History

Bart Ehrman on the Existence of Jesus

Author Amy K. Hall Published on 09/27/2016

Greg mentioned this quote from skeptic Bart Ehrman a couple of weeks ago on the podcast, and I was able to find a video. Here’s what Ehrman said in response to the idea that Jesus never existed:

This is not even an issue for scholars of antiquity.... The reason for thinking Jesus existed is because he is abundantly attested in early sources.... If you want to go where the evidence goes, I think that atheists have done themselves a disservice by jumping on the bandwagon of mythicism, because frankly, it makes you look foolish to the outside world. If that’s what you’re going to believe, you just look foolish.

For a response to Ehrman’s radically skeptical view of the New Testament, see Greg’s “‘Misquoting’ Jesus? Answering Bart Ehrman” and this summary of a debate Ehrman had with Dan Wallace.