials are delivered—often in their own words—through this book. The stories are breathtaking, the lessons soul-stirring and renewing. Killing Christians presents the dead serious work of expanding and maintaining the Faith.

Early Christian Martyr Stories

Author : Bryan M. Litfin
Publisher : Baker Academic
ISBN 13 : 1441220070
Total Pages : 232 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (412 download)

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Book Synopsis Early Christian Martyr Stories by : Bryan M. Litfin

Download or read book Early Christian Martyr Stories written by Bryan M. Litfin and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2014-09-30 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal narratives are powerful instruments for teaching, both for conveying information and for forming character. The martyrdom accounts preserved in the literature of early Christianity are especially intense and dramatic. However, these narratives are not readily available and are often written in intimidating prose, making them largely inaccessible for the average reader. This introductory text brings together key early Christian martyrdom stories in a single volume, offering new, easy-to-read translations and expert commentary. An introduction and explanatory notes accompany each translation. The book not only provides a vivid window into the world of early Christianity but also offers spiritual encouragement and inspiration for Christian life today.

The Myth of Persecution

Author : Candida Moss
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0062104543
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (621 download)

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Book Synopsis The Myth of Persecution by : Candida Moss

Download or read book The Myth of Persecution written by Candida Moss and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An expert on early Christianity reveals how the early church invented stories of Christian martyrs—and how this persecution myth persists today. According to church tradition and popular belief, early Christians were systematically persecuted by a brutal Roman Empire intent on their destruction. As the story goes, vast numbers of believers were thrown to the lions, tortured, or burned alive because they refused to renounce Christ. But as Candida Moss reveals in The Myth of Persecution, the “Age of Martyrs” is a fiction. There was no sustained 300-year-long effort by the Romans to persecute Christians. Instead, these stories were pious exaggerations; highly stylized rewritings of Jewish, Greek, and Roman noble death traditions; and even forgeries designed to marginalize heretics, inspire the faithful, and fund churches. The traditional story of persecution is still invoked by church leaders, politicians, and media pundits who insist that Christians were—and always will be—persecuted by a hostile, secular world. While violence against Christians does occur in select parts of the world today, the rhetoric of persecution is both misleading and rooted in an inaccurate history of the early church. By shedding light on the historical record, Moss urges modern Christians to abandon the conspiratorial assumption that the world is out to get them.

The Apostolic Fathers

Author : Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674996076
Total Pages : 510 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (96 download)

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Book Synopsis The Apostolic Fathers by : Bart D. Ehrman

Download or read book The Apostolic Fathers written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Enduring and influential early Christian texts. The writings of the Apostolic Fathers give a rich and diverse picture of Christian life and thought in the period immediately after New Testament times. Some of them were accorded almost Scriptural authority in the early Church. This new Loeb edition of these essential texts reflects current idiom and the latest scholarship. Here are the Letters of Ignatius, bishop of Antioch, among the most famous documents of early Christianity; these letters, addressing core theological questions, were written to a half dozen different congregations while Ignatius was en route to Rome as a prisoner, condemned to die in the wild-beast arena. Also in this collection is a letter to the Philippian church by Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna and friend of Ignatius, as well as an account of Polycarp's martyrdom. There are several kinds of texts in the Apostolic Fathers collection, representing different religious outlooks. The manual called the Didache sets forth precepts for religious instruction, worship, and ministry. The Epistle of Barnabas searches the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, for testimony in support of Christianity and against Judaism. Probably the most widely read in the early Christian centuries was The Shepherd of Hermas, a book of revelations that develops a doctrine of repentance.

Consistently Pro-Life

Author : Rob Arner
Publisher : Pickwick Publications
ISBN 13 : 9781498253499
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (534 download)

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Book Synopsis Consistently Pro-Life by : Rob Arner

Download or read book Consistently Pro-Life written by Rob Arner and published by Pickwick Publications. This book was released on 2010-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Description: Consistently Pro-Life is a book about killing. Specifically, it takes up the question of when and under what circumstances is it morally justifiable for a Christian to take human life. The murder of abortionist Dr. George Tiller on Pentecost Sunday 2009 reignited the national debate over abortion by focusing attention on the seeming hypocrisy of those who would kill to defend life. But many times, those who would condemn the killing of Dr. Tiller would readily justify the killing of human beings in other circumstances. This leads to the question: What basis do we have to judge a specific act of violence as morally good or ethically justifiable in light of the gospel of Jesus Christ? Rob Arner explores these issues and argues that the deliberate killing of any human being is incompatible with the moral life of a follower of Jesus. Readers will discover in the witness of the ancient Christian church an example of how modern Christians might consistently apply gospel precepts toward questions of the taking of human life. Through a new taxonomy that categorizes the ancient Christian witnesses according to individual issues such as abortion/infanticide, killing in war, and the bloody Roman ""games,"" Consistently Pro-Life demonstrates that the early church consistently opposed the killing of human persons, and suggests that the discipline and moral clarity of the ancient Christians on issues of violence can show us a new way forward in a time of polarizing culture wars. Endorsements: ""Many have noted that in our 'time between the times' we have much to learn from the ecumenical consensus in the early church. Others have called us to attend to the 'ancient-future' practices of the church for a revitalization of current Christian worship. Some have even reminded us that grace and good works cannot, according to the early church, be separated. However, almost no one has reminded us as clearly as has Rob Arner, in this compelling and wonderfully written book, that if we are to be true to the substance of the teachings of the Ancient Church, true to the Spirit by which it was animated, then we must recover their commitment to a Consistently Pro-Life theological ethic."" --Mark Thiessen Nation Eastern Mennonite Seminary ""Consistently Pro-Life presents a well-argued, well-documented case for the view that the early church before Constantine opposed all killing of human beings. It also clearly connects the thinking of the early church with our contemporary debates about abortion, capital punishment, and war. Just War advocates will object at some points, but Arner provides data and a thesis that cannot be ignored."" --Ronald J. Sider President, Evangelicals for Social Action ""Rob Arner offers an important new approach to the issue of Christian participation in violence through a striking combination of contemporary and historical study . . . I personally have become convinced that followers of Christ give up their sacred birthright when they walk away from the radical nonviolence of Christ and his earliest followers. Arner's very important book will help many reach the same conclusion."" --David P. Gushee Mercer University About the Contributor(s): Rob Arner is a PhD candidate in Theology and Christian Ethics at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and an adjunct professor at Chestnut Hill College.

