I wanted to let you all know about a speaker that is coming to Tech tonight at 7pm as a part of the
If you decide to come to the lecture you will hear a guy that is actually quite an engaging speaker and very funny at times. I think you will enjoy your experience. Personally, I like thinkers like Dr. Ehrman even though I significantly disagree with them. He, and other textual critics that would agree with his conclusions, require that we deeply engage issues of our faith that some would prefer to not. The days of I believe this because I was told to believe this are gratefully gone.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind as well. Dr. Ehrman will certainly share his take on his view of the scriptures and the path by which they went from a set of circulated letters to where they were adopted by the church as the holy scriptures.
One thing I have noticed, as I have heard Dr. Ehrman speak on a number of occasions, and after reading two of his most recent books, is that you really need to be aware of his approach to the study of the history of the scriptures. He can tend to present the basis of his argument, and then rapidly move on to his conclusions based on those premises. By itself that is fine, but what you don’t often grab is that his presuppositions are heavily disputed. He presents them very well and, primarily because the average listener doesn’t have much experience with his field, you could easily walk away with the sense that he has shared what is correct, that he has pulled back the curtain on Christianity’s hidden secret. His premise basically (and very broadly) is that the Bible was inaccurately copied, adjusted, and slanted by those who were responsible for making those copies. You will hear him quote some very strong sounding claims against the scriptures and then back them up very effectively. He will say that once you start to really scrutinize the scriptures you will notice that they really don’t hold up to any type of rigorous or academic scrutiny. Finally, you will likely hear him say that if you approach the scriptures devotionally you will be fine, but if you approach them academically or historically, you will see that they fall apart.
What you will not hear tonight in all likelihood are the variety of stronger, academic arguments that counter his claims. Here is just one by
My point in writing this is not to tell you to go hear him or not. I would say this, if you go, know that you will hear a very engaging textual critic, and one that I personally think is wrong in his conclusions. And know that you will far from hear everything about these issues. Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to
Have a great day!