Bart Ehrman is a Force in the Flight From Christianity

Ehrman has been quoted on this blog often. I have paid to receive his daily blogs but let it expire a couple of times. My assumption always was the blog had maybe a thousand or two subscribers. Now I learn he is far more popular than I had imagined. He has over 8,000 subscribers. The money from subscriptions is given to charities, including Doctors Without Borders (he does not pay himself but pays two part time assistants) and has donated two million dollars. These 8,000 subscribers reflect the interest in what Ehrman writes. He has published more than a dozen books, some best sellers, that have sold millions of copies. People also buy his on-line lectures. He is a Professor of Religion and Department Chair at the University of North Carolina at Chaple Hill.

There are a host of other authors and public personalities such as Richard Dawkins who have become both famous and, I'm sure, at least somewhat wealthy. How could it be that simply writing and talking about an ancient book could generate so much interest?

It must come from the emotional reach of the Bible. It has convinced people for centuries there is an invisible god that judges them. This has scared people for all this time. Could it be that Shakespear's famous line, "Hell has no fury like a woman (or man) scorned)?" has found its way into religion. That is, people are learning from the likes of Ehrman what they have been told about the Bible is not true or incorrect and they are especially bitter. Ehrman has pointed out the Bible does not say abortion is a sin. Yet, you will find a small army or preachers and those living off anti-abortion fund raising telling people "God hates abortion." 

As Ehrman points out, the Devil does not appear in the Adam and Eve story. Satan appears infrequently in the Old Testament. The Trinity does not appear in early editions of the First Epistle of John. It was inserted by scribes in the 14th century. 

Ehrman has been especially good for the liberal arts parts of universities. Increasingly the only value universities are seen to provide society is a skilled labor or management population. Liberal arts does not offer much here. What may be an even larger contribution that comes mostly from the liberal arts is the destruction of myths. The likes of Ehrman have been so effective at destroying myths legislators are passing laws against the debunking of myths. They are trying to prohibit certain things from being mentioned.

May the success of Ehrman continue.