The Historical Jesus

By: Bart D. Ehrman, Bart D. Ehrman

Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman

From the late Roman Empire all the way to our own time, no continuously existing institution or belief system has wielded as much influence as Christianity, no figure as much as Jesus. Worshipped around the globe by more than a billion people, he is undoubtedly the single most important figure in the story of Western civilization and one of the most significant in world history altogether. Yet who was Jesus of Nazareth? What was he like? It's a question that's been pondered by people and groups of varying convictions for more than 2,000 years. And everyone with even the faintest knowledge, says Professor Ehrman, has an opinion - with those opinions differing not only among laypeople but even among professional scholars who have devoted their lives to the task of reconstructing what the historical Jesus was probably like and what he most likely said and did.

This series of 24 lectures from an award-winning teacher and scholar approaches the subject from a purely historical perspective, with no intention of affirming or denying any particular theological beliefs. He explains why it has proven so difficult to know about the "Jesus of history" and reveals the kinds of conclusions modern scholars have drawn about him.

He begins with a discussion of the four New Testament Gospels - our principle source of knowledge about Jesus - and other sources, explaining what they are, how they came to be written, and how biblical scholars plumb them for historical understanding, before integrating them into the historical context of Jesus' life and a scholarly reconstruction of Jesus' words and deeds in light of the best available historical methods and evidence.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2000 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2000 The Great Courses

Fascinating

Bart Ehrman brings the skills of an historian to an analysis of Jesus as discussed in the New Testament gospels and elsewhere including in later writings about Jesus' life.

As he focuses on what can be historically determined, miracles are out of scope. This is entirely reasonable given the purpose of these lectures. Additionally, motives are examined and differences between sources scrutinised for clues to what the writer actually intended. This leads to a set of 'facts' that seems reasonably well-supported, and a set of 'facts' that cannot be accepted *based upon the available evidence*.

This is not a great course for a seriously devout Christian who does not want to entertain doubt in their faith, but provides the inquiring listener with an awful lot of interesting information that pretty much all Bible scholars can agree on as a base (again +/- miracles).

Brilliant!!!

Such a fascinating and enlightening series of lectures. Helped me to clear up decades worth of confusion in regards to Jesus and Christianity. Course would be helpful for Christians and non-Christians alike to understand the historical perspective of Jesus, his life, and his teachings. Highly recommend this- don't miss it.

Excellent, very informative

The lecture series was excellent. I really enjoyed the depth of insight and explanations provided. In particular, was helpful to hear the comparisons and contrasts to other historical figures and events which are relatively “similar” to help understand the context and setting of Jesus and his early followers.

Extremely Detailed & Informative

I really enjoyed these lectures. Professor Ehrman gives a great introduction and contextual understanding of who the Jesus Christ of history is, and what sources we can, and those that cannot, be used to understand his sayings, his life, and his teachings. It provides a very interesting and helpful paradigm for reading scripture within historian’s eye.

Standard Ehrman, Captivating Series

AT A GLANCE:
Bart Ehrman gives a standard set of lectures which will be unsurprising to anyone already familiar with his work.

CONTENT:
These are 24 roughly half-hour lectures dealing with the historical Jesus. It deals not with matters of faith and tradition but rather what historians can affirm about the man (from Ehrman's perspective). He presents the earliest biographical sources and filters them through lenses reminiscent of the Jesus Seminar, the two most prominent being the criteria of dissimilarity and of multiple attestation. He repeats himself often and sometimes retreads the same material in different lectures. For example, you can expect to hear the following sentence, repeated nearly verbatim, to set the tone for at least three lectures: "Since Jesus was a Galilean Jewish rabbi of the first century, we need to let go of our preconceived notions and examine him as he would have been seen by his followers in the context of first-century Palestinian Judaism".

NARRATOR:
Bart D. Ehrman is widely renowned as a critical professor of New Testament studies. His knowledge of textual criticism and ancient Greek is top-notch, and he finds creative ways to present his information to students. He mostly succeeds in his attempt to remain unbiased. He is relatively easy to listen to and speaks at an even pace, though stops for many "uhm" and "ahs" when he speaks off-script.

