Carolina QuotesVery few people who devote their lives to studying the historical Jesus actually want to find a Jesus who is completely removed from our own time. What people want ... is relevance.
Bart D. Ehrman Carolinian
Source
Ch. 8: 'Jesus the Apocalyptic Prophet', p. 127
- work
- Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium (1999)
- year
- 1999
- locator
- p. 127
Cite this record
“Very few people who devote their lives to studying the histo…” Bart D. Ehrman. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-A02BEC366A. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/a02bec366a
More from Bart D. Ehrman
Judas's act of "betrayal" is in fact his faithful obedience to Jesus' will.
I could no longer reconcile the claims of faith with the facts of life. In particular, I could no longer explain how there can be a good and all-powerful God actively involved with this world, given the state of things. For many people who inhabit this planet, life is a cesspool of misery and suffering. I came to a point where I simply could not believe that there is a good and kindly disposed Ruler who is in charge of it.
The argument based on Jesus as liar, lunatic, or Lord was predicated on the assumption that Jesus had called himself God. [...] I had come to realize that none of our earliest traditions indicates that Jesus said any such thing about himself. And surely if Jesus had really spent his days in Galilee and then Jerusalem calling himself God, all of our sources would be eager to report it. To put it differently, if Jesus claimed he was divine, it seemed very strange indeed that Matthew, Mark, and Luke all failed to say anything about it. Did they just forget to mention that part?