Bible Study Book Review - Jesus Interrupted - Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible

Despite author Bart Ehrman’s agnosticism, “Jesus Interrupted” will provoke you to rethink what is truly being conveyed in the Bible. If it shakes the foundations of your inclination to believe first and ask questions later, or that you believe the Bible has no errors at all, at least you’ll know what challenges truly exist to the content of what is considered today’s modern Bible.

Here’s basically what he delves into: 

Issues with reports and accounts about Jesus

Why is it that the four Gospels have discrepancies, irresolvable differences, and contradictions, in both small details and larger ideas?  

How do we resolve problems with the details of:

• Jesus’ birth,


• His irreconcilable genealogies,


• the day He died?  

Furthermore,           

• What was said by the ‘voice from heaven’ at Jesus’ baptism?        


• What about what Jesus did the day after his baptism?


• Was Jarius’ daughter really dead when her father went to Jesus?


• What about how how long Jesus’ ministry was?


• Why Judas Iscariot betrayed Him?


• What about the discrepancies with how He died?


• What about the different resurrection accounts?


• Did Jesus die in agony and despair, or was he really in control of the situation?


• Did Jesus teach in long discourses, or was it mainly proverbs and parables?

Issues with reports and accounts about and from Paul  

• Did Paul really travel directly to Jerusalem after his conversion?


• Did the Judean church members really know Paul?


• Did Paul travel to Athens by himself?


• How many times did he go to Jerusalem?


• Did the congregations that he established consist of Jews as well as Gentiles?


• Why does Paul have a different take on how and why Jesus died and when he became the “Son of God,” different from the Gospel writers?  

The overall issues found in Jesus Interrupted include:

• Scholars don’t know who really wrote the New Testament.


• How did the books of the New Testament get chosen over the many other letters and writings that came to exist between Jesus’ death and 367 CE?


• What reading materials did the early ‘Christians’ have to read during their meeting? Certainly, not the Bible we have today.


• How did they come to agreements on their ‘beliefs’?


• Why are later versions of the Gospels different from earlier versions? Were they tampered with?     


• Why do some so-called “Pauline” letters exist that refer to events that occurred after Paul died?


• Christianity appears to have been ‘invented’ by divergent, early ‘Christians,’ who appear to have ‘misinterpreted’ the textual content, such as the Suffering Servant in Isaiah 53.


• Christianity became an anti-Jewish movement at the hands of the Gentile Christians.   

In light of these issues, Mr. Ehrman’s well-written content leads me to ask, “Is it wrong to say the Bible was not written by God, but by people?” 

Copyright 2009 by Christopher A. Anacker. Reprint and use of article subject to Ezine Articles Terms of Service.

Bible Study Book Review - Jesus Interrupted - Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible