Ehrman, Bart D

". . . recounts the long history of the afterlife ranging from the epic of Gilgamesh to the writings of Saint Augustine and focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers"--Adapted from dust jacket.

The author challenges the account of Dan Brown's "The DaVinci Code" and maintains that Brown's claims of total historical accuracy is actually riddled with mistakes and misinformation.

Examines the lives of Simon Peter, the Apostle Paul, and Mary Magdalene, exploring what the New Testament reveals about each of them and their relationship with Jesus and discussing how they have been portrayed throughout history.

The author explains how and why his view of the Bible as the inerrant word of God changed as his studies revealed mistakes and intentional alterations in early translations of the text, and discusses how the New Testament as it now exists came into being, and how to recognize where scribes might have changed the original words.