Bart Ehrman & Robert Price Debate - Did Jesus Exist

Bart Ehrman and Robert Price meet to debate "Did Jesus Exist" which was the headliner event of Mythinformation Conference III Buzzed Belief Debate Series presented by Mythicist Milwaukee at Turner Hall in Milwaukee, WI. The event took place on Friday October 21st 2016, 1:00 PM – 9:00 PM CDT. The Mythicist Milwaukee focuses on educating the freethought/skeptic/atheist community about the mythological origins of religion. Dr. Robert Price asserts the Jesus Myth Theory viewpoint - wherein there are flaws with the evidence for a historical Jesus - and made the case that Jesus is no more than a mythological figure. Jesus while Professor Ehrman supported the stance that there is strong evidence for the existence for a historical Jesus. This was one of the most anticipated debates in the secular and theist realm alike! Two New Testament scholars coming together to discuss the hotly debated topic of the existence of a historical Jesus Christ.

Matt Dillahunty was the debate moderator who currently serves as the president of the Atheist Community of Austin. In addition, Mr. Dillahunty also serves as a host of the internet radio show "Non-Prophets Radio" and of the Austin television cable access show "The Atheist Experience".

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He came to UNC in 1988, after four years of teaching at Rutgers University. At UNC he has served as both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies. A graduate of Wheaton College (Illinois), Professor Ehrman received both his Masters of Divinity and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, where his 1985 doctoral dissertation was awarded magna cum laude.

Dr. Robert M. Price is a former Baptist minister and teacher in the religious studies department of Mount Olive College in North Carolina. He holds PhD's in systematic theology and the New Testament. He is currently Professor of biblical criticism at the Center for Inquiry Institute as well as the editor of The Journal of Higher Criticism.

Copyright © Mythicist Milwaukee, Bart D. Ehrman and Robert M. Price. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use, re-posting and/or duplication of this media without express and written permission from Mythicist Milwaukee, Bart D. Ehrman and Robert M. Price is strictly prohibited.

[jjuhring]

As purely a seeker of knowledge, I was very interested in listening to this debate. Who would come better prepared? Who would provide the more convincing arguments? Bottom line is that using a litmus test of critical thinking a weighing of the presented evidence, Ehrman easily wins this debate. Understand, I'm not saying he's right... simply that body and the weight of the evidence provided by Ehrman in this debate was superior. Dr. Price approaches this subject like a trial where he is the defense attorney. He believes that all he has to do is cast doubt on the other side's position in order to win. Sorry Doctor, but that is weak. To win a debate you must provide more compelling evidence for your position than your opponent provides... and that simply didn't happen. The only one who provided physical evidence, applied sensible reasoning and spent the majority of their allotted time making their case was Ehrman. 1 point for Dr. Ehrman.

[clydecessna]

In 1986 I head the great privilege of being a volunteer at the Kibbutz Ashdod Yaaquov - the Mehad variety. Some volunteers were on a rented boat near the shore of Lake Kinneret known to Christians as the Sea of Galilee. I was at the shore on a very calm day and they called to me to get into the boat. I stepped out on the water and worked my way on the rocks that were just submerged below the surface of the water. Watch out! my friend yelled: "Don't step there; the rocks are over here". So I changed by foot step strategy and arrived at the boat safely without falling in. Later it occurred to me that if someone had taken a photo from the shore it would have looked as if I had walked on the water, stumbled, and was helped by the guy in the boat. Perhaps a biblical scribe might have made more of it.

[j.rayredden]

If one had actual, accurate, complete census material of the era, I would guess they would find more than one Jesus of/ from/ in Nazareth.

[conniead]

I am at 58:28. I was raised Christian, kind of. Mom was a Mormon and dad an anti-religionists. He believed more in the possibility that aliens had been here than what religions invented. I had a short personal experience with two beings of light in 1982. Made me into a believer of higher beings. I searched and prayed. I decided that there have been people who were special to those “beings” throughout history. BUT tellings of them were greatly exaggerated by their followers. My personal experience involved me suddenly looking down at my car and a bright light on either side of me. I heard “You are going to be hit. You can’t let your car move”. Then I was back in my car pushing down in the parking brake, putting shift in Park,

[teachpeace]

I knew the idea that Jesus never existed was not mainstream, but I didn’t realize their reasons for it were so weak. Now, the idea that he existed and was later turned into some sort of god, that seems more plausible given the evidence.

[maxnullifidian]

I was once "on fire for God" until reason put out the flames.

[CyprusHot]

The weirdest debate I’ve ever watched and I’ve listened to many.

[wichitadisciple]

Speaking of the resurrection ... something clearly must have happened after the crucifixion to make so many people believe that Jesus was the Son of God.
I can understand the hallucination theory when speaking about 1 on 1 meetings with Jesus and his disciples.
However, Jesus appeared to 500 people at the same time.... the probability of 500 people hallucinating and seeing the exact same thing is impossible!!
Mix that with the willingness for his disciples to literally be tortured and killed for their belief would not make any sense.

All but 1 of Jesus apostles were murdered for their belief in Jesus....
James - beheaded
Peter - crucified upside-down
Matthew - died from a sword wound
John - boiled in oil, sent to prison, died an old man
James - Thrown from a tower.. didn't die so they beat him to death with clubs.
Bartholomew - flayed to death by a whip
Andrew - crucified on an X-shaped cross
Matthias - stoned and then beheaded
Paul - tortured and then beheaded

If Jesus had not been resurrected, the disciples would have known it. People will not die for something they know to be a lie.

[yukhu]

Dr Ehrman Thanks so much May God bless you always

[accabb]

Was like watching a flat earth vs round earth debate.

[garylaxson]

It would be more productive to study in depth the wisdom of implementing the wisdom of John 13:34. The world would be a better place, and our lives will be better and better!

[dennislurvey]

Josephus wasn't born till after Jesus died and didn't write till much later in his life. That is why he wasn't mentioned in the first century.

[funenglish]

Can you activate the subtitles, please?

[indrawinangun]

I think if Bart D Ehrman meet Shabir Ally, there will be good conversation

[richardschaefer]

Did Jesus Exist? Some of us hope so....but the others better "pray" He doesn't.

[JaffarDS]

Oh boy, Ehrman wiped the floor with Price. Price is influenced by bad philosophy (unbridled skepticism and Deconstruction). Ehrman, while I don't agree with him completely, takes things through a common sense method. For Price everything he says is ad hoc.

[jlastre]

As a statistician who is unfamiliar with both scholars mentioned I'm going to guess they are using Bayes Theorem incorrectly. In the field of statistics itself most statistician are not Bayesian ( I include myself in the 10% who are ). Further not to go too far down the rabbit hole any Bayesian will tell you the hardest part of Bayesian analysis is defining your prior. Different statisticians will come up with different prior, and this is for purely quantitative problems.

[EndoftheTownProductions]

Robert Price goes against mainstream New Testament scholarship at 2:09:35 and brings the debate to a halt.

[JungleJargon]

Did the ancient civilizations exist? You know, the grandsons of Noah.

[kwj]

I guess nobody knows how to ask a brief question.