Reviews 209

the boundaries of a Jewish lifestyle that called for a zealous response to

covenantal and torahaic living. Indeed, Pauls conversion experience
transformed him from being a traditionalist Jew, whose ardent protec-
tion of the Law and separation from Gentiles made him into tyrannical
slayer of followers of Christ, into an apostle that made the Gospel of
Christ freely available to all. Despite being ethnically Jewish, being
Jewish for Paul was a code of conduct and manner of living that was no
longer necessary for those that were In Christ. This meant that his
Jewish code of living became something of his past, his strict Pharisaic
lifestyle abandoned to life with Christ, an identity Paul embodied with
ardent enthusiasm. Pauls enemies would have no doubt regarded him
as an apostate to Judaism, but having said this, Paul did not forget what
it meant to be Israelite, or that Christianity owes much of its heritage to
Judaism, which for him was something Christ came to fulfill in escha-
tological tribulation, an antecedent of the age to come!
This is an interesting book and a good introduction to some of the
basic issues of New Testament Studies. Far too often scholars become
too embroiled with issues of historicity rather than asking more signifi-
cant questions about the Personalities and Sitz im Leben of the Charac-
ters they seek to convey. Dunn, while not ignoring historicity, also
realizes that taking a character out of his or her context, and then
attempting to write their Biography, would be a ludicrous venture. He
therefore considers the characterization and message(s) of Jesus and
Paul within the context they belong in the hope that any comparisons or
value judgments as to their agenda might be more reliable. While I was
disappointed by Dunns rather indiscrete remark at the start of this
book that we are forced to depend on the Christian writings to fill out
our picture of Jesus, to which I would remind him that we would make
not be looking for Jesus at all were it not for the biblical material, this is
certainly a useful resource and a pre-cursor for further reading.

Benjamin Bury
University of Birmingham

The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christo-

logical Controversies on the Text of the New Testament, 2nd Edition,
Bart D. Ehrman, Oxford University Press, 2011 (ISBN 978-0-19-973978-
3), 416 pp., pb 18.99

Now in a slightly updated second edition of the original 1993 publica-

tion, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture seeks to emphasize the
2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
210 Reviews

influence of the various sociohistorical contexts for the textual variants

produced by early Christian scribes. For Ehrman, this means that the
texts of the New Testament were copied and distributed within a diver-
sity of Christological beliefs and controversies. The proto-orthodox
Christians were a minority group embroiled in a constant battle for
survival against a wide variety of differing representations of Christian
faith and corresponding Christological beliefs. The chief weapon
employed by the proto-orthodox in this global power struggle for influ-
ence was a collection of texts they began to recognize as sacred scrip-
tures. Therefore the scribes who copied these texts understandably
interpreted and re-wrote them according to their orthodox position. In
this way, coping and interpreting a text are inseparably intertwined
activities, so textual variants often have considerable theological impor-
tance. Especially within this belligerent atmosphere, theologically sig-
nificant amendments are naturally to be expected. Accordingly, Ehrman
studies the multitude of New Testament corruptions of the text and
their implications for the proto-orthodoxs multiple-front war waged
against the heresies of Adoptionism, Separationism, Docetism, and
Patripassianism.
Ehrman first examines the heresy of Adoptionism, defined by the
proto-orthodox as the belief that human Jesus was adopted by God as his
son at his baptism. Divine sonship was not an inherent possession of
Jesus, but it a title bestowed upon him by God. In defense against this
heresy, the proto-orthodox placed great importance on Jesus virgin
birth and divine nature, while improving texts which may convey that
Jesus was appointed by God. Several witnesses to Matthew 1.16 empha-
size Marys status as a virgin and only betrothed to Joseph. This under-
scores Marys virginal conception and Jesus divine origin. In Luke 3.22,
some texts have amended the Adoptionist verse, You are my Son,
today I have begotten you. The Alexandrian variants of John 1.18 more
plainly assert Jesus divinity, reading the unique God who is in the
bosom of the Father. For Ehrman, these alterations to the text, among
others, are most plausibly explained within an anti-Adoptionist
proto-orthodoxy.
Chapter 3 concentrates on how the proto-orthodox addressed what
Ehrman calls the Gnostic Separationist Christology. This doctrine
claimed that Jesus received a portion of the Godhead, the divine Christ,
at his baptism and left him prior to his passion. Given this milieu,
Ehrman believes that scribes were led to make a number of small
alterations to more closely associate the title Christ with Jesus birth,
crucifixion, and resurrection. For example, in 1 John 4.3 some texts read
anyone who separates Jesus is not from God. Or in Mark 1.11, some
Byzantine texts suggest that the Spirit descended upon him rather
than into him. On the cross, according to texts D c i k syrh, Jesus cries
out Why have you reviled me instead of a possible translation of the
2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Reviews 211

