... hinted that the story was removed from the original text of the Gospel because “some were of slight faith” and it was removed “to avoid scandal.” So it seems that the bowdlerizers were at work, even on the earliest New Testament manuscripts! The term “bowdlerize” came from Dr. Thomas Bowdler who, in the 18th century, produced expurgated versions of Shakespeare’s works and even Gibbons’ “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” omitting any “expressions which cannot with propriety be read ...
