Daniel Kirk is one of my favorite bloggers. He wrote a very critical review of Michael Bird’s chapter in How God Became Jesus, a book written in response to How Jesus Became God by Bart Ehrman. Kirk takes issue with Bird’s sense of humor, but mostly Kirk takes apart Bird’s argument. Kirk’s critical analysis was that Bird makes assertions but not a coherent argument. Kirk’s main argument is that Bird doesn’t understand what Ehrman is doing, and therefore Bird’s attempt at refutation misses the mark–much begging the question and other problems. “In short, my assessment is that an evangelicalism that has Ehrman as its chief foe is in better shape than an evangelicalism that has Bird as its great champion,” Kirk says.
Bird then fired back with a defense of his chapter, in which he characterizes himself as the equivalent to the New York Ballet, and Daniel Kirk to Justin Bieber writing a review of The New York Ballet. Bird feels condescended to, so he wrote his own (completely condescending) retort. All condescension aside–and ignoring the fact that it’s actually the New York City Ballet–I know Daniel Kirk well enough to know that he’s not the Justin Bieber type. He might be young, but he’s got an unimpeachable intellect.
I don’t want to be the guy on the outside yelling, “Nerd Fight! Nerd Fight!” So, I’ll just leave it to your investigation.
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