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Bart D. Ehrman

New Testament Studies
Full name	Bart D. Ehrman
School/tradition	Evangelical Christian -> New Testament textual critic -> agnostic
Main interests	New Testament authentication, Historical Jesus, Lost Gospels, Early Christian writings
Notable ideas	Textual errors in the New Testament.

Bart D. Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar and textual critic of early Christianity. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written about how the original New Testament texts were frequently altered by scribes for a variety of reasons, and argues that these alterations affect the interpretation of the texts.

Ehrman writes about the early Christians, using the term "proto-orthodox" to describe the Christian traditions that would later be defined as orthodox.^[1] He describes first- and second-century Christians as not yet having a unified, orthodox tradition.^[1]

As a textual critic, Ehrman examines various versions of a text in order to determine what the text originally said.^[1] For instance, various ancient manuscripts have different endings for the gospel of Mark (see Mark 16).^[1] Ehrman concludes that the text originally ended at verse 16:9 and that none of the endings were original.^[1] One method Ehrman uses for helping him analyze text is to look for changes that favor the agenda of the scribes who copied the texts.^[1] If one version of a New Testament text makes the the gospels seem more similar, downplays the role of women, softens statements that are hard to take, or opposes beliefs outside the proto-orthodox sphere, Ehrman says that such versions are more likely to represent deliberate changes on the part of scribes and not to be original.^[1]

Contents 1 Career 2 Major themes of his works and useful terminology 2.1 Historicity of New Testament tradition 2.2 What changes were made, by whom, and why? 2.3 Views on Biblical inerrancy 3 Criticism 4 Personal life 5 Bibliography 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Career

Ehrman began studying the Bible and its original languages at the Moody Bible Institute and is a 1978 graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois. He received his Ph.D and M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studied under Bruce Metzger. He currently serves as the chairman of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was the President of the Southeast Region of the Society of Biblical Literature, and worked closely as an editor on a number of the Society's publications. Currently, he co-edits the series New Testament Tools and Studies.

Much of Ehrman's writing has concentrated on various aspects of Walter Bauer's thesis that Christianity was always diversified or at odds with itself. Ehrman is often considered a pioneer in connecting the history of the early church to textual variants within biblical manuscripts and in coining such terms as "Proto-orthodox Christianity." In his writings, Ehrman has turned around textual criticism. From the time of the Church Fathers, it was those denounced as heretics (Marcion, for example) who were charged with tampering with the biblical manuscripts. Ehrman theorizes that it was more often the Orthodox that "corrupted" the manuscripts, altering the text to promote particular viewpoints.

Ehrman became an Evangelical Christian as a teen. His desire to understand the original words of the Bible led him to the study of ancient languages and to textual criticism, to which he attributes the inspiration for an ongoing critical exploration of the basis of his own religious beliefs, which in turn gradually led to the questioning of his faith in the Bible as the inerrant, unchanging word of God. He now considers himself an agnostic.^[2][3] Nevertheless, Ehrman has kept ongoing dialogue with evangelicals. In March 2006, he joined theologian William Lane Craig in public debate on the question "Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?" on the campus of the College of the Holy Cross.^[4] In April of 2008, Ehrman and evangelical New Testament scholar Daniel B. Wallace participated in a public dialogue on the textual reliability of the New Testament.^[5] In January of 2009, Dr. Ehrman debated Dr. James White, Director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, an Evangelical Reformed Baptist scholar on "Did the Bible Mis-Quote Jesus?.

He has authored or contributed to nineteen books. In 2006, he appeared on The Colbert Report, as well as The Daily Show, to promote his book Misquoting Jesus. In 2007, he gave a speech at Stanford University in which he discussed the textual inconsistencies of the New Testament, and also took questions from the audience. He has also made several guest appearances on National Public Radio (NPR) including the show Fresh Air in February 2008 to discuss his book God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question—Why We Suffer and in March 2009 to discuss his book Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know About Them).

