Bart D. Ehrman admits that Jesus existed: liberal commenters shriek

from Stand Firm by Timothy Fountain 

I was at a wedding rehearsal dinner last night, and lucked out with some really enjoyable college-age table mates.  One gent shared that he’d found himself “In the strange situation of defending Bart Ehrman.”

It seems that cultured Bible despiser Ehrman’s March 20 contribution to the Huffington Post, in which he made this stunning, right-wing conspiratorial admission,

Whether we like it or not, Jesus certainly existed

was just too much for the even more cultured commenteriat at HuffPo:

I keep looking in the fiction section of the Library and book stores and still can’t find any of his books or the other books written by theologists! I think they keep misplacing them!

Harry Potter was inconveniently a tosspot, therefore he existed.

Paul did NOT write about Jesus and knew nothing about him. The brother (James) was was also the name of the brother of Jesus of Damneus (the High Priest that Josephus writes about). Strange coincidence? or post-added?

Attis was ALSO a “crucified messiah”, as was Horus and Mithras.

I note that Mr Ehrman gives no explicit proof of Jesus’ existence.

The comments go on and on, and it’s the usual smug stuff of people who “took a class in religion” and now know everything about anything.

The argument actually turns on the Bible.  Ehrman believes that the New Testament is a bunch of “biased” (his word) propaganda, but that this is just flawed interpretation of an actual, historical Jesus.

The commenters argue that if they don’t agree with what the NT says about Jesus theologically, then he could not possibly have existed historically.

Man, so glad “science and reason” are the guiding lights of our culture.