Bart Ehrman on the Trinity

by slimboyfat 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  slimboyfat

  Talking of Watchtower quote mining, I wonder if they'll ever quote these comments, considering the source is Bible sceptic:

  And I began to see that many of the traditional Christian doctrines that I had long held to be beyond question, such as the doctrine of the divinity of Christ and of the Trinity, were not present in the earliest traditions of the New Testament but had developed over time and had moved away from the original teachings of Jesus and his apostles. Jesus, Interrupted (2010), page 16.
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  problemaddict

  Bart Ehrman is an interesting read. I plan to start at the beginning with "Misquoting Jesus".
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  slimboyfat

  The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture is his best book. The recent stuff is a bit dumbed down.
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  AwareBeing

  In his book "Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew" he details how Orthodoxy was dictated by aggressive members. That over time, these formed a consensus to brand all other "Christianities" as heretics. Does that sound like any cults we know in America?

  Further; Ehrman's lecture "After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers" mention is made of power plays. The professor explains how the Roman Church sent money to the other congregations in order to set free their Christian slaves. In this he states, you can imagine that these would then become loyal to the Church of Rome, and be supportive of it's teachings. Thus the imposition of the Romana mindset into the smaller ecclesias!

  Not all scholars aggree with Bart, it's mostly due to a few of his conclusions. As for me, I can only fault him for a hint of Zionism while Barabbas bashing and the occasional hot air in normal conversations. All in all he's around 80% to 95% on spot, very informative and a good read for subjects that many of today's Orthodox experts won't cover.
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  dgp

  Bookmarked.
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  Phizzy

  I quite like Bart's stuff, he stomps in where angels fear to tread, sometimes he speaks of something as though well established, when it is simply his opinion, but I find him readable and informative.

  Thanks for the book tip SBF, that is one I haven't read yet.

  It would not surprise me at all if the WT selectively quoted B.E, after all they quoted known Evolutionists in a way that seemingly supported their twisted doctrine.

  It is only a matter of time, they probably won't name him, he will simply be a "well known New Testament scholar" I expect.
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  Giordano

  The Trinity for me is a very suspect doctrine. It actually makes less sense when you imagine god living for thirty somthing years doing..........not much of anything. Get's up in the morning takes a crap, has a nosh, wacks a couple of boards together, has lunch, belches, hits the can, back to his shop, dinner, family conversation, sleeps.

  For thirty years! Whats the point? How about fixing a couple of black holes? If thats too big a deal........how about curing a dozen or so diseases. None of the trinity makes any sense unless you see a religion that needs to make Jesus into something he wasn't..........a god. Lets get real.......Jesus at best was a Rabi with a Messiah complex who with the help of followers tricked up a few miracles.