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53-522: Bart Denton Ehrman (born October 5, 1955) is an American New Testament scholar focusing on textual criticism of the New Testament , the historical Jesus , and the origins and development of early Christianity . He has written and edited 30 books, including three college textbooks. He has also authored six New York Times bestsellers . He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at

106-450: A "critical edition" containing a text most closely approximating the original. There are three fundamental approaches to textual criticism: eclecticism, stemmatics, and copy-text editing. Techniques from the biological discipline of cladistics are currently also being used to determine the relationships between manuscripts. The phrase "lower criticism" is used to describe the contrast between textual criticism and " higher criticism ", which

159-562: A 'lethal oversight' where Jan Vansina , whom he quoted as evidence for corruption in the Jesus tradition, changed his mind, arguing that information was conveyed through a community that placed controls, rather than through chains of transmission easily subject to change. Kirk does sympathize with Ehrman that appealing to memory cannot automatically guarantee historicity. Andreas J. Köstenberger , Darrell L. Bock , and Josh D. Chatraw have disputed Ehrman's depiction of scholarly consensus, saying: "It

212-541: A PhD in 1985, where he studied textual criticism of the Bible, development of the New Testament canon and New Testament apocrypha under Bruce Metzger . Both the baccalaureate and doctorate were conferred magna cum laude . Ehrman was raised in the Episcopal Church ; as a teenager, he became a born-again evangelical . In Misquoting Jesus , he recounts being certain in his youthful enthusiasm that God had inspired

265-459: A case for considering falsely attributed or pseudepigraphic books in the New Testament and early Christian literature "forgery", looks at why certain New Testament and early Christian works are considered forged, and describes the broader phenomenon of pseudepigraphy in the Greco-Roman world . In 2012, Ehrman published Did Jesus Exist? The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth , defending

318-457: A few difficulties when it comes to analyzing the Old Testament as a historical text. New Testament historical analysis is also difficult due to the nature of the original texts that we can analyze, specifically their translatability as well as how oral tradition had effects on written tradition during the formation and canonization of gospel texts and the teachings of Jesus. The Hebrew Bible,

371-549: A highly symbolic book, there will be different outcomes in the interpretation of particular sections. Additionally, one's view of the scriptures as sacred and written by God or as a historical text has implications on one's interpretation of text. Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and literary criticism that is concerned with the identification and removal of transcription errors in texts, both manuscripts and printed books. Ancient scribes made errors or alterations when copying manuscripts by hand. Given

424-405: A manuscript copy, several or many copies, but not the original document, the textual critic seeks to reconstruct the original text (the urtext , archetype or autograph ) as closely as possible. The same processes can be used to attempt to reconstruct intermediate editions, or recensions, of a document's transcription history. The ultimate objective of the textual critic's work is the production of

477-441: A planned companion volume to Ehrman's How Jesus Became God . The contributing authors—including Michael F. Bird , Craig A. Evans , and Simon Gathercole —present Ehrman as "prone to profound confusion, botched readings, and scholarly fictions." Bird writes Ehrman's work has received a negative reception from conservative Christians but a warm reception from the non-religious. Charles Gieschen, whose work Ehrman cited, has objected to

530-497: A problem with comparing the translation to the original Hebrew (because we have it). This may lead to problems of establishing the reliability of translations like the Septuagint. In order to overcome this, researches have come up with methods to use the very few manuscripts we have and continually draw conclusions and compare to original texts using those conclusions to provide more reliability to available texts. In order to indicate if

583-631: A traditional interpretation of the Gospel of Thomas in the context of second-century Christian Gnosticism , a view that has been criticized by Elaine Pagels . Alan Kirk found Ehrman's writing in Jesus Before the Gospels to cite memory research selectively, neglecting the fact that John Bartlett's experiment discovered that stories quickly took on a stable, 'schematic' form rather quickly. Ehrman also overemphasizes individual transmission instead of community, makes

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636-405: A translation is authentic or not, it is crucial to look for keywords that may seem unique and that are not translated from a root language such as Hebrew or any of the other original languages. This shows that there are many other languages present in the translations that seems as if it was reinvented over and over again. However, it is normal to see such a change, and it shows the difference between

689-521: Is certainly correct". For example, Wallace asserts that Ehrman himself acknowledges the vast majority of textual variants are minor, but his popular writing and speaking sometimes makes the sheer number of them appear to be a major problem for getting to the original New Testament text. Ehrman's The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings is widely used at American colleges and universities. The textbook holds to

