The Good (Fake?) News

Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them) by Bart D. Ehrman

In Jesus, Interrupted, leading Bible expert Bart Ehrman skillfully demonstrates that the New Testament is riddled with contradictory views about who Jesus was and the significance of his life. Ehrman reveals that many of the books were written in the names of the apostles by Christians living decades later, and that central Christian doctrines were the inventions of still later theologians. Although this has been the standard and widespread view of critical scholars for two centuries, most people have never learned of it.

*A word of caution: If you're content with knowing and loving the Bible as it is or the Jesus you've been told about up to this point in your life, don't read on, and certainly don't pick up a copy of this book.

This reflection brings with it a slight sense of dread as opinions about the Bible tend to be very polarizing. Some are willing to die for its inerrancy and others find it so offensive and demeaning that they would have no problems using it as fire kindling. Of course, as a pastor, I am biased--I study it for a living. Full disclosure, for a long time, I never allowed myself to question the authenticity or authority of the Bible for fear of losing my faith and ultimately, my job. Then I realized that my faith could shift -- that it didn't have to be an "all or nothing" vocation, that I was allowed to doubt and be skeptical, even as a faith leader. As I started a new chapter of believing differently, I remembered an author by the name of Bart Ehrman, a New Testament scholar and professor whose faith shifted into agnosticism. This is now the third book of his that I've read cover to cover.  I'm sure there are many Bible-loving Christians who'll steer clear of his work because of his religious uncertainty, but they are really missing out. Rooted in historical criticism, his books are well-researched, easy to read and thoroughly fascinating, informative and deep. Perhaps you've never thought twice about Jesus' odd birth narrative, or the discrepancies/contradictions in the Bible, or who (really) wrote the books, chose the canon, or the when, where and whys behind the most re-produced book ever--but I have. I think about this stuff a lot.

Being a pastor and student of the Bible that I am, something has never felt right about certain aspects of scripture. My "relationship" with the Bible has only become more complicated over the years. Twenty years ago, friends and family would tell you I was head over heels in love with it, but now? Let's just say I love the intention of the Good News. I hesitate nowadays because I'm not all that sure that I can fully trust that what is written in this ancient book called the Bible is Truth--at least not "truth" in the way most of us understand that word in the context of 21st century politics and power. Even at the height of my conservative Christian involvement during college, I never believed the Bible was without error. And now, twenty years later as an ordained pastor, I find my loyalties shifting even more as I study, reflect and immerse myself in its pages. Perpetually questing for truth wherever I can find it, I continue to keep going back for more in the Bible in order to ponder the meaning of our existence (then to now,) and I truly count on scripture as a great source of ancient myths, memories and mysteries, their imperfect and maddening confusion and all. I'll be honest, if I wasn't a pastor, I probably would have ditched the Bible a long time ago. Instead of walking away though, I decided to lean in and seek out other ways of engaging it, and am I ever glad I did.

If the Gospels are right that Jesus' birth occurred during Herod's reign, then Luke cannot also be right that it happened when Quirinius was the governor of Syria. (Quirinius did not become governor until ten years after the death of Herod.)

...we have relatively good records for the reign of Caesar Augustus, and there is no mention anywhere in any of them of an empire-wide census for which everyone had to register by returning to their ancestral home. And how could such a thing even be imagined? ...If we had a new worldwide census today and each of us had to return to the towns of our ancestors a thousand years back--where would you go? Can you imagine the total disruption of human life that this kind of universal exodus would require? And can you imagine that such a project would never be mentioned in any of the newspapers? There is not a single reference to any such census in any ancient source, apart from Luke...

If the Bible is truly inspired, one has to ask: which one? All we have are copies, the original manuscripts are long gone, and the earliest copies are from centuries after Jesus lived. Does this mean that the Bible should be tossed aside, jettisoned as just another piece of old and basically worthless literature? Not in the least...we should continue to read, study, and cherish the Bible--but not as an inerrant historical account. Although I consider myself more skeptical than ever before, I'm not opposed to studying or teaching from the Bible, and I am okay with upholding its "authority" over our lives of faith--the Bible is, after all, a very important part of our Judeo-Christian history...but in the age of "fake news," institutional suspicion and (religious) mistrust, I am also sensitive and self-aware that perhaps Christians are better off to approach the Bible with more curiosity than certainty and critical thought than wishful thinking.

In Matthew, Jesus declares, "Whoever is not with me is against me." In Mark he says, "Whoever is not against us is for us." Did he say both things? Could he mean both things? How can both be true at once? Or is it possible that one of the Gospel writers got things switched around? 

But even if the authors of the Bible were in some sense inspired, they were not completely infallible; in fact, they made mistakes. These mistakes involved discrepancies and contradictions, but they also involved mistaken notions about God, who he really was and what he really wanted. Does God really want his followers to splash the brains of their enemies' infants against the rocks? Does God really plan to torment unbelievers for trillions of years?

The discrepancies should teach us that Mark's view is not John's, John's is not Matthew's, Matthew's is not Paul's, and so on. Each author has to be read for his own message, so that when you read Mark, you do not import the teachings of Matthew....If there is conflicting testimony about historical events, all the witnesses cannot be (historically) right, and we have to figure out ways to decide what most probably really happened.

For those whom are ready to discover Jesus anew, not just what you've always been told about him, you really need to pick up something by Bart Ehrman. It's books like Bart's that help a lifelong learner like me to tap into the seemingly endless supply of research, interpretation, critical-thinking, archaeology, scientific discovery, etc. that Becoming Anew is all about!

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