Evolution of Bible Stories (NPR)

NPR reports on the evolution of bible stories by interviewing Prof William Warren of the New Orleans Baptist Seminary. The intention of the project is to enable ordinary Christian people to be aware of and assess some of these alterations. Changes in Mark's ending of the gospel and John's gospel are discussed:

"We actually have more than one ending in the manuscripts, and then we have some with no ending," Warren explains, "So what we think probably happened there is that as soon as you see the other Gospels with the resurrection stories, early in the 2nd century at least, someone says, 'You know, we need to put some of this material into Mark to round it off better.' "

Warren points to another significant change in the gospel of John: In the earliest manuscripts, he says, John did not include Jesus challenging a mob that's about to stone a woman accused of adultery with the now-famous line: "Let any among you who is without sin cast the first stone."