NobleSavage

I know next to nothing about the history of Christianity. I've see all of Ehrman's lectures on youtube and I like them. I'm thinking about getting some of his books. So I'm wondering what kind of reputation he has in these parts. I'm trying to tip toe into learning more about christian history and I thought Ehrman would be a good place to start.

Vorkosigan

Ehrman is a great place to start. He's usually pretty informed and balanced.

Toto

Bart Ehrman is good. He is a former fundamentalist, now a university professor, and used to lecturing to undergraduates.

He is not a radical, and he is not a good source for mythicism, the theory that there was no historical Jesus. But outside of those issues, his books are good for starting to learn about Christian history.

aa5874

Ehrman is not really good for the HJ argument. His peers regard his book "Did Jesus Exist? The historical argument for an historical Jesus" as probably the worst book for the argument for HJ.

In fact, one of his peers claims that he cannot recommend Bart Ehrman's "Did Jesus Exist?

Bart Ehrman's "Did Jesus Exist? is a Failure of Facts and Logic according to Richard Carrier.

See http://freethoughtblogs.com/carrier/archives/1026

I think Bart Ehrman has single-handedly destroyed the HJ argument and it cannot ever recover.

NobleSavage

There is a radio interview on Youtube where Ehrman responds to Carrier.

MrMacSon

Bart Ehrman's done some gr8 stuff - Jesus Interrupted was good.

But Did Jesus Exit? was superficial tosh.

spin

It's amusing that the one piece of evidence he thinks worthy to provide for the existence of Jesus on that radio program is the claim that Paul knew James, the brother of Jesus.

PhilosopherJay

Hi NobleSavage,

He is an entertaining and good writer. Like many people from a Fundamentalist background, he needs to work on his logic. He often substitutes emotional appeals for deep analysis of facts.

Warmly,

Jay Raskin

aa5874

Again, I do not think that Bart Ehrman is credible. Some of his claims in the interview are highly questionable.

Bart Ehrman claims "I thought everyone knew Jesus existed".

Any serious scholar knows that the existence of Jesus of Nazareth has been questioned and that there is an ON-GOING Quest, an ON-GOING search, for an HJ by Scholars for over 200 years since it was admitted that the Jesus of the Bible is a Jesus of Faith [a Jesus of Myth].

avi

I agree with the tenor of this thread. I have read all his books, and watched his recent (2011 and 2012) visits to UK, on youtube.

All good stuff.

However, I no longer regard him as a scholar.

He is entertaining. He is fun. He is witty. He is clever. So are snake oil salesmen.

His book "Did Jesus Exist" is absurd.
His "evidence" claiming the existence of Jesus, is utter crap, absolute fiction, or dishonest manipulation, or some combination thereof.

F is the grade I give Bart Ehrman. I admit he is both smarter, and better educated, than I am. He certainly knows ten orders of magnitude more about the bible, than I will ever hope to know. He is, I believe, not an evil person.

But he has no understanding of history, logic, or empirical inquiry.

You will profit more, in my opinion, from reading several writers on this forum, many of whom also have academic credentials of distinction, and even those who do not, often conduct themselves in a scholarly fashion.

You can search the archives, on a topic of interest, and learn much more, in fifteen minutes, about that topic, than you ever could, reading Ehrman.

Some of the most skillful authors of this forum, have responded to your inquiry, on this thread (Philosopher Jay, spin, Toto, aa5874, and Vorkosigan, for example.)

But there are many other very skillful members of the forum, and you will find their submissions both informative, and educational.
Andrew Criddle and Roger Pearse, come to mind.

I am particularly attracted to a couple of Australians who write here from time to time. You will find their submissions as well, in the archives.

Hope you will provide some feedback, in a year or so, once you have digested the substance of "Did Jesus Exist".