Did Jesus Exist?

The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth

De: Bart D. Ehrman

Narrado por: Walter Dixon

Large numbers of atheists, humanists, and conspiracy theorists are raising one of the most pressing questions in the history of religion: "Did Jesus exist at all?" Was he invented out of whole cloth for nefarious purposes by those seeking to control the masses? Or was Jesus such a shadowy figure - far removed from any credible historical evidence - that he bears no meaningful resemblance to the person described in the Bible?

In Did Jesus Exist? historian and Bible expert Bart Ehrman confronts these questions, vigorously defends the historicity of Jesus, and provides a compelling portrait of the man from Nazareth. The Jesus you discover here may not be the Jesus you had hoped to meet - but he did exist, whether we like it or not.

©2012 Bart D. Ehrman (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers

Another Great Ehrman Book

First I should say that I am a big fan of Bart Ehrman and have several of his books - so this one was right up my alley. Ehrman does a wonderful job of going piece by piece through the various evidences we have for the existence of Jesus, all the while making it enjoyable to read. I learned a lot about how historians go about making judgments about historical people, places, and events - all of which is super interesting and can be applied to all areas of history.

Educational

Interesting book and well preformed. You get a overview of the state of scholarship in the field

Very helpful

Addressed most of my questions in an helpful and thorough manner. This book surpassed my expectations

a great read for the atheist christophiles..

the author addresses all the issues which touch upon the question, but also explains why they are (or arn't) important. both mythicists views and the life of Jesus, the jewish apocalyptic preacher are explored, and it was scholarly enough to get me reading more. i wish the "works cited" of the book was also available somewhere for further reading.

Typical Ehrman....Absolutely on point!

Ehrman provides an incredibly clear overview of the scholarly consensus on the historical Jesus of Nazareth. I am unspeakably grateful to him for using logic as a razorblade to cut through all the unfounded nonsense out there on the origin of the Christian movements. This book completely changed my outlook on the faith that is so common to our country.

Fantastic

Any additional comments?

A great work by the fantastic Bart Ehrman where he gives detailed account of all the evidence for the historicity of Jesus, against the "Myhthisist" point of view. Exactly the kind of study I was looking for. Many thanks to Porf. Ehrman for this work. The narrator is excellent.

understanding

So much is misinterpreted in life and the Bible is only one. it is ok for their to be a Jesus that was Jewish.

Jesus, a Jewish Apocalyptic preacher.

In this book Dr Ehrman with some (but in my view not compelling) success tries to argue that Jesus did exist as a man and was executed as apposed to the view common amongst some groups of atheists that Jesus (man, god or both) was simply a myth and never existed at all.

The first argument presented is that the vast majority of biblical scholars believe that Jesus existed falls particularly flat, there has been many times in many fields where the vast majority of scholars in a field have been found to be wrong. Its an unhelpful argument and should have been left out.

Dr Ehrman calls those who don't believe Jesus existed in any physical form Mythicists. While I think the book succeeds in disposing many of the arguments of the Mythicists, it does not present any compelling arguments in the other direction. In the end no significant proof is presented that Jesus did exist other than the biblical sources. While Dr Ehrman presents some very good analysis of the biblical sources and makes a good argument as to the more historically plausible sections, at the end of the day one has to rely on the flawed and biased biblical sources as proof Jesus existed.

Based on this evidence, my opinion is that Jesus probably existed, but I am far from certain. After listening to this book I am actually less certain than I was, I was shocked by the lack of non-biblical references to Jesus in material dating to the first century.

Where this book shines however is Dr Ehrman's argument of Jesus as a Apocalyptic preacher similar to John the baptist. Its a well thought out argument and the most plausible argument as to who and what Jesus was I have heard. If you have read or listened to Dr Ehrmans other books and are short on time, I would suggest skipping to the final few chapters.

Very interesting

Would you listen to Did Jesus Exist? again? Why?

No. I got the message.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Did Jesus Exist??

No particular moment.

Have you listened to any of Walter Dixon’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Did Jesus Exist?
Is Christ a made-up figure?

Any additional comments?

Interesting. I never knew, there was really so much evidence to be found.

Catholic who loves this book

my dad was trained by Jesuits to think to reason honestly. I owe this to my dad. this book has granted me a fair historical evaluation of Jesus who I love more following my listening to this book. so good, thanks to the author for a work I find credible.