Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #367332 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 175 pages

Customer Reviews

Jones vs Ehrman
Timothy Paul Jones makes a cheerful and valiant attempt to undermine Ehrman's scholarly analysis of the early Christian era. He fails, but as with all good writers, along the way he posits some interesting diversions and insights into this whole business of Christianity. I believe that as a Christian, Jones is unable to articulate a dispassionate and objective appraisal of Ehrman's work because his emotional commitment to his belief system is so strong that it is an inherent bias against scientific objectivity.

Ehrman's case put simply is this: The Christianity we have today is just one of many doctrines that existed in the years immediately following the crucifixion of Jesus. Ehrman employs textual analysis of the very earliest Gospels (some of them canonical, some not) to illustrate just how many differing Christological perspectives there were.

The "proto-orthodox" credo that now dominates Christian thinking, (primarily because of the adoption of this particular Christian belief system by the dominant western political power in the 4th century), maintains that Jesus was the actual son of God, born of a virgin, died and raised again on the third day and is currently residing in Heaven pending a return to earth for a final reckoning of mankind in which some of us will be consigned to eternal torment while others will live happily for ever in the new kingdom. Ehrman demonstrates that this belief system was just one of many ideas current at the time of Jesus and his Apostles. The "misquoting" cited by Ehrman refers to the changes that have taken place over many centuries in the copying of canonical texts to reinforce this "orthodox" doctrine. The knowledge that Gospel texts have been manipulated lays open the question of the credibility of the "orthodox" canonical Gospel accounts. The idea of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, the role of the Jews in Jesus' crucifixion and the Second Coming are just some of the many thorny issues that are still open to debate.

Ehrman shows that there were many strong and active Christian churches in the first century who had fundamentally differing perspectives on who Jesus was and what his mission was all about. These other Christians were just as committed and saintly - being prepared to die for their beliefs - as their "proto-orthodox" brothers. They too had a Gospel canons with creeds supported by Apostolic scripture to reinforce their convictions. Ehrman makes a case for these other belief systems being taken into consideration when we reflect on the singular truth - or otherwise - of the "orthodox" Gospel account.

Whose word is it anyway; God or Man? This is the issue raised by Ehrman and this is the issue that Jones fails to address because as an "orthodox" Christian, he literally cannot see the point of the question.