Originally Posted by James The Least

Not sure what the people involved in New Testament Studies have done to deserve such genuflection. If Ehrman is in any way typical, NT professors come from right-wing conservative families where the Bible is studied intensely because it's believed to be all or mostly true. The kiddies then go off to college so they can study and teach the most important book of all time to save the world, only to find out that what their parents taught them about the Bible isn't actually true. Spiritual crises ensue. The consolation is that they still get to talk and write about their favorite superhero, Jesus, just not as a god, but an "apocalyptic prophet" unjustly executed. Different types of Jesuses are grudgingly accepted only as long as they are posited by a tiny elite of fellow scholars. You discover to your shock at age 30 that some heathens even once posited that Jesus never even existed, but fortunately you learn that their ridiculous arguments have been "refuted," so you don't have to think a moment longer about that horrifying possibility.

It's all rather juvenile and childish, and should have died as a profession centuries ago.