CONCLUSION:
This lecture series was delivered around 1999 and is now somewhat outdated. It is a commendable attempt to synthesize late-20th century historical Jesus scholarship, and the intervening years have allowed time for many apt responses to these ideas. I would recommend it to anyone interested in tracking the progress of historical Jesus inquiries as they have developed, and the frameworks by which they are still largely taught at universities today.

Thought provoking but…

Listening to this as a historian (though not a Biblical one) there was a lot I got out of it, especially in the first half. I have a better appreciation of the sources and theories involved in approaching Jesus as a historical figure. Dr. Ehrman sets up the pins beautifully.

When he starts knocking them down, though, he runs into the problem that the main sources for Jesus’ life are in fact the gospels. Using a defined set of criteria for assessing them as historical sources, the result is one more reasonable thesis using the same handful of sources as any other historical assessment of Jesus.

It’s not that it isn’t a defensible position, just that it is not as unassailable as it is presented. This isn’t the fault of Dr. Ehrman, just the limits of his sources.

very in depth

What made the experience of listening to The Historical Jesus the most enjoyable?

The thoroughness of Professor Ehrman

What other book might you compare The Historical Jesus to and why?

How Jesus Became a God

Which character – as performed by Professor Bart D. Ehrman – was your favorite?

It is a series of lectures

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Any additional comments?

This is a very good in depth historical study on the historical Jesus. It is not a Theological study.

absolutely incredible

well I consider myself a Christian and an educated spiritualist this book brought so many thoughts and provoking theories to mind not so much that I question all that I knew but perhaps have a better climate of understanding for those same things. what an enjoyable listen

Awesome!

What a wild ride! This is a fantastic explanation into the actual historical life of Jesus, who IMO was a real homie.

Authoritative

If you've read Reza Aslan's book on Jesus, or Bill O'Reilly's, and want to see a recognized expert on the historical Jesus at work, check this out. It's not current; comments on the audio make it clear that it was recorded pre-2000; but it's aged well, and to date remains the most comprehensive summary of the subject available on audio.

Bart Ehrman has strong opinions on the subject, and he's not shy about voicing them here. But he returns again and again to the historical evidence and to the methodologies historians have developed for dealing with that evidence. These are the footnotes Aslan left out (and the ones Bill O'Reilly, in his rush to market, never bothered to look up). Ehrman's lectures are solidly grounded and delivered with the enthusiasm of someone who loves what he's doing.

About those strong opinions. Jesus was, says Ehrman, a millennial prophet (that was, in fact, the title of one of his first books on Jesus). Jesus expected God to intervene in history in his own lifetime and bring about the Kingdom, a Kingdom in which Jesus himself expected to play a prominent role. He expected his 12 disciples to play significant but subordinate roles: in Ehrman's view, statements made by Jesus about his disciples judging people from the four corners of the earth are to be taken literally as a description of his agenda. Unfortunately - says Ehrman - Jesus was wrong, and his mission was a failure.

This isn't the Jesus most believers want to hear about, but it's the Jesus who appears from a dispassionate examination of the evidence. It's the Jesus most consistent with the work of John the Baptist who preceded him and the apostle Paul who followed him. It's the Jesus of mainstream New Testament scholarship and has been so for a hundred years.

Traditionalists aren't the only ones whose ox is gored by Ehrman. The Jesus Seminar - a group that argued Jesus was an inoffensive philosopher of the Greek Cynic persuasion - comes in for a strong dose of forensic dissection. John Dominic Crossan's reliance on the gospels of Thomas and Peter is discussed and criticized at length. Scholars who argue for a multilayered "Q" document, earlier layers of which are non-millennial, are resoundingly refuted. Over and over again, Ehrman demonstrates how the view of Jesus as a millennial prophet makes better sense of more evidence than any of the rival views.

Every statement Ehrman makes in this "great course" is backed up by citations of evidence, a clear explanation of pros and cons, and careful reasoning. I'm not sure this is the first place to look if you want an easy introduction to the subject, but if your appetite is already whetted, Ehrman will give you a well researched and coherent vision of Jesus.

(Last time I'll say this, though: Great Courses - please - enough with the canned applause already.)