A review by alanrussellfuller
Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth by Bart D. Ehrman

2.0

Mythicism is the modern belief that says the Bible is an astrotheological text and the story of Jesus isn't based on the existence of a real person. Instead it made up and copied from earlier myths.

Historian Bart Ehrmans takes this view to task and presents the evidence that shows Jesus was a real historical person. However, Ehrman is an agnostic who rejects the Bible's supernatural claims.

Critical scholars see differences in the scriptures as contradictions, but harmonize what appears to be contradictions in their own thinking. For instance,Jesus appears to have talked about a future Son of Man who would bring in God’s kingdom at the end of this age. At the same time, Jesus insisted that in a small way, the kingdom of God was already present, in the here and now. This appears to be a contradiction, but Ehrman harmonizes by saying those who followed Jesus and did what he said were already experiencing some of what life would be like in the kingdom.

Near the end of the book Ehrman says skeptics look at our society and see what incredible damage religion has done to human lives: from the sponsorship of slavery to the refusal to grant women reproductive rights to the denial of the possibility of gay love and marriage. They look at the political scene and see the awful political power of Christianity.