The Lost History of Christianity

Author : John Philip Jenkins
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0061980595
Total Pages : 443 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (619 download)

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Book Synopsis The Lost History of Christianity by : John Philip Jenkins

Download or read book The Lost History of Christianity written by John Philip Jenkins and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2008-10-16 with total page 443 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestselling history of early Christianity in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—from “one of America’s best scholars of religion” (The Economist). In this groundbreaking book, renowned scholar Philip Jenkins explores a vast and forgotten network of the world’s largest and most influential Christian churches that existed to the east of the Roman Empire. These churches and their leaders ruled the Middle East for centuries and became the chief administrators and academics in the new Muslim empire. The author recounts the shocking history of how these churches—those that had the closest link to Jesus and the early church—eventually died. Jenkins offers a new lens through which to view our world today, including the current conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Without this lost history, we lack an important element for understanding our collective religious past. By understanding the forgotten catastrophe that befell Christianity, we can appreciate the surprising new births that are occurring in our own time, once again making Christianity a true world religion.

The Real Story of Catholic History

Author : Steve Weidenkopf
Publisher : Catholic Answers Press
ISBN 13 : 9781683570479
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (74 download)

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Book Synopsis The Real Story of Catholic History by : Steve Weidenkopf

Download or read book The Real Story of Catholic History written by Steve Weidenkopf and published by Catholic Answers Press. This book was released on 2017-10 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anti-Catholics like to paint Church teachings in a way that makes them seem vain, backward, or superstitious, all in the hope of drawing people out of the Faith and into sects or unbelief. Catholic apologists fight back with facts and sound arguments. But there's another area where the Church's enemies tell their own false story of Catholicism: its history. Whether it's from the media, classrooms, or out of the mouths of pastors and politicians, we've all heard a version of Catholic history filled with unrelenting violence, ignorance, worldliness, and bigotry. It's enough to make many believers question whether the Church truly was founded by Christ. This kind of attack requires no less of a response from those who know the truth. In The Real Story of Catholic History, Steve Weidenkopf gives it to you. Weidenkopf (The Glory of the Crusades) collects over fifty of the most common and dangerous lies about Catholic history and, drawing on his experience as a historian and apologist, shows how to answer them simply and powerfully. Whether its claims about Catholicism's supposedly pagan origins, old myths about Galileo or the Inquisition that never seem to go away, or more modern misconceptions that anti-Catholics cynically exploit, The Real Story provides the desperately needed corrective. Packed with research and diligent in pursuit of the truth, while never whitewashing or explaining away the Church's past faults when they're found, The Real Story of Catholic History is an essential resource for every Catholics bookshelf. Book jacket.

Misquoting Jesus

Author : Bart D. Ehrman
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0061977020
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (619 download)

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Book Synopsis Misquoting Jesus by : Bart D. Ehrman

Download or read book Misquoting Jesus written by Bart D. Ehrman and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-06 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today. He frames his account with personal reflections on how his study of the Greek manuscripts made him abandon his once ultraconservative views of the Bible. Since the advent of the printing press and the accurate reproduction of texts, most people have assumed that when they read the New Testament they are reading an exact copy of Jesus's words or Saint Paul's writings. And yet, for almost fifteen hundred years these manuscripts were hand copied by scribes who were deeply influenced by the cultural, theological, and political disputes of their day. Both mistakes and intentional changes abound in the surviving manuscripts, making the original words difficult to reconstruct. For the first time, Ehrman reveals where and why these changes were made and how scholars go about reconstructing the original words of the New Testament as closely as possible. Ehrman makes the provocative case that many of our cherished biblical stories and widely held beliefs concerning the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, and the divine origins of the Bible itself stem from both intentional and accidental alterations by scribes -- alterations that dramatically affected all subsequent versions of the Bible.