majority text, Why have you left me behind. In each instance, the
resultant theology of the variant texts stands closer to orthodox theol-
ogy and therefore for Ehrman it specifically derives from an anxiety
over Separationist Christologies.
The heresy known as Docetism accepted Jesus full divinity, but it
claimed that Jesus only appeared to be human. The most well-known
Docetic theologian in early Christianity was Marcion, who claimed that
since the God of Jesus opposed the Creator-God then Jesus could not
have assumed creaturely existence. For Ehrman, this challenge to proto-
orthodoxy contributed a variety of textual variants emphasizing Jesus
fleshly life, especially regarding his death and resurrection. In Luke
22.4344, an array of manuscripts witness to Jesus having bloody
sweat as he prayed in Gethsemane. If this reading arises within the
context of a Docetic controversy, then the reference to Jesus bloody
agony would have been understood as a clear sign of Jesus bodily
suffering. When Jesus is thirsty in Luke 19.28, some manuscripts
omit that thirst occurs in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,
suggesting that Jesus thirst arises from his physical need rather
than scriptural fulfillment. A number of the famous Western non-
interpolations are preferred; for example, the shorter reading of Luke
22.1920 is favored by Ehrman principally because the longer text can
have an anti-Docetic interpolation. Elsewhere, Luke 24.12 is considered
to have been inserted by proto-orthodox scribes concerned to legitimate
the physical resurrection of Jesus.
The final heresy Ehrman investigates is Patripassianism/Modalism,
or the belief that the one god (the Father) descended from heaven into
the person of Jesus and subsequently suffered. A few minor textual
variants therefore express a concern to distinguish between the Father
and the Son. In the Bezae codex witness to Mark 2.7, the one who can
forgive sins is simply said to be God, rather than God alone. For
Ehrman, this modification has been made to preserve Jesus divinity,
yet it distinguishes this identity from the Father. Or in Colossians 2.2,
the original reading the mystery of God, who is Christ has been
altered at least fourteen different ways to avoid the Patripassianist
implications.
For the second edition of The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture Ehrman
has written a new afterword to reflect on the debates and advances
within textual criticism in the twenty years since the first publication.
Ehrmans original monograph has found broad acceptance within
textual criticism and there have been several works following its socio-
historical approach. Most of this chapter is devoted to an extended
survey of the recent New Testament criticism and its questioning the
reliability of the old text-critical pursuit of the original text. Ehrman
surprisingly declares that this was the chief concern of Orthodox
Corruption of Scripture (p. 341). Instead of recovering an original,
2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
212 Reviews

uncorrupted text, textual criticism must approximate what was plausi-

bly written by the author, as can best be reconstructed.
The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture is an impressively comprehen-
sive and bold thesis with vast implications for both text criticism and
the study of early Christianity. Ehrman has put to the fore the question
of the theological implications of variants and their place within early
Christianity. However, in his assumption of a diverse, embattled Chris-
tianity comprised of heretics and proto-orthodox, Ehrman has con-
structed a mosaic of data which more recent research has called into
question. For example, while specific heretics and proto-orthodox theo-
logians are usually discussed to create the setting for the textual vari-
ants, these are only loosely coordinated with the provenance and date of
texts in question. In the absence of specific evidence, Ehrman may have
overestimated the effect of the Christological debates upon the trans-
mission of the Biblical texts. Without a direct correspondence between
the texts and Ehrmans a priori theological battlefield, there seems little
reason to suggest that the heretical reading is the preferred, more
difficult one. Especially if early Christianity was as radically diverse
as he contends, it may also be suggested that the text of scrip-
ture has undergone a heretical corruption by heretical scribes. In
many instances, we simply do not know enough about the various
Christianities both proto-orthodox and heretical to plausibly estab-
lish what Ehrman asserts. Future research will either validate the thesis
of The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, or reveal the inadequacy of its
presuppositions.

Todd Brewer
Durham University

Ecclesiastes, Peter Enns, Eerdmans, 2011 (ISBN 978-0-8028-6649-3), 252

pp., pb $25

Peter Ennss work on Ecclesiastes offers a broad but fair treatment of

the book as a whole. Ennss goal is not to offer an exhaustive treatment
of the book; rather, he selects and addresses the key issues and themes
of the book. The book is written to appeal to all possible audiences
student, layperson, pastor, and scholar.
Ennss commentary is unique in that the book is divided into four
sections. Enns devotes roughly thirty pages to introductory matters.
The commentary occupies about eighty pages. Following this, Enns
deals with theological themes in the book (some of which already
2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
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