742-536: Is founded upon historical-literary dynamics, either using scripture to interpret history and science, or using science and history to interpret scripture. This is particularly important when applied to the person of Jesus Christ and the Gospels in the New Testament. Many people agree that Jesus was a real historical person, but whether he was truly the Son of God is debatable among many people, and this distinction proves to be important for one's interpretation of texts and whether

795-440: Is married to Sarah Beckwith, a professor of medieval literature at Duke University and an Episcopalian. With the exception of sports broadcasting , Ehrman does not watch television , but reportedly does watch a classic Criterion Collection film with Beckwith on a weekly basis. Biblical scholar The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies defines the field as a set of various, and in some cases independent disciplines for

848-475: Is not technically a forgery because it does not claim to be specifically by James, the brother of Jesus. Rather, it claims to be by "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" (James 1:1). James, Ehrman notes, was a common name. Two of Jesus' disciples had that name, as did the brother of Jesus. It may very well have been written by someone named James. However, to the extent that the author gives

901-451: Is only by defining scholarship on his own terms and by excluding scholars who disagree with him that Ehrman is able to imply that he is supported by all other scholarship," but Michael R. Licona , scholar and Christian apologist, notes that "his positions are those largely embraced by mainstream skeptical scholarship." Gary Kamiya states in Salon that "Ehrman's scholarly standing did not soothe

954-638: Is the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) with around 8,500 members in more than 80 countries. It publishes many books and journals in the biblical studies, including its flagship, the Journal of Biblical Literature . SBL hosts one academic conference in North America and another international conference each year, as well as smaller regional meetings. Others include the European Association of Biblical Studies,

1007-504: Is the endeavor to establish the authorship, date, and place of composition of the original text. Historical research has often dominated modern biblical studies. Biblical scholars usually try to interpret a particular text within its original historical context and use whatever information is available to reconstruct that setting. Historical criticism aims to determine the provenance , authorship, and process by which ancient texts were composed. Famous theories of historical criticism include

1060-780: The Canadian Society of Biblical Studies , the Evangelical Theological Society , the Institute for Biblical Research , the American Schools of Oriental Research , and the Catholic Biblical Association . Biblical criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of biblical writings that seeks to make discerning judgments about these writings". Viewing biblical texts as being ordinary pieces of literature, rather than set apart from other literature, as in

1113-738: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . On October 5, 1955, Ehrman was born in Lawrence, Kansas , and subsequently grew up there before attending Lawrence High School , where he was on the state champion debate team in 1973. He began studying the Bible , biblical theology , and biblical languages at Moody Bible Institute , where he earned the school's three-year diploma in 1976. He earned his BA from Wheaton College in Illinois in 1978. He later earned an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1981 and

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1166-531: The canonical gospels . It also plays an important role in the quest for a historical Jesus . It also addresses the physical text, including the meaning of the words and the way in which they are used and its preservation, history and integrity. Biblical criticism draws upon a wide range of scholarly disciplines, including archaeology , anthropology , folklore , comparative religion , oral tradition studies and historical and religious studies. New Testament and Old Testament rhetorical analysis differ because of

1219-595: The creation of the world and the flood of Noah . The use of terms like "myth" vs "history" also creates controversy due to some connotations that each word has. Oftentimes "myth" or "mythical" texts are seen as not true stories, where as "history" or "historical" texts are seen as fact. Mythical stories can also sometimes be seen as stories which serve some sort of religious or moral lesson, but are not necessarily true, however this does not mean that true historical stories do not have religious and moral lessons that accompany them. These views on myth and history are examples of

1272-651: The documentary hypothesis , which suggests that the Pentateuch was compiled from four different written sources, and different reconstructions of "the historical Jesus", which are based primarily on the differences between the canonical Gospels. There is much controversy around using the Bible as a historical source. The Old Testament is supposed to serve as a continuous account of the establishment of ancient Israel . While many historians agree that figures like King David and King Solomon are real historical figures, there comes trouble when seeking to affirm or deny events like

1325-429: The Bible was the inspired word of God with no mistakes and that lasted for about two years   [...] I realized that at the time we had over 5,000 manuscripts of the New Testament , and no two of them are exactly alike. The scribes were changing them, sometimes in big ways, but lots of times in little ways. And it finally occurred to me that if I really thought that God had inspired this text   [...] If he went to

1378-470: The Bible were then alleged to have been written by them. In addition to the books of the New Testament Ehrman identifies as forgeries, he discusses eight originally anonymous New Testament texts that had names of apostles ascribed to them later and are falsely attributed. These are not forgeries since the texts are anonymous but have had false authors ascribed to them by others: The Epistle of James

