Most Popular
-
The Hard Lie How former Ticket host Greg Williams destroyed the most dynamic duo in Dallas talk radio through drugs, deceit and disaffection
-
American Girls Crossing between American and Egyptian cultures, he Said girls made one deadly misstep: They fell in love
-
The Dirt Doctor How radio show host Howard Garrett pushed Dallas to the center of the organic gardening movement through passion, principle and molasses
-
Our 20th Music Awards 1988-2008: Two Decades of DOMA
-
The Caretaker One mother's crusade to better the life of her mentally retarded son and the system that failed him
Blogs
Dallas Opera's New Man of Steel Talks With His Mouth Full
Wed Aug 20, 1:58 PM
Heelys Tells Skechers to Take Its $143 Mil Offer and Roll On Outta Here
Wed Aug 20, 1:00 PM
Update On Marcus Striplin's Dallas Appearances
Wed Aug 20, 2:40 PM
Stereogum Chews Up And Spits Out An Unreleased Centro-Matic Track For This Week's 'Gum Drop
Wed Aug 20, 1:35 PM
Found It: A Reason For Rangers Fans To Remain Optimistic
Wed Aug 20, 2:00 PM
June Jones Already Making Big Changes. Big, Weird Changes.
Wed Aug 20, 8:00 AM
National Features >
City Pages
Being Tron Guy
Meet the man inside the glowing Spandex unitard, who refuses to be a "geek pinata."
By Ben Palosaari
Riverfront Times
Evil Amongst Us
The nation's best known--and perhaps only--demonologist keeps up the struggle against Satanic spirits.
By Aimee Levitt
Miami New Times
Taps
Sensing the end of an era, bottled-water companies spend billions to keep an eco-unfriendly industry alive.
By Lee Klein
Village Voice
John Steinbeck's Ghosts
A man fascinated by a violent 1930s strike solves a mystery with the help of a mobster's musician.
By Tony Ortega
Is the 'Woman Caught in Adultery' Really Part of Scripture?
By Julie Lyons
Published on April 24, 2008
It’s a famous passage in Scripture, the story of the woman caught in adultery. The Pharisees and religious leaders have dragged her before Jesus in an attempt to trap him, and they ask if she should be stoned to death, in accordance with the law of Moses. The Bible notes she was “caught” in adultery, which presumes she was seen with a man. Yet no man is present when the religious leaders stand her before Jesus in the temple courts.
When the leaders persist in questioning him, Jesus says, “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” At these words, the accusing crowd melts away. “Has no one condemned you?” Jesus asks the woman.
“No one, sir,” she says.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus says. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
The passage is so well-known, and such a striking example of Jesus’ forgiveness and call to lead a godly life, that it has its own name—the pericope adulterae.
But is it really inspired Scripture?
Dr. Daniel B. Wallace, a New Testament Studies professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, has found evidence in Albania that suggests to him it is not, according to a Web-only story in Christianity Today. While photographing ancient New Testament manuscripts in Tirana, Albania, including many that were previously unknown to Western scholars, Wallace found that the story of the woman caught in adultery “was missing from three of the texts, and was out of place in a fourth, tacked on to the end of John's Gospel.”
Most translations of the Bible—including the NIV, which is linked to above—note the problems with this much-loved text yet still include it. It is certainly consistent with Jesus’ teachings. But is it the “inspired,” inerrant Word of God?
In a related Q&A, Wallace says:
Dallas Observer Insiders
- Local food, music and news blasts
- Free Stuff
Now Click This