Dear Friends,

I spent about 2 years blogging my way through a scholarly Christian book about Jesus, and found out that the evidence for the Biblical resurrection story is stronger than most people realize.

Now, let’s see what an (highly respected, highly credentialed, bestselling) atheist author has to say.

Open series outline: Going for the jugular

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What I wanted

As I wrote at the beginning of this series, I wanted to study the Resurrection from a historical perspective by reading one scholarly book by a Christian and one scholarly book by a non-Christian.

I hit a snag early on, though, because I could not find a single scholarly book about the resurrection, by a non-Christian, that satisfied my meager criteria:

• Non-“mythicist”
  • Christ myth theory seriously entertains the notion that Jesus didn’t exist at all
  • Christ myth theory is almost universally rejected by scholars (atheist and otherwise)
• Credentialed in New Testament / Divinity /Theological studies

My initial solution to this problem was to read two atheist books that collectively satisfied my criteria. But then, I figured I would need to read two Christian books, to make it fair.  But then I actually sat down and blogged my way through The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, by Gary Habermas and Mike Licona. It took 2 years and 34 blog posts.

So, I finally decided that the lack of a single atheist book that satisfied my criteria does not create an obligation on my part to read multiple atheist books. I don’t want to spend the next 6 years blogging about the Resurrection, because there are other things to blog about!

So, instead, I decided to read the one atheist book that most closely satisfied my criteria.

Give me your best shot!

What I got

Bart Ehrman might be the most respected contemporary non-Christian Bible scholar, at least in the United States. He earned a PhD with honors from Princeton in New Testament studies, and he is a New York Times Bestselling author. He not only is not a mythicist, he actually wrote a whole book against it. So he checks that box nicely.

My only issue with his book that I’m going to read, How Jesus Became God, is that it is not necessarily focused on the resurrection story. But, it has two chapters on the resurrection, and, truth be told, the Christian book I read did cover a number of other related topics besides the resurrection itself. So, that’s what I’m going with. 

After several months off from blogging about the Resurrection, I’m raring to go!

God bless,

TFOTF

P.S.: A slight detour

For anyone wondering what I was doing the past few months…I got into a discussion about this topic with the Internet Infidels, because one of them courteously engaged me in a debate. However, after a few months of dialogue, I decided that I wanted to go straight to the top. Whatever objections they could come up with, I figured, are probably not as strong as Bart Ehrman’s objections.

In fact, I found it ironic that my interlocutor referenced an Episcopal clergyman who claimed Judas Iscariot wasn’t even real (1); a claim that Bart Ehrman himself seriously doubts (2).

What kind of a world are we living in when a guy on the atheist website cites a clergyman who says Judas wasn’t real, while the tippity-top atheist Bible scholar says Judas was real?

Links/references:

(1) Internet Infidels raising up on Judas

(2) Bart Ehrman sticking up for Judas