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Bookstore Home > Scripture Studies
Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the NT
Exploring the close relationship between the social history of early Christianity and the textual tradition o the emerging New Testament, Bart Ehrman examines how early struggles between Christian "heresy" and "orthodoxy" affected the transmission of the documents over which, in part, the debates were waged. In the process, he provides a valuable analysis of significant textual problems that continue to puzzle New Testament scholars. Ehrman argues that scribes of the second and third centuries occasionally altered their sacred texts for polemical reasons. In order to make them support established christological doctrine, scribes imported orthodox motions into passages, or modified texts that might have lent support to heretical views. Closely examining three such heresies, Ehrman identifies how the proto-orthodox response affected the evolving texts of scripture, devoting a chapter to adoptionists like the Ebionites, who claimed that Christ was a man but not God; one to docetists like Marcion, who claimed that Christ was God but not a man; and another to Gnostics like the Ptolemaeans, who claimed that Christ was two beings, one divine and one human. The first full-length work to evaluate textual data with reference to specific controversies between orthodoxy and heresies, Ehrman's thorough and incisive analysis makes a vital contribution to our understanding of the social and intellectual history of early Christianity. In addition, it raises intriguing questions about the relationship of readers to their texts - especially in an age when scribes could transform the documents they reproduced to make them say what they were already thought to mean, effecting thereby the orthodox corruption of Scripture. Contents: The Text of Scripture in an Age of Dissent: Early Christian Struggles for Orthodoxy The victors not only write the history, they also reproduce the texts. In a study that explores the close relationship between the social history of early Christianity and the textual tradition of the emerging New Testament, Ehrman examines how early struggles between Christian "heresy" and "orthodoxy" affected the transmission of the documents over which, in part, the debates were waged. His thesis is that proto-orthodox scribes of the second and third centuries occasionally altered their sacred texts for polemical reasons--for example, to oppose adoptionists like the Ebionites, who claimed that Christ was a man but not God, or docetists like Marcion, who claimed that he was God but not a man, or Gnostics like the Ptolemaeans, who claimed that he was two beings, one divine and one human. Ehrman's thorough and incisive analysis makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the social and intellectual history of early Christianity and raises intriguing questions about the relationship of readers to their texts, especially in an age when scribes could transform the documents they reproduced to make them say what they were already thought to mean, effecting thereby the orthodox corruption of Scripture. Review Excerpts: "This detailed, carefully argued, and thoroughly documented study should be purchased for collections serving faculty and graduate students in New Testament studies and church history." --Choice "Written in a clear and interesting style." --The Princeton Seminary Bulletin "Ehrman's study is well written....This book will be useful for senior seminars and beginning graduate students." --The Journal of Religion "Ehrman's is a good book, and one which deserves the attention of scholars" --Reviews in Religion and Theology "[Ehrman's] arguments throughout deserve our attention; they are frequently compelling....Clearly set out and persuasively presented....Variants that treat of Christ's person and function must from now on always be considered with reference to Ehrman's thesis." --Novum Testamentum "This book is highly recommended as an excellent work of scholarship that is of great importance in the development of New Testament studies. Here is a new voice that addresses some of the central theological and historical issues." --Journal of Theological Studies "Bart D. Ehrman has written a book which will stimulate the casual reader and intrigue the academic or professional reader of the New Testament....An excellent work and definitely invaluable for lay or scholars." --Anglican Theological Review "This is a fascinating book, which deserves a wide readership....I thoroughly recommend this book for its textual and theological interest and for its readability." --Irish Theological Quarterly "[A] detailed and carefully documented study." --Religious Studies Review "This is a book well worth reading. The New Testament scholar will find in it an excellent study of textual criticism, systematically organized under the rubric of scribal Tendenzen. The systematic theologian as well as the student of early Christian thought will find in it an excellent expose of the fashion in which conviction colors the way in which one reads the tradition." --Journal of Early Christian Studies Bart D. Ehrman chairs the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. An authority on the early Church and the life of Jesus, he has appeared on A&E, the History Channel, CNN, and other television and radio shows. He has taped several highly popular lecture series for the "Teaching Company" and is the author of multiple books including The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (Third Edition, OUP, 2003). Title: Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the NT Your Price: Only $17.55
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Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament. Bart D. Ehrman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Oxford University Press, 1996, 6x9" softbound, 328 pages.