1431-448: The Code . In Misquoting Jesus , Ehrman outlines the development of New Testament manuscripts and the process and cause of manuscript errors in the New Testament. In Jesus, Interrupted , he describes the progress scholars have made in understanding the Bible over the past two hundred years and the results of their study, which are often unknown among the population at large. He highlights

1484-463: The Gospels , he examines the early Christian oral tradition and its role in shaping the stories about Jesus that are encountered in the New Testament. The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World notes that from the diversity of Christianity "throughout the first four Christian centuries," eventually only one form of Christianity, Nicene Christianity , became dominant under

1537-423: The Gospels should be read literally or symbolically. The Book of Revelation is very different from the other books of the Bible, drawing need for additional analysis to determine whether it should be read literally or symbolically. The goals of the author of the book (John) also have implications toward how one reads the book. If one reads Revelation as a literal unfolding of the end times vs reading Revelation as

1590-561: The Name of God – Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are is a book by American New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman , published in 2011 by HarperCollins . In antiquity , pseudepigraphy was an accepted practice in which a writer attributed his work to a well-known figure from the past or a teacher who had greatly influenced him. Forged contends that the practice was not in fact accepted and would have been condemned as dishonest by all authorities in antiquity. Ehrman maintains that

1643-531: The New Testament . His thirty books include three college textbooks and six New York Times bestsellers: Misquoting Jesus , Jesus, Interrupted , God's Problem , Forged , How Jesus Became God , and The Triumph of Christianity . More than two million copies of his books have been sold, and his books have been translated into 27 languages. In Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium , Ehrman agrees with Albert Schweitzer's thesis that Jesus

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1696-423: The Old Testament, including historical accounts, proverbs , poetic texts, praise texts (such as psalms ) and prophetic texts. The New Testament is different in that it has primarily two styles present: the gospels , which are mostly historical accounts, and the letters, or epistles . When it comes to textually analyzing and criticizing the New Testament, there are a couple of eclectic approaches to understanding

1749-408: The content and nature of the texts. Things like the literary style and the theology of the author may affect how one reads the text. That may require some external criticism knowledge since who the author is will shine light on why they may be saying what they are saying. Biblical exegesis is the explanation or interpretation of the scriptures traditionally known as The Bible. Much biblical exegesis

1802-497: The context in which they were written. The New Testament was written during a time that had many new Greek and Roman ideas on literature and rhetoric , which provide an avenue for what was known and give additional resources to study New Testament texts in those contexts. Old Testament texts were not written in the same context, and due to their ancient nature have few additional resources to refer to for common themes in rhetoric and literature. There are many abstract text styles in

1855-450: The diversity of views found in the New Testament, the existence of forged books in the New Testament which were written in the names of the apostles by Christian writers who lived decades later, and his belief that Christian doctrines such as the suffering Messiah , the divinity of Jesus , and the Trinity were later inventions. To date, he has changed his mind on several issues, most notably

1908-494: The divinity of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels . In Forged , Ehrman posits that some New Testament books are literary forgeries and shows how widely forgery was practiced by early Christian writers—and how it was condemned in the ancient world as fraudulent and illicit. His scholarly book, Forgery and Counterforgery , is an advanced look at the practice of forgery in the New Testament and early Christian literature. It makes

1961-411: The evangelical Christians who were outraged by Misquoting Jesus . Angered by what they took to be the book's subversive import, they attacked it as exaggerated, unfair and lacking a devotional tone. No fewer than three books were published in response to Ehrman's tome". In 2014, Zondervan published How God Became Jesus: The Real Origins of Belief in Jesus' Divine Nature: A Response to Bart D. Ehrman as

2014-432: The historical existence of Jesus of Nazareth in contrast to the mythicist theory that Jesus is an entirely fictitious being. The 2014 release of How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee examines the historical Jesus, who according to Ehrman neither thought of himself as God nor claimed to be God, and proffers how he came to be thought of as the incarnation of God himself. In Jesus Before

2067-469: The impression that they are James, the brother of Jesus, it might be considered a forgery: Ehrman notes that the author doesn't specify which James he is, meaning "that he is claiming to be the most famous James of all, Jesus's brother." The book was positively reviewed by the Library Journal . United Methodist pastor and biblical scholar Ben Witherington III ( Asbury Theological Seminary ) wrote

2120-564: The latter's usage of his work in How Jesus Became God , instead arguing for a Christology where Jesus is identified with the God of Israel. Ehrman has participated in several debates on the topic of the historical reliability of the Gospels. This includes a 2014 debate with Protestant apologist James White and a 2022 debate with Roman Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin . Ehrman has been married twice and has two children from his first marriage. He

