No other author, biblical or otherwise, mentions this event. Is it, like John’s account of Jesus’ death, a detail made up by Matthew in order to make some kind of theological point?
BART D. EHRMANThe search for truth takes you where the evidence leads you, even if, at first, you don’t want to go there.
More Bart D. Ehrman Quotes
-
-
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 -
Different authors have different points of view. You can’t just say, ‘I believe in the Bible.
BART D. EHRMAN -
A fundamentalist is no fun, too much damn, and not enough mental.
BART D. EHRMAN -
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 -
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 -
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 -
In fact, most of the changes found in early Christian manuscripts have nothing to do with theology or ideology.
BART D. EHRMAN -
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 -
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 -
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 -
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 -
My students sometimes ask: what is a fundamentalist? I give them a very simple definition.
BART D. EHRMAN -
As time goes on, thing do get made up.
BART D. EHRMAN -
You can’t believe something just because someone else desperately wants you to.
BART D. EHRMAN -
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