Jesus, Interrupted

This book is an excellent resource for someone who has read passages of the Bible, identified contradictions, and been interested how religious scholars address them. Ehrman plainly describes how Christians throughout history have interpreted passages of the Bible that do not align with each other and provides historical context on how and why some of these stories were included in the first place.

It's difficult to say how others might feel upon reading this. I feel that Ehrman's writing is fairly objective and he's honest that he does not believe in Christianity the way he once did, but still cares to study the Bible as a historical document. My biggest takeaway is that being a Christian requires a type of faith that I just don't have. A true believer would read this book and not care that there are contradictions in the Bible– they would remain steadfast in their faith because they believe in god. Ehrman also makes it clear that there are a number of aspects of Christianity that just aren't supported by rational accounts (e.g. Jesus rising from the dead), but believing these things in spite of the evidence is what makes someone a believer.

I can imagine some die-hard Christians reading this, calling it blasphemy, and refusing to finish it. I think that's an unfair assessment as much of what Ehrman describes is just exactly what is written in the Bible or other established historical documents (I think it's fascinating that Ehrman has studied ancient Greek and is able to read some of these documents in their original form). Reading this information and still believing is probably a good sign that you really believe.

If someone is on the fence about Christianity I would guess that reading this book would push you towards the non-believer side of things. If that idea scares you, maybe come back to it after some time. For me, there was not a single passage that made me reconsider my choice to not believe in Christianity.

This was my first book by Ehrman that I've read and I enjoyed his writing style and tone. I would definitely read more of his works. I must admit that I was on the fence about rating this 4 or 5 stars, however, as this was a bit of tough read for me to finish. It's definitely written in an accessible manner, but it still is an academic document about religious history and at times I found it boring. I don't think anyone would be clamoring to finish it after beginning, but I took my time and read it a bit at a time and feel glad that I completed it. Ehrman is himself a well-read person and he has taken the time to review an unbelievable amount of documents, and I think he did his best presenting this information to a wide audience. I'm looking forward to reading more.