Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Mr. Bart Ehrman's "The New Testament"


Ehrman, Bart.  The New Testament.  Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2000.

It is available at:  http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Testament-Historical-Introduction/dp/0199757534/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1377114367&sr=8-2&keywords=bart+ehrman

A 456-page volume with few color illustrations.  Mr. (Dr. Prof.) Bart Ehrman mixes his leaven (or poison if you prefer) and it influences the whole; it is designed for a first or second-year collegiate text. Save your money.  There are better scholars than Mr. Ehrman; Mr. Ehrman left the faith and it shows, a man with an agenda in search of a factual pattern in his favor;  we intend to give him a "new factual pattern" to facilitate his growth. 

A biography from Wikipedia is affixed below.  Also, we have a biography from Mr. Ehrman’s website also.  First, we bring the outline of the book.

Maps, Timelines, and Diagrams

Preface to the Second Edition

Preface to the First Edition

Notes on Suggestions for Further Readings

Acknowledgements

Credits

Chapter 1:  What is the New Testament? Early Christians and Their Literature—Canon of Scripture

·       Diversity of Early Christianity—Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament

·       New Testament Canon—Common Ear and Before the Common Era,  Layout of the New Testament

·       Summary and implications

·       Additional resources: historian and believer

Chapter 2:  World of Early Christian Traditions

·       Problem of Beginnings

·       One Remarkable Life—Pagan and Gentile, Greco-Roman World

·       Environment of the New Testament: Religions in the Greco-Roman World—Divine Rulers as Savior Gods, Roman Empire, Christianity as a Mystery Cult

·       Judaism as a Greco-Roman Religion—Other Jewish Miracle-Working Sons of God

Chapter 3:  Traditions of Jesus in their Greco-Roman Context

·       Oral Traditions Behind the Gospels—Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World, Difference between Mark and John on the Time of Jesus’ Death

·       Some Additional Reflections:  the Authors of the Gospel

Chapter 4:  Christian Gospels: A Literary and History Introduction

·       Question of Genre

·       Biography as a Greco-Roman Genre—Plutarch on Biography

·       The Gospels as Ancient Biographies

Chapter 5:  Jesus, the Suffering Servant: a Literary and Historical Introduction

·       Beginning of the Gospel:  Jesus the Messiah, Son of God Who Fulfills the Scripture—Jewish Messiah

·       Jesus the Authoritative Son of God

·       Jesus the Opposed Son of God—Jewish Scribes, Pharisees, Herodians, Sadducees, and Chief Priests

·       Jesus the Misunderstood Son of God

·       Jesus Acknowledged Son of God—Messianic Secret

·       Jesus the Suffering Son of God—Son of God and Son of Man

·       Jesus the Crucified Son of God—Charge of Blasphemy according to Mark

·       Conclusion: Mark and His Readers

Chapter 6:  Synoptic Problem and its Significance for Interpretation

·       Methods for Studying the Gospels

·       Synoptic Problem—Ironing out the Problems, Potential Difficulty in Mark, Contents of Q

·       Methodological significance of the Four-source Hypothesis

Chapter 7:  Jesus, the Jewish Messiah:  The Gospel according to Matthew

·       Importance of Beginnings:  Jesus the Jewish Messiah—Matthew’s Scheme of Fourteen, Women in Matthew’s Geneaology

·       Jesus and His Forerunner in Matthew’s Perspective

·       Portrayal of Jesus in Marriage:  The Sermon the Mount as a Springboard—The Golden Rule

·       Jesus and the Jewish Cultic Practices Prescribed by the Law

·       Jesus Rejected by the Jewish Leaders—Gentiles in Matthew’s Community

·       Matthew and His Readers—Was Matthew a Jew?

Chapter 8:  Jesus, the Savior of the World:  The Gospel according to Luke

·       The Comparative Method and the Gospel of Luke

·       Comparative Overview of the Gospel

·       Preface to Luke’s Gospel—Apologetic Literature in Early Christianity

·       Luke’s Birth Narrative—Historical Problems with Luke’s Birth Narrative, Virgin Birth in Matthew and Luke

·       From Jew to Gentile:  Luke’s Portrayal of Jesus the Rejected Prophet

·       Luke’s Distinctive Emphases throughout the Gospel—Jesus’ Bloody Sweat, Jesus as the Righteous Martyr, The Institution of the Lord’s Supper in Luke

·       Conclusion: Luke in Comparative Perspective

Chapter 9:  Luke’s Second Volume:  The Acts of the Apostles

·       Genre of Acts and its Significance—Book of Acts an Ancient Novel?

