Carolina QuotesFrom the historians' perspective it is striking that all forms of early Christianity claimed authorization of their views by tracing their lineage back through the apostles to Jesus.
Bart D. Ehrman Carolinian
Source
Ch. 4 (4:40:14 audiobook)
- work
- Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew (2003)
- year
- 2003
Cite this record
“From the historians' perspective it is striking that all for…” Bart D. Ehrman. Carolina Quotes, record CQ-FC3063A2FA. https://carolinaquotes.com/quote/fc3063a2fa
More from Bart D. Ehrman
Historians can establish only what probably happened in the past, but miracles, by their very nature, are always the least probable explanation for what happened. This is true whether you are a believer or not. [...] If historians can only establish what probably happened, and miracles by their definition are the least probable occurrences, then more or less by definition, historians cannot establish that miracles have ever probably happened.
The question is then how can we decide what anybody in the ancient world said. We can't. We wish we could. It would be nice if we could. You would like to think that because you can go to the store and buy an edition of Plato that you are actually reading Plato, but the problem is that we just do not have the kind of evidence that we need in order to establish what ancient authors actually wrote.
If there is an all-powerful and loving God in this world, why is there so much excruciating pain and unspeakable suffering? The problem of suffering has haunted me for a very long time. It was what made me begin to think about religion when I was young, and it was what led me to question my faith when I was older. Ultimately, it was the reason I lost my faith.