2173-588: The more honest term for such falsely attributed writings is " forgery ". The book posits that between eight and eleven of the twenty-seven books of the Christian New Testament canon were written as forgeries. Ehrman points out numerous inconsistencies he finds within the New Testament that appear to support many of his claims, such as the fact that in Acts 4 , the statement is made that both Peter and John were illiterate, yet in later years entire books of

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2226-531: The original writings versus the final outcome of the translations. Although the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, it was first translated into Old Greek in the 3rd century BC. This was still translated into the Old Testament. However, when the Bible was translated into the New Testament, it was now in Greek, or in other words, Koine Greek which is also known as Biblical Greek. Forged (book) Forged: Writing in

2279-688: The recipient of the 2009 J. W. Pope "Spirit of Inquiry" Teaching Award, the 1993 UNC Undergraduate Student Teaching Award, the 1994 Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement, and the Bowman and Gordon Gray Award for excellence in teaching. Daniel Wallace has praised Ehrman as "one of North America's leading textual critics" and describes him as "one of the most brilliant and creative textual critics I have ever known". Wallace argues, however, that in Misquoting Jesus Ehrman sometimes "overstates his case by assuming that his view

2332-532: The right beliefs, and be sent to Hell. He subsequently turned into a liberal Christian , remaining in the Episcopal Church for 15 years, but later became an agnostic atheist after struggling with the philosophical problems of evil and suffering . Ehrman has written widely on issues of the New Testament and early Christianity at both an academic and popular level, much of it based on textual criticism of

2385-600: The rule of the Roman Emperor Constantine and his successors . Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife examines the historical development of the concepts of the afterlife throughout Greek, Jewish, and early Christian cultures, and how they eventually converged into the concepts of Heaven and Hell recognized by modern Christians. Ehrman has released nine courses, consisting of 12 or 24 thirty-minute lectures through The Great Courses . Ehrman has been

2438-400: The study of the collection of ancient texts generally known as the Bible. These disciplines include but are not limited to historical criticism , archaeology , hermeneutics , textual criticism , cultural anthropology , history , the history of interpretation, sociology , theology , and patristics . Several academic associations and societies promote research in the field. The largest

2491-461: The text on a deeper level. External criticism in the context of biblical studies involves understanding the who, what, and when of New Testament texts. It does not analyze within the text itself, which is referred to as internal criticism. External criticism focuses on the source and dates of text and what type of text it is (in the New Testament, that is mostly a gospel account or a letter to a church or person). Internal criticism focuses specifically on

2544-676: The textual basis of the Christian Old Testament (although with order rearranged and some books split into two), was written in Biblical Hebrew , although a few chapters were written in Biblical Aramaic . Deuterocanonical books removed from the Old Testament in some Protestant Christian Bibles are variously written in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic. The New Testament was written in Koine Greek , with possible Aramaic undertones , as

2597-537: The traditional view, biblical criticism asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources were used in its composition; and what message it was intended to convey. It varies slightly depending on whether the focus is on the Hebrew Bible , the Old Testament , the letters of New Testament or

2650-426: The trouble of inspiring the text, why didn't he go to the trouble of preserving the text? Why did he allow scribes to change it? In the preface to his 2020 book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife , Ehrman said that he had been scared of going to Hell since he was a child and, when he began to encounter some doubts about his Christian beliefs at college, he became panicked that he might die before he had found

2703-448: The wording of the Bible and protected its texts from all error . His desire to understand the original words of the Bible led him to study ancient languages, particularly Koine Greek , and textual criticism . During such studies at Princeton, however, he became convinced that there were contradictions and discrepancies in the biblical manuscripts that could not be harmonized or reconciled: I did my very best to hold on to my faith that

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2756-648: Was a Jewish apocalyptic preacher and that his main message was that the end times were near, that God would shortly intervene to overthrow evil and establish his rule on Earth , and that Jesus and his disciples all believed these end time events would occur in their lifetimes. In Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code , Ehrman expands on his list of ten historical and factual inaccuracies in Dan Brown 's novel , previously incorporated in Dan Burstein's Secrets of

2809-567: Was the first translation of the Hebrew Bible, known as the Septuagint or Greek Old Testament. Therefore, Hebrew, Greek and sometimes Aramaic continue to be taught in most universities, colleges and seminaries with strong programs in biblical studies. There are few original Old Testament/Hebrew Bible manuscripts, and while the ancient translations (such as the Septuagint) are available, there comes

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