·       Thematic Approach of Acts

·       From Gospel to Acts:  The Opening Transition—Luke’s Mysterious Two Men

·       Luke’s Artistry as a Storyteller

·       Themes in the Speeches in Acts—Death of Judas, Christianity Before Paul

·       In Sum: Prominent Themes of Luke-Acts

·       Author of Luke-Acts and His Audience

Chapter 10: Jesus, the Man Sent from Heaven:  The Gospel according to John

·       Gospel of John from a Literary-Historical Perspective—Jesus’ Signs in the Fourth Gospel, The “Jews” in the Fourth Gospel

·       From a Thematic Perspective

·       From a Comparative Perspective—Signs and Faith in the Fourth Gospel,  Jesus and the “I Am” Sayings in John

·       From a Redactional Perspective

·       The Socio-Historical Perspective—Death of the Beloved Disciple in the Johannine Community

·       From a Socio-Historical Perspective—John’s De-Apocalyptized Gospel

·       Author of the Fourth Gospel

Chapter 11:  From John’s Jesus to the Gnostic Christ: The Johannine Epistles and Beyond

·       Questions of Genre and Author—Letter from Greco-Roman Egypt

·       New Testament Epistolary Literature and the Contextual Method—Gospel and Epistles of John: Some Thematic Similarities

·       From a Contextual Perspective

·       Reflections Beyond the Contextual Perspective

·       Beyond the Johannine Community: The Rise of Gnosticism—House Churches, How To Identify a Gnostic When You See One, Gnostics and the Jewish Scriptures

·       Gnostics and the Johannine Community

Chapter 12:   Jesus from Different Perspectives:  Other Gospels in Early Christianity

·       Narrative Gospels—The Ebionites and Early Gospel Harmonies

·       Sayings Gospels—Judas Thomas as Jesus’ Twin Brother, The Older Sayings of Gospel of Thomas

·       Infancy Gospels

·       Conclusion: The Other Gospels

Chapter 13:  The Historical Jesus: Sources, Problems and Methods

·       Problems with Sources

·       Non-Christian Sources—Christianity as Superstition in the Roman World, Testimony of Flavius Josephus

·       Christian Sources

·       Using our Source: Some of the Basic Rules of Thumb—Aramaisms as a Criterion of Authenticity

·       Conclusion: Reconstructing the Life of Jesus

Chapter 14:   Excursus: The Historian and the Problem of Miracle

·       Miracles in the Modern World and in Antiquity

·       The Historian and Historical Method

Chapter 15:   Jesus in Context

·       Political Crises in Palestine and Their Ramifications

·       Formation of Jewish Sects—Divine Revelation in the Dead Sea Scrolls

·       Popular Modes of Resistance to Oppression

·       Ideology of Resistance—Prophecy and Apocalypticism

·       Jesus in His Apocalyptic Context

Chapter 16:   Jesus, the Apocalyptic Prophet

·       Considering the Rules of Thumb

·       Considering the Specific Criteria

·       Beginning and End as Keys to the Middle

·       Apocalyptic Deeds of Jesus—Explaining Away the Apocalyptic Traditions and Seeking the Lost,  Explaining Away the Apocalyptic Traditions and Setting a Date,  Was Jesus a Cynic Philosopher?

·       The Apocalyptic Teachings of Jesus—Cosmic Deliverer of Israel, Jesus and “Family Values”

·       Apocalyptic Death of Jesus

Chapter 17:   From Jesus to the Gospels

·       Beginning of Christianity

·       Jesus’ Resurrection from the Dead from an Apocalyptic Perspective—Jesus, the Messiah and Resurrection

·       Jesus’ Death According to the Scriptures

·       Emergence of Different Understandings of Jesus—Vicarious Suffering in Jewish Martyrologies and Other Greco-Roman Literature

Chapter 18:   Paul the Apostle:  The Man and His Mission

·       Study of Paul: Methodological Difficulties—Pauline Corpus,  Other Sources for the Life of Paul

·       Life of Paul—Paul on the Road to Damascus

Chapter 19:   Paul and His Apostolic Mission:  1 Thessalonians as a Test Case

·       Founding of the Church in Thessalonica

·       Beginnings of the Thessalonian Church:  Socio-Historical Perspective—Rule for a Private Assocation

·       Church at Thessalonica after Paul’s Departure—Charges Against the Christians,  Thessalonians’ Perplexity

·       Conclusion: Paul the Apostle

Chapter 20:  Paul and the Crises of His Churches: 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, and Philemon

·       1 Corinthians—Possibilities of Existence in the Afterlife

·       2 Corinthians—Partitioning of 2 Corinthians

·       Galatians—Logic of the Opponents’ Position in Galatia, Cephas and Peter

·       Philippians—Christ Hymn of Philippians, Was Paul Contemplating Suicide?

