This was a really quick, very interesting read. I'm really intrigued by religious studies and thought, and anything controversial about the evolution, development, inspiration or revelation about religion grabs my attention.
Ehrman uses textual criticism to attempt to find the best sources for the "original" Christian Bible. Best doesn't necessarily mean earliest as Ehrman depicts the first few hundred years after Jesus crucifixion as tumultuous in terms of religiosity and in terms of scribing the acts of Jesus.
No one person wrote the Bible, nor is it really the inspired verbatim word of God. Were it the direct words of God, why is it confusing, obscure, confounded and so widely misunderstood? The more likely answer, according to scholars like Ehrman is because the Bible was written, re-written, edited and translated hundreds of times by hundreds of people over hundreds of years.
Was Jesus divine or mundane? Well, that depends on what Bible you read and that depends on what denomination of Christianity you follow. Right now in the 21st Century, there are multiple denominations of Christianity: Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Anglican, Jesuit, etc. In the last two thousand years, there have been many, many more, and Ehrman paints a picture that virtually every denomination has interpreted their Bible according to their needs and that some denominations have even edited verses and re-worded meanings to fit their needs and desires. Ehrman uses the example of Jesus's anger. Did he get angry or did he not? Well, that depends on what Bible and version you read. When he was crucified, did he calmly face his death release his spirit to God or did he cry out in pain wondering why God had forsaken him? Again, that depends on what Bible you read.
After finishing the book, I doubt that the Bible is a divinely inspired tome of Godly wisdom, it is merely the work of many men saying that it is the word of God.
