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Bart D. Ehrman Quotes

born 1955 United States

Bart D. Ehrman (born 5 October 1955) is an American New Testament scholar.

United States
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Also known as: Bart Ehrman

Random Bart D. Ehrman quote

28 quotes

Paul knows one of [Jesus's] brothers personally. It is hard to get much closer to the historical Jesus than that. If Jesus never lived, you would think that his brother would know about it.

Did Jesus Exist? (2012)

Judas's act of "betrayal" is in fact his faithful obedience to Jesus' will.

The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot (2006)

Historians can establish only what probably happened in the past, but miracles, by their very nature, are always the least probable explanation for what happened.

Jesus, Interrupted (2009)

Even though Jesus may be the only miracleworking Son of God that people know about today, there were lots of people like this in the ancient world.

How Jesus Became God (2014)

The use of deception to promote the truth may well be considered one of the most unsettling ironies of the early Christian tradition.

Forged (2011)

They learn all this, and yet when they enter church ministry they appear to put it back on the shelf.

Jesus, Interrupted (2009)

The very idea that society should serve the poor, the sick, and the marginalized became a distinctively Christian concern.

The Triumph of Christianity (2018)

Christianity may well have succeeded even if Constantine had not converted.

The Triumph of Christianity (2018)

The Bible is the most widely purchased, most thoroughly revered, and probably most broadly misunderstood book in the history of human civilization.

From the historians' perspective it is striking that all forms of early Christianity claimed authorization of their views by tracing their lineage back through the apostles to Jesus.

Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (2003)

One could argue as well that Jesus is the most important person in the history of the West, looked at from a historical, social, or cultural perspective, quite apart from his religious significance.

Did Jesus Exist? (2012)

We don't even have copies of the copies of the originals, or copies of the copies of the copies of the originals. What we have are copies made later—much later.

Misquoting Jesus (2005)

Very few people who devote their lives to studying the historical Jesus actually want to find a Jesus who is completely removed from our own time. What people want ... is relevance.

Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (1999)

Whoever added the final twelve verses of Mark did not do so by a mere slip of the pen.

Forged (2011)

Miracles, by our very definition of the term, are virtually impossible events.

Jesus, Interrupted (2009)

And so to read a text is, necessarily, to change a text.

Misquoting Jesus (2005)

The Bible is not a unity, it is a massive plurality. God did not write the Bible, people did.

Jesus, Interrupted (2009)

My thesis can be stated simply: scribes occasionally altered the words of their sacred texts to make them more patently orthodox and to prevent their misuse by Christians who espoused aberrant views.

The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture (1993)

It would be impossible, I should think, to argue that the Bible is a unified whole, inerrant in all its parts, inspired by God in every way.

Jesus, Interrupted (2009)

One of the most amazing and perplexing features of mainstream Christianity is that seminarians who learn the historical-critical method in their Bible classes appear to forget all about it when it comes time for them to be pastors.

Jesus, Interrupted (2009)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Bart D. Ehrman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.