·       Philemon

Chapter 21:  The Gospel according to Paul:  The Letter to the Romans

·       Occasion and Purpose of the Letter—Beginnings of the Roman Church

·       Theme of the Epistle—Paul’s Gospel to the Romans

·       Pauline Models of Salvation—Two Paths of Salvation in Paul?, Judicial and Participationist Models of Salvation in Paul

·       Flow of Paul’s Argument—Other Models of Salvation in Paul

·       Conclusion:  Paul and the Romans

Chapter 22:   Does the Tradition Miscarry?  Paul in Relation to Jesus, James, Thecla, and Theudas

·       Paul in Relation to What Came Before—Jesus and Paul (Similarities), Jesus and Paul (Dissimilarities)

·       Paul in Relation to What Came After

·       Conclusion:  Pauline Christianities

Chapter 23:   In the Wake of the Apostle:  The Deutero-Pauline and Pastoral Epistles

·       Pseudonymity in the Ancient World—Paul’s Third Letter to the Corinthians

·       Deutero-Pauline Epistles—Resurrection of Believers in Paul and Colossians, “Household Rules” in Colossians and Ephesians, Vocabulary of Salvation in Paul and Ephesians

·       Pastoral Epistles

·       Historical Situation and Authorship of the Pastoral Epistles—Church Hierarchy in Ignatius

·       Conclusion: Post-Pauline Pastoral Epistles

Chapter 24:  From Paul’s Female Colleagues to the Pastor’s Intimidated Women:  The Oppression of Women in Early Christianity

·       Women in Paul’s Churches

·       Women Associated with Jesus—Mary Magdalene

·       Paul’s Understanding of Women in the Church

·       Women in the Aftermath of Paul—Similarities between 1 Tim. 2.11-15and 1 Cor. 14.34-35.

·       Ancient Ideologies of Gender

·       Gender Ideology and the Pauline Churches

Chapter 25:  Christians and Jews:  Hebrews, Barnabas, and Later Anti-Jewish Literature

·       Early Christian Self-Denunciation—Disparate Views of Jews and Christians

·       Continuity and Superiority:  Epistle to the Hebrews—Divergent Views of Christ in Hebrews

·       Discontinuity and Supremacy: The Epistle of Barnabas—Six Thousand Years and Counting, Gematria in Early Christianity

·       Conclusion: Rise of Christian Anti-Judaism—Melito’s Passover Sermon

Chapter 26:   Christians and Pagans:  1 Peter, the Letters of Ignatius, the Martyrdom of Polycarp, and Later Apologetic Literature

·       Persecution of Early Christians—Disruption of the Christian Family: the Case of Perpetua

·       Christians in a Hostile World: The Letter of 1 Peter—The Spread of Christianity

·       Christians Sentenced to Death—The Letters of Ignatius—Alternative View of Christian Martyrdom

·       Christians Before the Tribunal: The Martyrdom of Polycarp

·       Christians on the Defense: Later Apologetic Literature

Chapter 27:   Christians and Christians:  James, Didache, Polycarp, 1 Clement, Jude and 2 Peter

·       Epistle of James

·       The Didache—Development of the Lord’s Prayer

·       Polycarp’s Letter to the Philippians—Polycarp and the Early Christian Tradition

·       1 Clement—Other Problems in the Corinthian Church

·       Jude

·       2 Peter—Peter, the Smoked Tuna, and the Flying Heretic

·       Conclusion:  Conflicts with the Early Christian Communities

Chapter 28:   Christians and the Cosmos:  The Revelation of John, The Shepherd of Hermas, and the Apocalypse of Peter

·       Introduction:  End of the World and the Revelation of John

·       Content and Structure of the Book of Revelation

·       Book of Revelation from a Historical Perspective

·       Apocalyptic Worldviews and Apocalypse Genre—Revelation as Underground Literature, Author of Revelation in the Early Church

·       Revelation of John in Historical Context—Futuristic Interpretations of the Book of Revelation

·       Shepherd of Hermas—Shepherd of Hermas and the Muratorian Canon

·       Apocalypse of Peter

Chapter 29:   Epilogue:  Do We Have the Original New Testament

·       Manuscripts of the New Testament

·       Changes in the New Testament Text—Citing Chapter and Verse

·       Criteria for Establishing the Original Text

·       Conclusion:  The Original Text of the New Testament

Glossary of Terms

Index

Bart D. Ehrman (born 5 October 1955) is an American New Testament scholar, currently the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ehrman is a leading New Testament scholar, having written and edited over twenty-five books, including three college textbooks. He has also achieved acclaim at the popular level, authoring four New York Times bestsellers: Misquoting Jesus, Jesus, Interrupted, God's Problem, and Forged.[2] Ehrman's work focuses on the New Testament, New Testament textual criticism, the Historical Jesus, and early Christianity.