Professional awards received include the Students' Undergraduate Teaching Award, The Ruth and Philip Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement, and The Bowman and Gordon Gray Award for Excellence in Teaching.

[edit] Major themes of his works and useful terminology

Two major themes run throughout nearly all of his books and lectures. First is the desire to analyze the historicity of claims made by ancient texts used in the creation of the New Testament, as well as many books left out of the Christian canon, and subject them to a series of criteria. Second is the desire to reveal the thousands of differences and changes in the texts some people take to be the inerrant and literal "Word of God," who it was that changed the originals (none of which have survived), and what motivations or theological benefit could lie behind such changes being made.

[edit] Historicity of New Testament tradition

The first major theme in his books and lectures is to analyze the historical accuracy of ancient religious texts used in the creation of the New Testament. Ehrman subjects them to a series of specific criteria. The criteria are as follows:

1. Criterion of independent attestation - the more sources that mention an event, the more likely it is to be historically accurate. Multiple witnesses are better than one witness. This is akin to corroborating evidence in modern trials.^[6] It is worth noting here that since Matthew and Luke took many stories from Mark, those instances cannot be considered independently attested. It is also worth noting that just because an event or saying is found only in one source, that alone is not evidence that it is historically inaccurate. This criterion will, however, assist in determining where the information is on a spectrum of more or less likely to be authentic.
2. Criterion of dissimilarity - the more a witness or source makes claims counter to their vested interests, the more that testimony is likely to be true.^[7] This criterion is the most controversial of the three, and does not always properly apply to ancient sources, but is valuable nonetheless as one of the tools to evaluate historical reliability. In short, if a supposed saying or deed of Jesus seems to go against or does not support the supposed agenda of its record's author, then it is considered more likely to be historically accurate.
3. Criterion of contextual credibility - states that "the sayings, deeds, and experiences of Jesus must be plausibly situated in the historical context of first-century Palestine to be trusted as reliable."^[8] Whereas the first two criteria serve to place a tradition on a spectrum of more or less historically reliable, this criterion is used exclusively to argue against the historicity of a tradition.

[edit] What changes were made, by whom, and why?

A second major theme that runs through his more recent works is the analysis of why such biblical variations are there. The vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of differences are due to the mistakes of scribes;^[9] these have little or no effect on the meaning of the passages or core tenets of Christian dogma. Ehrman argues however that some changes could not have been mistakes, but were purposeful alterations by early church writers to support their interpretation of Christianity.

Two key examples illustrate the critical nature of the variations. According to Ehrman, two of the most striking additions occur in the last 12 verses of the Gospel of Mark, and in 1 John 5:7-8, known as the Comma Johanneum.

Ehrman points out that the last 12 verses of the Gospel of Mark are not found in the earliest manuscripts,^[9] an omission which is noted in the New International Version (a translation used by many Evangelicals),^[10] and argues that these verses were added on to the original text many years later.^[9]

In the King James Version of the First Epistle of John 5:7-8 there is a passage often taken as an explicit reference to the doctrine of the Trinity. Ehrman points out that this section does not appear in any Greek manuscript before the 9th century.^[9]

[edit] Views on Biblical inerrancy

In an interview with the BBC, Ehrman said:

I think that there is no doubt that the Bible is filled with human error. Both the copies that we have which are changed by scribes, there is nobody who can doubt this. All you need to do is take two manuscripts and compare them with one another and they’re different: hundreds, maybe thousands of places.

