Bart D. Ehrman famous quotes

04-17-2025

The search for truth takes you where the evidence leads you, even if, at first, you don't want to go there.
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Want #Firsts #Evidence
There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty.
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Religious #Inbreds #Critical Thinking
In the entire first Christian century Jesus is not mentioned by a single Greek or Roman historian, religion scholar, politician, philosopher or poet. His name never occurs in a single inscription, and it is never found in a single piece of private correspondence. Zero! Zip references!
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Christian #Jesus #Zero
You canâ€™t believe something just because someone else desperately wants you to.
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Believe #Want
Sometimes Christian apologists say there are only three options to who Jesus was: a liar, a lunatic or the Lord. But there could be a fourth option - legend.
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#God #Christian #Jesus
In Matthew, Jesus declares, â€œWhoever is not with me is against me.â€ In Mark, he says,â€œWhoever is not against us is for us.â€ Did he say both things? Could he mean both things? How can both be true at once? Or is it possible that one of the Gospel writers got things switched around?
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Jesus #Mean #Mark
The problem then with Jesus is that he cannot be removed from his time and transplanted into our own without simply creating him anew
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Jesus #Creating #Problem
[P]eople need to use their intelligence to evaluate what they find to be true and untrue in the Bible. This is how we need to live life generally. Everything we hear and see we need to evaluateâ€”whether the inspiring writings of the Bible or the inspiring writings of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, or George Eliot, of Ghandi, Desmond Tutu, or the Dalai Lama.
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Live Life #Writing #Needs
In terms of the historical record, I should also point out that there is no account in any ancient source whatsoever about King Herod slaughtering children in or around Bethlehem, or anyplace else. No other author, biblical or otherwise, mentions this event. Is it, like John's account of Jesus' death, a detail made up by Matthew in order to make some kind of theological point?
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Jesus #Kings #Children
Different authors have different points of view. You can't just say, 'I believe in the Bible.
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Atheist #Believe #Views
Traditionally in Christian circles, Judas in fact has been associated with Jews. Of being traitors, avaricious, who in fact, betray Jesus, who are Christ-killers. And this portrayal of Judas of course also leads then to horrendous acts of anti-Semitism through the centuries.
-- Bart D. Ehrman

#Christian #Jesus #Betrayal

You may also like:

Amy-Jill Levine
Professor
Craig A. Evans
Scholar
Dan Barker
Musician
Daniel B. Wallace
Darrell Bock
Scholar
Earl Doherty
Author
Elaine Pagels
Professor
J.P. Moreland
Philosopher
John Dominic Crossan
John Shelby Spong
Author
Lee Strobel
Author
Marcus Borg
Scholar
N. T. Wright
Bishop of Durham
Norman Geisler
Philosopher
Reza Aslan
Writer
Richard Carrier
Author
Robert M. Price
Writer
Sam Harris
Author
William Lane Craig
Philosopher
Larry Hurtado