That is the title of one of my classes. I took the class knowing that there would be doctrinal differences. I was kind of looking forward to picking them out, and taking time to examine exactly what I believe. Tonight I read the first 2 chapters. I will definitely be challenged in this class. The textbook is very reader friendly, it isn't a pain to read, which is really nice! According to the syllabus, the class may be tough for Christians because it looks at the New Testament historically rather than in depth. It is a study of historical context, about the authors, and the changes the New Testament has gone through.
First, the author of the book, Bart Ehrman, is an agnostic (a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God). He was a Christian but in desiring to learn more about the Bible began studying the original languages and eventually textual criticism, noting many discrepancies. Today, he is an agnostic (Wikipedia, I know, not super reliable). Reading the first chapter led me to believe that the author was not a Christian. Though he says he is writing from a historian's viewpoint, not a believer's, just reading the text was an indicator. Reading through this textbook will indeed give me many opportunities to test what I believe. I know now to tread carefully, everything the textbook says will need to be carefully examined against my worldview. I am a little disappointed that the book does not have a more Christian bent. I also will find myself doubting what he has to say, since he doesn't believe it himself. Even though he has years of study in the subject under his belt, he has lost some credibility in my mind.
The second chapter had a comparison of the religious perspective of Jesus' time and the religious perspective of today. Back then, the only faith with one God and written texts was Judaism, which made complete sense to me, any other religion believed in many different gods. Today, most religions are exclusive: Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc. Also, today most people believe in one god, it simply makes more sense. Another interesting thing is that back then gods were involved more in day to day life, but not really in the afterlife. While today, the promise of heaven and threat of hell are significant parts of most religions, and of course God is involved in daily life today as well. Religion in those days entailed ritualistic acts of worship, not morals and ethics, we get our ethical base from Christianity, pagans of the day did not get ethical base from their religion. Jesus, however, came along and changed all that. Jesus birth, death and resurrection opened the world up to knowledge of him, which I am very thankful for!
Well, those are some thoughts I had while reading it. I needed to get my thoughts in order to be able to complete the assignment. So, I guess the blog got the overflow of thought. :)