When asked if the Bible is the Word of God, his usual answer is by asking: "Which bible? Is it the Bible that you buy in your local bookstore? Is it the Bible found in manuscripts? If in manuscripts, which manuscripts?"^[11]

[edit] Criticism

In a review of Misquoting Jesus, Daniel B. Wallace, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, wrote, "Unfortunately, as careful a scholar as Ehrman is, his treatment of major theological changes in the text of the New Testament tends to fall under one of two criticisms: Either his textual decisions are wrong, or his interpretation is wrong." Wallace also wrote, "One almost gets the impression that he is encouraging the Chicken Littles in the Christian community to panic at data that they are simply not prepared to wrestle with."^[12][13] Ehrman's conclusions have also been challenged by Craig Blomberg and Thomas Howe.^[14][15]

[edit] Personal life

Ehrman has two children, a daughter, Kelly, and a son, Derek. After divorcing his first wife, he married Sarah Beckwith, Marcello Lotti Professor of English at Duke University. He lives in Durham, North Carolina. Dr. Ehrman grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and attended Lawrence High School where he was on the state champion debate team in 1973.

[edit] Bibliography

• Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know About Them). HarperCollins, USA. 2009. ISBN 0-06-117393-2. 
• God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer. HarperCollins, USA. 2008. ISBN 0-06-117397-5. 
• The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot: A New Look at Betrayer and Betrayed. Oxford University Press, USA. 2006. ISBN 0-19-531460-3. 
• Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend. Oxford University Press, USA. 2006. ISBN 0-19-530013-0. 
• Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. HarperSanFrancisco. 2005. ISBN 0-06-073817-0. 
• Metzger, Bruce M.; Ehrman, Bart (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-516667-1. 
• Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine. Oxford University Press, USA. 2004. ISBN 0-19-518140-9. 
• A Brief Introduction to the New Testament. Oxford University Press, USA. 2004. ISBN 0-19-516123-8. 
• Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. Oxford University Press, USA. 2003. ISBN 0-19-514183-0. 
• The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. Oxford University Press, USA. 2003. ISBN 0-19-515462-2. 
• Ehrman, Bart; Jacobs, Andrew S. (2003). Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300-450 C.E.: A Reader. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 0-19-515461-4. 
• The Apostolic Fathers: Volume II. Epistle of Barnabas. Papias and Quadratus. Epistle to Diognetus. The Shepherd of Hermas. Harvard University Press. 2003. ISBN 0-674-99608-9. 
• The Apostolic Fathers: Volume I. I Clement. II Clement. Ignatius. Polycarp. Didache. Harvard University Press. 2003. ISBN 0-674-99607-0. 
• The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader. Oxford University Press, USA. 2003. ISBN 0-19-515464-9. 
• Lost Scriptures: Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament. Oxford University Press, USA. 2003. ISBN 0-19-514182-2. 
• Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. Oxford University Press, USA. 1999. ISBN 0-19-512474-X. 
• After the New Testament: A Reader in Early Christianity. Oxford University Press, USA. 1998. ISBN 0-19-511445-0. 
• The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture: The Effect of Early Christological Controversies on the Text of the New Testament. Oxford University Press, USA. 1996. ISBN 0-19-510279-7. 
• The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essays on the Status Quaestionis. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 1995. ISBN 0-80284-824-9. 
• Didymus the Blind and the Text of the Gospels (The New Testament in the Greek Fathers; No. 1). Society of Biblical Literature. 1987. ISBN 1-55540-084-1. 

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Bart Ehrman's Official Website
• Bart Ehrman's Biography
• Oxford University Press Small web page provided by publisher
• Debate with W.L. Craig on the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus

Appearances & Interviews:

• Ehrman on The Daily Show with John Stewart
• Ehrman on The Colbert Report with Stephen Colbert
• A Q&A session with Bart
• Ehrman confronts Christianity on Why We Suffer NPR featuring Fresh Air from WHYY-FM with Terri Gross
• Ehrman speaks at Stanford University Full 01:39:15 Video

The Teaching Company Courses:

• Bart Ehrman - New Testament
• Bart Ehrman - Historical Jesus
• Bart Ehrman - History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon
• Bart Ehrman - Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication
• Bart Ehrman - After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers
• Bart Ehrman - From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity