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Word Gems 

exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity

Prof. Bart D. Ehrman

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Editor's prefatory comment: Dr. Ehrman explains that the 5700 early copies of the New Testament – copies of copies of copies – contain hundreds of thousands of discrepancies. Many of these are inconsequential but a significant number alter the meaning of the text in important ways. Most of these constituted mere human error in copying but some of them, it appears, were purposefully injected into the text by editorial judgment of scribes. This entire area of scholarship is far more complex than most realize, leading the objective reviewer to understand that, in many cases, we have no knowledge of the original text of the New Testament. In addition to Dr. Ehrman’s books, his lectures are available on youtube; for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfheSAcCsrE&t=12s

Dr. Ehrman speaks of this in his book, "Jesus, Interrupted."

“… what is one to make of Psalm 137, one of the most beautiful Psalms, which starts with the memorable lines ‘By the rivers of Babylon – there we sat down and there we wept, when we remembered Zion.’ Here is a powerful reflection by a faithful Israelite who longs to return to Jerusalem, which had been destroyed by the Babylonians.

“But his praise of God, and of his holy city, takes a vicious turn at the end, when he plots his revenge on God’s enemies: ‘Happy shall they be who take your [Babylonian] little ones, and dash them against the rock.’

“Knocking the brains out of the Babylonian babies in retaliation for what their father-soldiers did?”

Is this the mind of God in an "infallible book"? Or is this a document reflecting the low-level spirit of the times – and of unenlightened humankind at all times?