I came across Dr. Bart D. Ehrman thanks to a strange hobby of mine. I like watching public debates between atheists and Christian apologetics. It's hard to explain why I enjoy them that much, or at all. Very often the latter folk strikes me as arrogant, intellectually dishonest, or simply obtuse, and even the sincere and likable ones mount convincing arguments very rarely. From dozens of debates, I found maybe one or two where that side at least made some good points. I've never seen any they won.
But for one, I'm an atheist, and I naturally see the side reflecting my own opinion in a better light than the other. Secondly, the apologists start with a huge handicap. The Bible is full of historical errors, scientific nonsense, glaring contradictions, and hideous moral teachings not even religious extremists follow today. It condones slavery, misogyny, homophobia, and at places it's downright genocidal. Its failings are mostly hidden by a general lack of knowledge, even among the faithful (just ask a religious friend next time to cite the Ten Commandments), and the fact that its stories are so embedded in Western culture that they lost their power to disgust and terrify long ago (very few people stop and ponder what kind of God would demand from someone to sacrifice his own son to him as a test, or drown every single mand, woman, child, and animal in the world because he is dissatisfied with his creation). Still, in the world of modern sensibilities, its defenders fight a very steep uphill battle.
For people who were not raised in a religious environment, the belief in some blatant nonsense often seems to be a sign of low mental capacity. As it happens with simple explanations, it's not a very good one, and especially not in the case of religion. Very smart and highly educated people can be unshakable believers. Many of the most famous atheists debaters are former Christians or even fundamentalists who left the faith in their twenties. Their IQs at 22 were definitely not lower than in their forties. That's one thing I find fascinating.
And after the long-winded introduction enters Dr. Ehrman, whom I happened on in one of these debates some years ago, and I have been following his online appearances ever since.
Ehrman is one of the world's most renowned New Testament scholars and experts on early Christianity. He is also a New York Times' bestselling author with books on Christianity and the Gospels (which some might take as a proof that miracles still exist). He grew up as a Christian, but only started to practice his faith in earnest after a high-school born-again experience. He became a hard-core fundamentalist and decided to dedicate his life to studying the Bible. He went to a religious college, learned the ancient languages and studied the original texts with the firm conviction that they are the inerrant word of God. Eventually, he noticed some discrepancies first, then historical errors, then contradictions. After the inevitable struggle, he moved away from fundamentalism, then, a couple of years later, from Christianity altogether.
Nevertheless, he made a career of it. He completed his Ph.D. at Princeton, wrote or edited around thirty books since, is a full-time university professor, and takes the time to churn out 1000 words on his blog every day on the subject of early Christianity. What makes him so interesting for a layman is, of course, not his scholarly accomplishments, but his personality that comes across in his public appearances. He's an odd duck in his field where most of his colleagues are practicing Christians. He speaks with both passion and clarity. He's relentlessly rational, but also enthusiastic about his subject. At the same time, he is just a funny guy. Listening to him, one has the impression that the chronological order of the Gospels, or the question of whether Jesus spoke Greek or not, are among the most interesting topics in the world.
If there are celebrities among biblical scholars, Ehrman is certainly one of them. As a debater, he is the great white whale of apologists, the one they crave to see to get beaten. He often takes part in debates with other scholars on the veracity and reliability of the scriptures, as well. Despite that these discourses are sometimes highly technical, and not meant for a general audience, I found myself binge-watching them. If I wrote a Chtulhu campaign with some reference to ancient history, Dr. Ehrman would surely end up as the Keeper's favorite NPC.
But why did he choose to dedicate his life to the study of the sacred texts of a religion he no longer believes in? His answer is that the Bible is, without doubt, the most important book ever written. The extent of its direct and indirect influence on history and culture is immeasurable. Had it never existed, the world today would be unrecognizably different from ours.
And this is a sentiment I can deeply relate to, although in a narrow sense, and for my own quirky reasons. I'm a mild case of a bibliophile (the blue-collar version) with a thirst for non-practical knowledge and an introvert who has spent too much time thinking on the meaning of life. I'm also a great fan of fantastical fiction. If I believed that there is a book that is the inerrant word of God, that can be studied to no end, that provides answers for all the questions in the world (as one of my childhood Bible teachers said), for me, that would be not an inch less amazing than finding a grimoire with actually working magic spells. On the contrary, it would be the mother of all grimoires. (Opening the gates to eternal life would be just an extra, welcome, plus.)
Of course, as a rare specimen of agnostic experts of Christianity, Ehrman garners a lot of hate. Fundamentalists see him as a traitor who turned against the faith he emerged from and can beat them in their own game (surely with the help of the Devil). He seeds doubt and corrupts the young. You almost smell the brimstone reading some of these articles. Some atheists, surprisingly, tend to hate him even more, because he claims Jesus was a historical figure, which they think harms their cause.
You really can't please everyone.
Ironically, in another world, Bart Ehrman would have made a terrific evangelical preacher. Which partly explains his appeal. You can get the awe and delight of listening to an inspirational speaker on our great myths without the nonsense part. He might rob his subject of the supernatural but in return, makes it superbly interesting.
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