I just listened to “Misquoting Jesus” (from Audible).

This book is ostensibly for the layman of Bible history, but it has a big, fat, midsection that should have been better distilled. However, it will give you loads of very good arguments against those annoying evangelical friends who believe that Jesus dictated it word-for-word, stamped “King James” on it, then published it through Random House.

The premise of the book is interesting– how centuries of scribal copying of the Bible have altered its contents from the original manuscripts. However, the author belabors his points to excess. What was at first interesting became redundant and boring. After more than four hours of the book, I was happy that it would soon be drawing to a close… or so I thought. Much to my chagrin, there were another four hours left!

It starts with a good introduction of the author’s beginnings as an Episcopalian to born-again “fundamentalist,” believing the Bible to be the inerrant word of God. It is that belief that compels him to investigate the roots of it, ultimately finding just how inconsistent all the available manuscripts actually are. He then wraps up with an insightful point that, for true comprehension, all reading must be interpreted– just as the Bible was by centuries of scribes. In essence, we are all imperfect scribes of the Bible.