Bart Ehrman: Who Wrote The Bible and Why It Matters

[Alex]

Who Wrote The Bible and Why It Matters
Bart D. Ehrman
25 March 2011
Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bart-d-ehrman/the-bible-telling-lies-to_b_840301.html

...Scholars may also tell you that it was an acceptable practice in the ancient world for someone to write a book in the name of someone else. But that is where they are wrong. If you look at what ancient people actually said about the practice, you'll see that they invariably called it lying and condemned it as a deceitful practice, even in Christian circles. 2 Peter was finally accepted into the New Testament because the church fathers, centuries later, were convinced that Peter wrote it. But he didn't. Someone else did. And that someone else lied about his identity.

The same is true of many of the letters allegedly written by Paul. Most scholars will tell you that whereas seven of the 13 letters that go under Paul's name are his, the other six are not. Their authors merely claimed to be Paul. In the ancient world, books like that were labeled as pseudoi -- lies.  ...

...And why does it matter? Because the passage [1 Tim. 2:11-15] is still used by church leaders today to oppress and silence women. Why are there no women priests in the Catholic Church? Why are women not allowed to preach in conservative evangelical churches? Why are there churches today that do not allow women even to speak? In no small measure it is because Paul allegedly taught that women had to be silent, submissive and pregnant. Except that the person who taught this was not Paul, but someone lying about his identity so that his readers would think he was Paul.

It may be one of the greatest ironies of the Christian scriptures that some of them insist on truth, while telling a lie. For no author is truth more important than for the "Paul" of Ephesians. He refers to the gospel as "the word of truth" (1:13); he indicates that the "truth is in Jesus"; he tells his readers to "speak the truth" to their neighbors (4:24-25); and he instructs his readers to "fasten the belt of truth around your waist" (6:14). And yet he himself lied about who he was. He was not really Paul.  ...

(Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and the New York Times bestselling author of Misquoting Jesus and Jesus, Interrupted. His latest book, Forged: Writing in the Name of God -- Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are, is now available from HarperOne.)



Alex's comment:  Don't miss these 2 comments under the article:

I never understood religion, how do people pick up a book that say crazy stuff like what is in the bible and just say "That makes sense!" How could people do that? Has anyone read Genesis? It does not take a science major to destroy every sentence in that book.

I guess it's in keeping with the rest of the fairy tale. There is no god or sin or heaven or hell. There is no "judgement day" or eternal damnation. Dying is as natural as breathing. When you die you die, and that's fine.

[Alex]

Meet Bart Ehrman: A One-Man God Fraud Squad
A world-renowned Bible scholar says the Bible is full of fibs, forgeries and downright lies. 
April 30, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/belief/150734/meet_bart_ehrman:_

Nearly half of the New Testament is a forgery, according to a world-renowned Bible scholar whose new book fingering the forgers is making evangelical Christians as mad as — well, hell.  ...

...Forging holy books in an effort to save souls "is in one sense a noble cause, because it's not for self-aggrandizement, it's not for advancement, and it's not for money. It's because these people had something they thought was worth hearing. It's just sad that they had to lie about it. And some of these forgeries are really dangerous, which is a good reason to point out that they're probably forged. Their ramifications are devastating."

For example, the First Epistle to Timothy — attributed to Paul, although Ehrman insists it's forged — forbids females from becoming pastors or even speaking aloud in church.

"Because of what happened in the Garden of Eden, First Timothy says women are easily deceived, so they should stay silent and submissive and pregnant."

This dictate is still followed today by conservative evangelical congregations who believe that Paul wrote it, "when in fact it was a forger writing under Paul's name twenty or thirty years later — someone who was tired of hearing women speak up in church."

When Ehrman attended Moody Bible Institute, female students weren't permitted to take classes in preaching. Those classes were male-only, thanks to First Timothy.   ...



Alex's comment:  Believing that the forged Bible is so-called "Word of God" is no problem.  That is within the scope of religious freedom.  That is, you are free to believe in whatever you like.  Problem occurs, however, when that faith outputs as actual harm to other people, eg, women (example above), homosexuals (1), people of other faiths, atheists (2), etc.  When harm is being done, it becomes unethical not to take actions against them.  Prevention and alleviation of harm at its roots (pointing out the fact that the Bible is forgery) is not "attack on Christianity" (this is an unfortunate side effect), is a necessary ethical humanitarian act of protecting the harmed.  

(1) Anti-sexual orientation discrimination legislation in Hong Kong in 2005 was aborted as a result of opposition by the Christian Right.
(2) Bullying of atheist students by Christians in US schools.

[Alex]

Did Jesus Exist?
book by Bart Ehrman


Did Jesus Exist? by Bart Ehrman, A Book Review
Bruce Gerencser, 9 April 2012
http://brucegerencser.net/2012/04/09/did-jesus-exist-by-bart-ehrman-a-book-review


'Did Jesus Exist?' A Historian Makes His Case
1 April 2012, npr
http://www.npr.org/2012/04/01/149462376/did-jesus-exist-a-historian-makes-his-case