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My students sometimes ask: what is a fundamentalist? I give them a very simple definition.

Bart D. Ehrman

There are few things more dangerous than inbred religious certainty.
BART D. EHRMAN

Critical Inbreds Religious Thinking
Sometimes Christian apologists say there are only three options to who Jesus was: a liar, a lunatic or the Lord. But there could be a fourth option – legend.
BART D. EHRMAN

Christian God Jesus
Far and away the most changes are the result of mistakes pure and simple slips of the pen, accidental omissions, inadvertent additions, misspelled words, blunders of one sort or another.
BART D. EHRMAN

Accident Another Blunder Omisison Pure Simple Slip Word
My students sometimes ask: what is a fundamentalist? I give them a very simple definition.
BART D. EHRMAN

Fun Giving Simple
The search for truth takes you where the evidence leads you, even if, at first, you don’t want to go there.
BART D. EHRMAN

Firsts Truth Want
The problem then with Jesus is that he cannot be removed from his time and transplanted into our own without simply creating him anew
BART D. EHRMAN

Creating Jesus Problem Transplant
Jesus existed, and those vocal persons who deny it do so not because they have considered the evidence with the dispassionate eye of the historian, but because they have some other agenda that this denial serves.
BART D. EHRMAN

Agendas Eye Jesus
[P]eople need to use their intelligence to evaluate what they find to be true and untrue in the Bible. This is how we need to live life generally.
BART D. EHRMAN

Life Live Needs Writing
In the entire first Christian century Jesus is not mentioned by a single Greek or Roman historian, religion scholar, politician, philosopher or poet.
BART D. EHRMAN

Christian Jesus Zero
His name never occurs in a single inscription, and it is never found in a single piece of private correspondence. Zero! Zip references!
BART D. EHRMAN

Correspondance Found Inscription Name Single
Everything we hear and see we need to evaluate—whether the inspiring writings of the Bible or the inspiring writings of Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, or George Eliot, of Ghandi, Desmond Tutu, or the Dalai Lama.
BART D. EHRMAN

Bible Everything Inspire Intelligence People Unique
A fundamentalist is no fun, too much damn, and not enough mental.
BART D. EHRMAN

Fun Fundamental Mental
I have such a fantastic life that I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for it. . . . But I don’t have anyone to express my gratitude to. This is a void deep inside me, a void of wanting someone to thank, and I don’t see any plausible way of filling it.
BART D. EHRMAN

Fantastic Gratitude Life Someone Wanting
In terms of the historical record, I should also point out that there is no account in any ancient source whatsoever about King Herod slaughtering children in or around Bethlehem, or anyplace else.
BART D. EHRMAN

Children Jesus Kings
I think the evidence is just so overwhelming that Jesus existed, that it’s silly to talk about him not existing.
BART D. EHRMAN

Bible Jesus Silly
Did he say both things? Could he mean both things? How can both be true at once? Or is it possible that one of the Gospel writers got things switched around?
BART D. EHRMAN

Around Both Possible Switch Thing True

My students sometimes ask: what is a fundamentalist? I give them a very simple definition.

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My students sometimes ask: what is a fundamentalist? I give them a very simple definition.

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