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Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first-century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings.
Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation...more
Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
May 31st 2001
by Oxford University Press, USA
(first published 1999)
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I can forgive biblical scholars for writing impenetrable prose. They have to know about 8000 languages. They study the most studied book of all time, and the temptation to split hairs must be overwhelming. On the other hand, biblical scholars write about *the bible*, so they've got an enormous in-built audience that other humanities people can only dream of. So maybe they should actually take advantage of that?
Well, Ehrman does. Kudos to him; he writes clearly and says exactly what he thin...more
Well, Ehrman does. Kudos to him; he writes clearly and says exactly what he thin...more
Turns out, Historical Jesus books become bestsellers the same way How to Care for Baby books do: by pushing some new, but eccentric and implausible line, against the familiar currents of common sense and expert opinion. Bart Ehrman performs a great service by informing us lay readers of the established scholarly consensus concerning the historical Jesus, notwithstanding the various idiosyncratic depictions in the bulk of the popular literature on the subject. Briefly, Jesus did not proclaim hims...more
Discovering the historical Jesus is pertinent to the development of one's faith. But is this really Him? Bart D. Ehrman argues that Jesus was no more than an apocalyptic prophet of the first century; no different than the several men who have claimed the imminent end of the current world order in our own time. His historical methodology is reasonably irrefutable. His logic and critical assessments of our available sources in reconstructing a reasonable image of Jesus is solid.
I have ...more
I have ...more
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I've officially read too many of Ehrman's books, which is a problem because there's significant overlap in each of them. I suspect that I would have liked this one more (say, 4 stars) if I hadn't already read 1/3 of the material several times before. Still, this is pretty solid.
Here he uses textual criticism methods to show what Jesus is likely to have actually said/done, and then he tries to show that these things make the most sense when viewed from the perspective of Jesus as an...more
Here he uses textual criticism methods to show what Jesus is likely to have actually said/done, and then he tries to show that these things make the most sense when viewed from the perspective of Jesus as an...more
I’ve always been semi-interested in religion. Interested enough to have many conversations and debates about it, but not enough to read any thorough book on it. Not even the Bible. And admit it, most of the time, books on religion are quite dry and intense, like you need to know lots of the details and stories before you can even make sense of what they’re trying to argue about. Or the other end of the spectrum is militant bastards like Richard Dawkins, who I’m totally fed up with or apologists ...more
For anyone interested in trying to distinguish the historical Jesus from the Christ of Faith, I'd highly recommend this book. Bart Ehrman is a wonderful writer. His ideas are expressed in a manner that makes them easy to understand.
Ehrman's whole book is built around a single thesis: we can best understand the historical Jesus as a failed, apocalypticist, whose every action and teaching were to wake people up to the immanent dawning of the kingdon of God.
Ehrman's view ...more
Ehrman's whole book is built around a single thesis: we can best understand the historical Jesus as a failed, apocalypticist, whose every action and teaching were to wake people up to the immanent dawning of the kingdon of God.
Ehrman's view ...more
Ehrman paints an incredibly informative portrait of what the historical Jesus was probably like. The enitre book is full of extremely convincing evidence that Jesus (like many other first century Jews) believed that the end of the world was coming very soon - possibly even in his own lifetime. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to know more about what the historical Jesus was probably like, and what he probably believed.
Ehrman makes the case that Jesus was the first in a long line of Christians to proclaim that the end of the world is coming very soon. He does so well, and provides a good new light on interpretation of the New Testament.
I included this book in my Biography Project (reading lots of biographies in 2008) because I was wondering what it would be like to write a biography of a person who a)lived so long ago, and b)has come be so freighted in many peoples' minds. The answer, as it turns out, is that you can't really say anything for sure, and there has to be pages and pages of disclaimers for even the smallest assertion of fact. Which got a little tiresome, I must admit.
The book was pretty fascinating, ...more
The book was pretty fascinating, ...more
This was certainly an interesting read, although it wasn't quite what I'd expected.
As always, Ehrman writes in his clear-cut, highly educational style. I could tell this was one of his earlier books, as it didn't seem quite as polished as later works I've read. Also, and this is just a complaint about the publishing itself, it has TINY font. Really..much smaller than usual. Which just seemed odd to me.
I did find it to be an interesting read, particularly the sections devo...more
As always, Ehrman writes in his clear-cut, highly educational style. I could tell this was one of his earlier books, as it didn't seem quite as polished as later works I've read. Also, and this is just a complaint about the publishing itself, it has TINY font. Really..much smaller than usual. Which just seemed odd to me.
I did find it to be an interesting read, particularly the sections devo...more
This is an interesting book. It gives you some good insight into the historical Jesus. My only complaint concerning it is that Jesus' apocalyptic nature or lack thereof is a matter of some considerable debate, and Ehrman doesn't really do the other side of the debate justice. I guess I expect that sort of thing from people writing from the religious side of the debate, not teh secular/scholarly. Still, it's interesting and informative, and worth a read for people who don't just believe everythin...more
Well documented and reasonably easy to read.
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Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. He came to UNC in 1988, after four years of teaching at Rutgers University. At UNC he has served as both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies.
A graduate of Wheaton College (Illinois), Professor Ehrman received both his Ma...more
More about Bart D. Ehrman...
A graduate of Wheaton College (Illinois), Professor Ehrman received both his Ma...more
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