This is sort-of-not-really a sequel to Misquoting Jesus. Though Bart Ehrman occasionally skips explaining a tangent in depth in favor of saying "it's in Misquoting Jesus" (although I only recall two distinct times he does so), the two books are fundamentally about different topics. Misquoting Jesus is about the historicity of the New Testament manuscripts, how they were changed, and how historians get an idea of which versions are closest to the original. Jesus, Interrupted is about the historicity of Christianity and how differences between New Testament documents, especially the gospels, give us an idea of how early Christianity evolved. 

This book does solve one major problem that I had with Misquoting Jesus, though - he establishes his education, expertise, and ability to speak authoritatively about these topics much better. Bart is a New Testament scholar and a historian, went to Princeton Seminary and teaches New Testament classes at multiple universities, and this book is based on reading the New Testament through a historical-critical lens. He not only talks about the contradictions in the New Testament, but he discusses why they're significant, what they tell us about how Christianity evolved as a religion, and the conclusions historians have reached about various New Testament topics. And even though he is an agnostic, he's careful to point out that you can accept these things and still be a Christian - not a Biblical Literalist, sure, but there are ways to be Christian that don't involve you believing that the Bible is divinely dictated and contains zero mistakes, errors, or contradictions. 

I found all of this fascinating. I grew up in a fundmentalist, Biblical-literalist Christian sect that was full of mental gymnastics and made-up "context" to explain away inconsistencies, when we noticed them at all. We were also very into the idea of "Original Christianity," as in the mythical perfectly-unified version of Christianity we thought the first Christians followed. I knew "Original Christianity" never existed as a single unified thing, but it was fascinating to see historians use the evidence from the New Testament itself to trace the evolution of Christian theology. The thing I thought was funniest is that historical evidence points to Jesus just being the prophet of a Jewish apocalyptic sect that got way out of hand after his (ordinary and resurrection-less) death. Wouldn't it be hilarious for my old fundamentalist sect to find out that's what Original Christianity was! 

Interestingly enough, Bart establishes early on that he believes Jesus was a real historical person. I didn't really believe that, but reading this book actually convinced me. After discovering the evidence that historians have, I think the historical evidence does point to an actual historical Jesus existing--but as the founder of an unremarkable Jewish apocalyptic sect, not as messiah and son of god. 

I want to say more, because this book is just so fascinating, but this review is getting long as it is. If you have even a passing interest in the Bible - whether you're Christian, a Biblical Literalist, interested in the academic study of early Christianity, or just want to know more about the most influential book in Western culture - I can't recommend Jesus, Interrupted highly enough.