I must read for those whose wanting to expand their insight from a single perspective (devotional) to include historical

Another fantastic and illuminating read from the incomparable Dr. Bart Ehrman!

First a warning!

To all who the diehard - slightest of true-believers, including, those who consider themselves “open-minded.” (Actually, it’s those who are truly “actively” open-minded would purchase this book to begin with.... nonetheless.)

This book may cause a large amount of “cognitive dissonance.”

Regardless of the undeniable, messy and inconvenient historical evidence. Ehrman argues against the billion+ individuals who live inside the Christian paradigm— notwithstanding, as he states in another book, the very foundation of the entire “western culture.”

So understand your personality type when diving into the real world and scholars like Bart Ehrman.

And remember the intensity of the discomfort is relative to the individual. People who are flexible enough to adjust their thoughts or live with “gray areas” may not have a strong response when they notice the discrepancies. While others may experience it more intensely or frequently if they have a high need for consistency in their lives. (I see those as a broad brush stoke, when lumping people into groups, besides the “high demand conservative religions” it’s goes for the Trump supporters as well, it’s the same personality, again in general! We need to stop the desire to erratic the notion that everything has to be couched in “PC.” Geezzzz-us!)

Also remember why this kind of argument is so hard. 2,000+ years and over 1 billion believers, even the US official holiday is “Christmas.” (Separation of????)

It’s is a long time for anything to solidify as fact vs tradition... so one has to break free from the learned misconceptions of revisionist history and then then to break free from the cultural milieu.

For some it’s just too encompassing of a task. Just the mention of two, social & psychological; might take a life time, if ever to recover. Especially for those, who live in the “South” or “Utah.,” taking just 2 as an example. Those environments have a real cost breaking free from the “undo influence” of the unspoken yet, demanding cultural expectations place upon individuals.

Having said that... and giving away no spoilers (well I did allude to the biggest one, oops).

From the words of the ever so wise and cleaver Bart SIMPON, I publicly would like to, “... JESUS, ALLAH, BUDDHA, I LOVE YOU ALL!” and I THANK YOU ALL, and the Cosmos for BART D. EHRMAN!!

PS: join his blog... it cost next to nothing, 100% proceeds go directly to a handful of charities AND he writes 4-5 1,000 posts A WEEK! Plus, one can actually ask him questions! It’s a win-win, as Dr. Ehrman says!

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7 people found this helpful

Less than perfection

As a longtime Bart Ehrman fan who loves his body of work - which is usually honest to the bone - I have to pick a bone with this one. First a compliment - the reader was much easier to listen to than Bart - with more pleasing and less preachey voice. However brother Ehrman comes across as a humbled employee - who after speaking honestly but painfully in previous books - has been chastened by evangelical Christians - and now has produced an apologetic - to orthodox Christianity - to save his teaching job at the University. Substandard for beloved Bart.

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6 people found this helpful

Ehrman distills the St. Nicholas from our culture’s Santa Claus

Paradigm shifting, though entirely consistent with biblical text, Ehrman patiently guides us through what the New Testament actually says about Jesus. His textual analysis approach to understanding scripture should be foundational in Sunday Schools.

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4 people found this helpful

boring

This book was a disappointment to listen to. Perhaps it was the scholarly approach....statements were frequently followed by recitations of bible verse origin, something that would've been better as footnotes rather than read in the actual text. This interrupted the flow and made the book tedious to listen to.

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2 people found this helpful

Gets down to the basics.

I have a number of Ehrman’s books and enjoyed everyone. Enjoyed especially because they aren’t good to read or listen to but because they’re normally very historically informative. This title though I think he gets down to what I will characterize as the logical basics of the biblical stories. You rarely if ever hear evangelicals (for example) delve into such basics and historical records and address obvious contradictions between the Old and New but also within just the New gospels.

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Historical Jesus

Erhman does a great job of separating history and theology while explaining in understandable terms. I found this book thought provoking (in the simplest of terms), a great historical accounting, and a good look at the context of the time and civilization.

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Good Read

Ehrman is a wonderful combination of accessibility and scholarship. His point about what Jesus believed about the imminent end of the world is well taken.

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Wonderful

Great book from a great author. Check out his courses also. You can find on Amazon.

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Great summation of Ehrman and the historical Jesus

This is a good entry point for anyone interested in the historical Jesus. Ehrman is the foremost scholar on that topic and I’ve read and enjoyed many of his books.

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Worth the read

Great introductory text, can get rather repetitive but also heavy concepts so the repetitiveness is necessary. Worth the read or listen.

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