Bird and Ehrman on FaithStreet

Over at FaithStreet are articles by Bart Ehrman and Michael Bird.

Here’s the links:

Bart Ehrman, Why I Am Obsessed with Jesus, he concludes:

So now I understand my obsession better. One could argue that the historical Jesus himself is a footnote in history. The overwhelming majority of Christians do not, and never did, believe in the historical Jesus — despite what they may say or think. Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher of the imminent destruction of his world. That’s not whom Christians believe in. They believe in the God Christ. Had Jesus not been proclaimed God, nothing like the Christian faith would have emerged. And we would not have our form of civilization. And so I’m still obsessed with Jesus — not just the man, but even more, the man who became God.

Also, is it me, or is the author blurb for Ehrman’s article a little bit over the top? I know a publicist probably wrote it, but still, I don’t know if I’d want to go around calling myself one of the “most renowned” Bible scholar in the world. Any way, we all know that that label properly belongs to Tom Wright!

Michael Bird, Hey Bart Ehrman, I’ve Obsessed with Jesus, Too – But You’ve Got Him All Wrong! My final words are:

I encourage you to read both books. Regardless of what one thinks about who is right in this scholarly melee, Ehrman and I would both agree on one thing: the debate matters. If Jesus is God, then the story of Jesus is the most important story of them all. If not, then worship of Jesus is at best a fanciful fiction and at worst has engineered the manipulation of our entire civilization. But make no mistake about it. Who Jesus is matters, and each of us needs to respond to the gnawing question that Jesus once posed to his disciples: “Who do you say I am?”

Note, Michael Bird is not one of the most renowned Bible scholars in the world. He’s actually just a comedian who’s primary medium is biblical studies.