Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible & Why We Don't Know About Them
Author: Bart D. Ehrman
Rating: â 5/5
Date Read: 2013/11/19
Pages: 304
So when I bought this book on a whim who knows how long ago, I expected it to be a collection of interesting contradictions in Biblical statements. I thought that Ehrman might do something like contrast 1 Corinthians 14:33 (âFor God is not a God of disorder but of peaceâ) with Matthew 10:34 (âI come not to bring peace, but to bring a swordâ). Then weâd all get a good laugh out of the ridiculous of it all.
Jesus, Interrupted is not a book about these surface level contradictions. In fact, it was far more compelling than I expected, because Ehrman actually focused on what certain contradictions can teach us about the early Christian church and the historical context. The result was seriously mind-blowing, because the book lead me to doubt whether the bible actually teaches some seemingly foundational ideas, like whether Jesus saw himself as the Messiah or whether the church has any real reason to accept the idea of a holy trinity.
This feels like the correct time for an obligatory disclosure: I am an atheist/humanist who was raised Catholic, so I have no strong ties to metaphysical biblical teachings and Iâve never given serious thought to the idea that the bible could be the inerrant word of God. I sometimes wish that I could be a secular Catholic, because some of the traditions are super fun, but apparently thatâs not allowed. Whatev. However, considering that I like literature, I have to admit that the bible is a pretty important historical document (I mean, try to read [b:Moby-Dick; or, The Whale|153747|Moby-Dick; or, The Whale|Herman Melville|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1327940656s/153747.jpg|2409320] without biblical background knowledge. I dare you.). Anyway, I thought that I had a fairly decent understanding of the bible, given that Iâve read large swaths of it in a few different contexts. But, as it turns out, I really had no idea.
The cool thing about Jesus, Interrupted is that itâs epistemologically interesting. Ehrman first explains how contradictions in the bible can be found: by reading âhorizontally,â which pretty much means reading the same stories as they appear in different gospels, back to back. What happens is that you start to see some weird stuff, like Mathew claiming that Jesus cried out on the cross âMy god, my god, why you have forsaken me?â while Luke claims he said âFather into your hands I commit my spirit.â And, if you think about it, the two different gospels are actually pretty irreconcilable, in terms of the type of Jesus that they depict. So a careful reader might think, yo, whatâs up with that? If these two gospel writers were both there, and both knew Jesus intimately, then why would they report the event in such completely different ways.
Well, that brings us to the fact that the apostles didnât actually write the gospels (something that I knew, but that doesnât seem to be widespread knowledge). And the writers of the bible had different viewpoints. The ways that they switch up the stories can tell us about the viewpoints, but only if we look closely. Through a close reading, with careful attention paid to the contradictions, scholars can get a sense of who the gospel writers were, and why they created the type of christianity that they did. The whole story is completely fascinating.
I recommend this book for everyone, both people of faith and nonbelievers. While itâs true that Erhman is now an agnostic, the contradictions in the bible didnât cause him to lose his faith, a fact that he repeatedly points out throughout the book (he lost faith because he couldnât reconcile the amount of suffering in the world with the teachings of Christianity, which he details in [b:Godâs Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-Why We Suffer|1976714|Godâs Problem How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-Why We Suffer|Bart D. Ehrman|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348084856s/1976714.jpg|1980049], which I now want to read). So believers shouldnât be scared to understand what the bible truly says, although I expect that some (particularly evangelicals) may not be comfortable with this information. Strangely, I feel better about the bible after reading this: itâs clearly the product of humans, but much of the dogma isnât as clear-cut as I thought it was. Iâll definitely be reading more of Erhmanâs books in the future.