Education


Ehrman grew up in Lawrence, Kansas, and attended Lawrence High School, where he was on the state champion debate team in 1973. He began studying the Bible and its original languages at the Moody Bible Institute and is a 1978 graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois. He received his PhD and M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he studied under Bruce Metzger. He received magna cum laude for both his BA in 1978 and PhD in 1985.[3]

Career


Ehrman became an Evangelical Christian as a teen. In his books, he recounts his youthful enthusiasm as a born-again, fundamentalist Christian, certain that God had inspired the wording of the Bible and protected its texts from all error.[4] His desire to understand the original words of the Bible led him to the study of ancient languages and to textual criticism. During his graduate studies, however, he became convinced that there are contradictions and discrepancies in the biblical manuscripts that could not be harmonized or reconciled. He remained a liberal Christian for fifteen years but later became an agnostic after struggling with the philosophical problems of evil and suffering.[4]

Ehrman has taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 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. He was the recipient of the 2009 J. W. Pope “Spirit of Inquiry” Teaching Award, the 1993 UNC Undergraduate Student Teaching Award, the 1994 Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement, and the Bowman and Gordon Gray Award for excellence in teaching.[5]

He currently serves as co-editor of the series New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents (E. J. Brill), co-editor-in-chief for the journal Vigiliae Christianae, and on several other editorial boards for journals and monographs. Ehrman formerly served as President of the Southeast Region of the Society of Biblical literature, chair of the New Testament textual criticism section of the Society, book review editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature, and editor of the monograph series The New Testament in the Greek Fathers (Scholars Press).[6]

Ehrman speaks extensively throughout the United States and has participated in many public debates, including debates with William Lane Craig, Dinesh D'Souza, Mike Licona, Craig A. Evans, Daniel B. Wallace, Richard Swinburne, Peter J. Williams, James White (theologian), and Darrell Bock.

In 2006 and 2009 he appeared on The Colbert Report, as well as The Daily Show, to promote his books Misquoting Jesus, and Jesus, Interrupted (respectively).

Works


Ehrman has written widely on issues of New Testament and early Christianity at both an academic and popular level, with over twenty five books including four New York Times bestsellers (Misquoting Jesus, God's Problem, Jesus, Interrupted, and Forged. Much of his work is on textual criticism and the New Testament. His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages.

In The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture Ehrman argues that there was a close relationship between the social history of early Christianity and the textual tradition of the emerging New Testament. He examines how early struggles between Christian "heresy" and "orthodoxy" affected the transmission of the documents. Ehrman is often considered a pioneer in connecting the history of the early church to textual variants within biblical manuscripts and in coining such terms as "Proto-orthodox Christianity."

In Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium Ehrman argues that the historical Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher, and that his apocalyptic beliefs are recorded in the earliest Christian documents: the Gospel of Mark and the authentic Pauline epistles. The earliest Christians believed Jesus would soon return, and their beliefs are echoed in the earliest Christian writings.

In Misquoting Jesus he introduces New Testament textual criticism. He outlines the development of New Testament manuscripts and the process and cause of manuscript errors in the New Testament.

In Jesus, Interrupted he describes the progress scholars have made in understanding the Bible over the past two hundred years and the results of their study, results which are often unknown among the population at large. In doing so, he highlights the diversity of views found in the New Testament, the existence of forged books in the New Testament which were written in the names of the apostles by Christian writers who lived decades later, and the later invention of Christian doctrines—such as the suffering messiah, the divinity of Jesus, and the trinity.

In Forged,  Ehrman posits some New Testament books are forgeries and shows how widely forgery was practiced by early Christian writers—and how it was condemned in the ancient world as fraudulent and illicit. His scholarly book, Forgery and Counterforgery is an advanced look at the practice of forgery in the NT and early Christian literature. It makes a case for considering falsely attributed or pseudepigraphic books in the New Testament and early Christian literature "forgery," looks at why certain New Testament and early Christian works are considered forged, and the broader phenomenon in Greek and Roman world.

