15 December 2005
“I think that Christians who see the Bible as authoritative have to make a decision about what it is they see as authoritative. Is it the original text as it was originally written? If so, that’s a problem, because we don’t have the original text. If you ascribe authority to stories added later, where do you draw the line? Does it mean anyone can add something to the Bible and have it count as Scripture?” Bart Ehrman, UNC religious studies chair and author of Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, speaks with NPR’s Terry Gross on Fresh Air, about how the “cast the first stone” story of the adulteress was added to the Gospel of John by scribes in the 12th Century, and other challenges to the authoritativeness of the Bible. Listen.