Progressive Spirit

From May 17th through June 18th on Religion For Life I am broadcasting a four-part series on the historical Jesus.  It is called “Will the Real Jesus Please Rise?” For four weeks, I interview four of the most prolific and provocative scholars in the United States, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Dr. Bart Ehrman, Dr. Robert M. Price, and Dr. John Dominic Crossan.The second interview in the series is with Dr. Bart Ehrman.  Dr. Ehrman teaches religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written over 25 books on early Christianity. His latest is called Did Jesus Exist? The Case for the Historical Jesus. Here is my review. He is responding to the “mythicist” movement that says Jesus is a fictional character from beginning to end.  Erhman says that Jesus did exist, even though he is not the Jesus we learned in Sunday School.  He thinks Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet who predicted God’s dramatic intervention that never came.