In 2012, Ehrman published Did Jesus Exist?  defending the thesis that Jesus of Nazareth existed in contrast to the mythicist theory that Jesus is an entirely mythical or fictitious being woven whole-cloth out of legendary material. He states he expects the book to be criticized both by some atheists as well as fundamentalist Christians. In response, Richard Carrier published a lengthy criticism of the book in April 2012, particularly questioning both Ehrman's facts and methodology.[7] Ehrman replied to Carrier's criticisms on his website, primarily defending himself against Carrier's allegations of factual errors.[8] In 2013, Richard Carrier, D.M. Murdock, Earl Doherty, René Salm, David Fitzgerald, Frank R. Zindler, and Robert M. Price responded to Did Jesus Exist? in Bart Ehrman and the Quest of the Historical Jesus of Nazareth: An Evaluation of Ehrman's Did Jesus Exist? Earl Doherty also responded in The End of an Illusion: How Bart Ehrman's "Did Jesus Exist?" Has Laid the Case for an Historical Jesus to Rest.

Several books have been written in response to Bart's works, including Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus by Timothy Paul Jones; Misrepresenting Jesus: Debunking Bart D. Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus by Edward D. Andrews; Bart Ehrman and the Quest of the Historical Jesus of Nazareth: An Evaluation of Ehrman's Did Jesus Exist? by Richard Carrier, D.M. Murdock, Earl Doherty, René Salm, David Fitzgerald, Frank R. Zindler, and Robert M. Price; and The End of an Illusion: How Bart Ehrman's "Did Jesus Exist?" Has Laid the Case for an Historical Jesus to Rest by Earl Doherty.

Philanthropy


Bart Ehrman created the Bart Ehrman Foundation to raise money for poverty, hunger, and homelessness.[9] He started his “Christianity in Antiquity (CIA)” blog in 2012 and all membership fees collected to join the blog are donated to several charities.[10] In the blog Bart provides his insights and opinions on important issues related to the New Testament and early Christianity, discusses his books and public debates, responds to criticisms from other scholars, and answers questions and concerns raised by readers. In its first year, the blog raised $37,000 for charity through blog membership fees.[11]

Bibliography



References


1.     ^ John Blake "Former fundamentalist 'debunks' Bible", CNN, 2009

2.     ^ http://www.bartdehrman.com/

3.     ^ http://www.bartdehrman.com/biography.htm

4.     ^ a b Ehrman, Bart D.. Jesus, Interrupted, HarperCollins, 2009. ISBN 0-06-117393-2

5.     ^ http://www.bartdehrman.com/biography.htm

6.     ^ http://www.bartdehrman.com/biography.htm

7.     ^ Ehrman on Jesus: A Failure of Facts and Logic

8.     ^ Fuller Reply to Carrier

9.     ^ [1]

10.                        ^ [2]

11.                        ^ [3]

External links



Mr. Erhman offers his own biography at:  http://www.bartdehrman.com/biography.htm .  Accessed August 21, 2013.

Biography of Bart D. Ehrman

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina 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 Masters of Divinity and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, where his 1985 doctoral dissertation was awarded magna cum laude. Since then he has published extensively in the fields of New Testament and Early Christianity, having written or edited twenty-four books, numerous scholarly articles, and dozens of book reviews.
Among his most recent books are a Greek-English edition of the Apostolic Fathers for the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press), an assessment of the newly discovered Gospel of Judas (Oxford University Press), and four New York Times Bestsellers: Jesus Interrupted (an account of scholarly views of the New Testament), God’s Problem (an assessment of the biblical views of suffering), Misquoting Jesus (an overview of the changes found in the surviving copies of the New Testament and of the scribes who produced them) and Forged (discusses why some books in the New Testament are deliberate forgeries). His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages.
Among his fields of scholarly expertise are the historical Jesus, the early Christian apocrypha, the apostolic fathers, and the manuscript tradition of the New Testament.
Professor Ehrman has served as President of the Southeast Region of the Society of Biblical literature, chair of the New Testament textual criticism section of the Society, book review editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature, and editor of the monograph series The New Testament in the Greek Fathers (Scholars Press). He currently serves as co-editor of the series New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents (E. J. Brill), co-editor-in-chief for the journal Vigiliae Christianae, and on several other editorial boards for journals and monographs in the field.
Professor Ehrman lectures extensively throughout the country. Winner of numerous university awards and grants, he is the recipient of the 2009 J. W. Pope “Spirit of Inquiry” Teaching Award, the 1993 UNC Undergraduate Student Teaching Award, the 1994 Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement, and the Bowman and Gordon Gray Award for excellence in teaching.
Professor Ehrman has two children, a daughter, Kelly, and a son, Derek. He is married to Sarah Beckwith (Ph.D., King's College London), Marcello Lotti Professor of English at Duke University. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.
 
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