Steven Carr

It is well known that Bart Ehrman regards the Jesus-myth case as nonsense.

Let us try a thought experiment.

With only a copy of the Greek New Testament, Bart Ehrman is transported back to Jerusalem in 5 BC

Needing money to buy food, he decides to sell his NT to Herod's court for a large some of money, telling them it is a 'prophecy' about an enemy of Herod.

Would it surprise Ehrman if a year later Herod's soldiers trample all over Bethlehem , and then have him arrested and executed as a fraudster?

Casper

nice.

stuart shepherd

I would expect that Herod and his advisors would decide that the New Testament is just a work of fiction and ignore it.

Stuart Shepherd

schilling.klaus

I'd give the NT to Philo Alexandrinus so he could write a competent comment on it.

Klaus Schilling

jjramsey

Probably not. Just by Googling "Ehrman Bethlehem," I find that he probably doesn't think that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and that the stories that place his birth there rather than Nazareth are motivated by an attempt to have Jesus appear to fulfill prophecy.

Now what does that have to do with Jesus' whole life being a myth, especially since scholars such as Ehrman believe the Gospels are highly embellished?

mountainman

Herod's court would have rejected the offer to buy.

Bart may have burned one third of the NT books
and then returned, to offer the remaining books for
the same price. Herod's court would again reject
the offer. Bart destroys all but a third of the NT
books and returns to again offer the sole remnant
to Herod's court. Is this version of the story familiar?

Best wishes,



Pete Brown

Steven Carr

That would be one defense Ehrman could use in his trial.


But I don't think Herod will be convinced by claims that the Jesus of the Gospels existed, when his soldiers could find no evidence of the Jesus of the Gospels being born.

jjramsey

Question: Given that Ehrman thinks that the Gospels are embellished bad histories, why would you suppose that he'd sell the NT as prophecies in the first place?

Steven Carr

He would need some money. How else would he earn money?

And after all, Ehrman claims the Gospels are about someone who was just about to be born in 4 BC.

Toto

Has Ehrman ever made that definite a claim? There's a lot of difference between believing that Christianity started with a historical man, and thinking that the gospels contain specific evidence of his life or the date of his birth. In Apocalyptic Prophet (or via: amazon.co.uk), Ehrman rejects the historicity of Matthew's birth story.