Most of these stories were written long after the events and display clear attempts to sell personal belief systems - often through forgery or misrepresentation.Įhrman displays a wide and deep array of biblical knowledge but suggests that most of this knowledge is available throughout the protestant and catholic seminaries. One that, after all, is composed of many disparate stories, by fallible humans with very specific goals in mind. To me, however, it should definitely lead to any intelligent person seriously questioning their absolute belief in a very fallible book. He maintains throughout his book, that understanding the bible better doesn’t necessarily lead to his chosen path of Agnosticism. Ehrman is an ex-evangelical who lost his belief in a “god-inspired” bible as he studied at a protestant seminary.

How did Christianity as we know it today, come to be?īart D.

Why are there so many discrepancies in a book that was “written by god”?.

Who was the real Jesus, what was his message, and is it decipherable after so many millennia?.

Why was Jesus thought to be divine and when did this happen?.

He uses this technique to answer all the questions I have asked for many years, backed up by extensive historical research. He speaks about reading the bible horizontally which refers to examining similar stories and how they are told across the gospels and other books of the bible. He answers the questions that my 8-year-old self began asking and those I continued to ask all the way to my deconversion.Įhrman explains how an historical scholar would approach the analysis of a book – he calls the bible “the most significant book in human history”. Ehrman paints a picture in “Jesus, Interrupted”, of the bible, which makes complete sense to me. An individual who believes that he has found all the answers, which is a very dangerous attitude to adopt in his field.Bart D. I do not want to form an opinion for you about Dr Ehrman, but it was very clear from his lectures and talking with him that he is a very arrogant individual. Look at it this way, he is basically someone who gets paid to make educated guesses about a people and culture who he can only study through ancient documents. Many of his arguments, while interesting and generally well thought out, are often based on assumptions and personal opinions. More often than not, he often blatantly ignores the things that contradict what he is saying. Dr Ehrman is a brilliant man who is very good at what he does, but he is also very good at manipulating 'facts' to say what he wants them to say. I took one of Dr Ehrman's classes at UNC Chapel Hill.

Book jesus interrupted