Bart D. Ehrman's View Of Historical Jesus

The truth surrounding the history of Jesus has been a heated debate for millennia, among scholars and ordinary people alike. In fact, there have been thousands of books giving unique perspectives into Jesus’ life and how his teachings should be interpreted today. Bart D. Ehrman, a Religious Studies professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, has his own book to carefully propose what he believes to be the best understanding of historical Jesus. Ultimately. Ehrman argues that Jesus is an apocalyptic prophet, who believes that the world will be judged and overthrown by God to form a new kingdom free of war, disease, and death, yet only those who heed his teachings will survive the coming judgement. When it comes to the source

Based upon the Gospels, Jesus travelled from rural village to rural village to preach his message of the coming end of the world as we know it. He is also said to perform miraculous deeds along the way. Some of the most famous deeds are the walking on water, multiplying of the loaves and fish, healing the sick, and curing the blind. However, there is much speculation between many on whether these deeds truly occurred in history. Ehrman states that he cannot affirm or deny the truth of these miracles, because these deeds are unable to be historically proven or disproven. In Ehrman’s opinion, miracles do not refer to supernatural violations of the law of nature, but events that contradict the normal workings of nature. Also, it is interesting to mention that when it comes to Jesus as a healer, many other Jewish prophets before him were said to possess the same

As scholars agree, Jesus taught the Law of Moses just like the Jews around him, because as mentioned before, he was a Jew himself. According to Ehrman, Jesus emphasized to his followers the Golden Rule, the value of loving all people as yourself, and giving up material goods to follow his word. However, he did preach ideas different from many of the other Jews at the time. Hand in hand with the Golden Rule, Jesus advised his followers to “turn their cheek” when their property is stolen or damaged. He also strongly opposed divorce and thought some of the laws outlined in the Law of Moses were not to be strictly followed as many Jews saw. Ehrman states that in Jesus’ opinion, the laws of tithing, sacrifice, and the Sabbath are not as crucial to salvation as love. The laws were made for the humans, not the other way around. As expected, many other Jewish groups did not like this at all, however, it was not uncommon for Jewish groups to argue on the importance of certain laws. The Pharisees and Essenes argued on many topics as well. Yet, one of the most important teachings of Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet was the coming of the judgement, the reversal of fortunes, and the new kingdom brought about by the Son of Man. It is widely known today that Jesus preached of a day when God would judge the souls of the living and dead to cleanse his creation and raise a new kingdom where there