Blog 1 Alex Tabora

Upon embarking on my studies of the New Testament, my assumptions were pretty naive. Some of these assumptions included the belief that the authors listed were the writers of the books in the Gospel, authentic stories from the time of Jesus, and the notion that Jesus was both a human and divine being. After completing the readings assigned in Ehrman's New Testament however, these assumptions proved to be false.

Examining Chapter 30 in Ehrman's New Testament, Ehrman begins by outlining the writings of the manuscripts. The fact that he addresses that the original writings of the New Testament are not present but are copies that have endless discrepancies in all of their variances presents an alert to my faith. How can we guarantee that what we know is true? Ehrman states that of all 5,700 manuscripts, none are accurate in their wording. ¹ Regardless of the fact that over 5,700 manuscripts have been recovered, what percentage of these are actually legitimate. A large part of my adolescence has been the question of my faith and after reading Ehrman's introduction to the New Testament, I am unsure of everything I have learned thus far. Ehrman provides some examples of passages that were added into the New Testament including one of my favorite passages, "The Story of Jesus and the woman who committed adultery." Ehrman states this passage differs in styles and does not begin to appear until 800 years after John was written.² According to Zane Hodges, a study considered the possibility of whether this passage was deliberately omitted from an ancient manuscript of John.³ Nonetheless, it has proven insignificant since the impact of the story is unscathed. As a child, this story demonstrated to me that in order to be forgiven, you must first forgive yourself. It made a huge impact on who I am today and regardless of the fact that it was added later, its symbolism does not change.

To further damage the authenticity of these readings, Ehrman also illustrates manuscript changes that the scribes, those who copied the manuscripts, often made that could be either accidental or intentional.⁴ A serious issue in today's teachings of the New Testament is that people generally do not become aware of this until studying religions in college and that is only if they attend a religious University where the coursework is available. Churches and Sunday Schools do not even begin to accurately analyze the Bible.

¹ B.D. Ehrman, The New Testament (4. New York. Oxford, (2008), 490.

² B.D. Ehrman, The New Testament (4. New York. Oxford, 2008), 491

³Z. C Hodges, "The Woman Taken in Adultery: Exposition," BS. (1980), 41

⁴ B.D. Ehrman, The New Testament (4. New York. Oxford, 2008), 492

Bibliography

Ehrman, Bart D. The New Testament. Fourth Edition. New York, 2008: 490-492.

Hodges, Zane C. "The Woman Taken in Adultery: Exposition." Bibliotecha Sacra. (1980): 41.