Bart Ehrman vs. James White Debate P1

Dr. Bart D. Ehrman debates Dr. James R. White on the question "Did the Bible Misquote Jesus?" This debate took place at the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Sheraton Airport Hotel on January 21, 2009. The discussion stems from Bart's book, "Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why." The book which made the New York Times Best Seller list, introduces lay readers to the field of textual criticism of the Bible. Ehrman discusses a number of textual variants that resulted from intentional or accidental manuscript changes during the scriptorium era. James White provides a detailed rebuttal to counter Bart's claims.

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.

James White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is a professor, having taught Greek, Systematic Theology, and various topics in the field of apologetics. He has authored or contributed to more than twenty books. He is an elder of the Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church.

Copyright © Bart D. Ehrman and James R. White. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use, re-posting and/or duplication of this media without express and written permission from Bart D. Ehrman and James R. White is strictly prohibited. Video production copyright American Vision, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

[dawsonmurray]

Every time Bart Ehrman made a joke about textually variants he was the only one laughing. I'm a Christian and to make you feel better about your jokes Bart, I laughed to.

[MiracleWhit]

Dr. White’s presentation shows how God can keep His Word preserved while allowing man to continue on doing what we do best: mess up. God still brings forth His message through fallen man which in essence brings glory to God. Amen.

[Peter-kljg]

These debates will go on forever but if you really want to get to the bottom line, it's this:

1) If Jesus didn't rise from the dead, it's over. Christianity is fake.

2) If Jesus rose from the dead, you better get in line and realise that Christianity is the only way to salvation.

Text variations or the story about the adulteress being fake (we don't know it's fake - we just know it's added later) are meaningless.

You have to decide what you believe - either 1 or 2 above.

Have a nice day and God Bless.

[orangpend]

James White and Walter White have the same barber.

[laurieann]

This is one of the best debates I have heard.  I love listening to debates and have listened to many.  I actually learned some things in this debate.... it was more than just entertaining... it was educational.  Who cares who technically wins or loses (each side always thinks their side won)  I care more about if it is fair, respectful, fun and educational.  This one gets high marks in each of those areas.

I've listened to it going on 3 times now.  Wish these two would debate again.

[BoneCK]

Idk why Bart would use so much of his time to tell the audience that only a couple of them will have an open mind. It's not his job to estimate his chances of winning but to make a case that wins.

[demarcorobinson]

Dr. White won this debate hands down. I've watched all of Ehrmans debates and he clearly has won them all, until this one. Hats off to Dr. White for keeping it scholarly and classy. Ehrman was heated the whole time. Lol

[markrutledge]

One of Ehrman's more challenging debate opponents.

[weefishy]

When Ehrman got rude, condescending, insulting, interrupting and nearly began yelling he showed to everyone his personal hostility on the issue so he cannot honestly claim that his views are merely a result of scholarly study devoid of emotion or personal motivation.


This guy has personal issues coming out of his ears.

[corduroy]

Excellent lecture!! Thanks for uploading it and make it available to us all.

[rocoreb]

i'd never seen this debate. it surprised me to see that white actually comfortably won it.

[twahirabasi]

James White didn't talk anything about the complete addition of verses at the end of the Gospel of Mark: (Verses about the resurrection of Jesus), As Dr Bart has clearly pointed out, these verses weren't there in the early manuscripts of the Gospel of Mark, I think adding verses to someone's book and then later trying to attribute those writing to the original author is not acceptable!

[bonnieuk]

I wish I had a £1 for every time Bart says "copy of the copy of the copy", I'd be a very rich person.

[mrjukes]

1:27:04 Why should we believe that this standard is unreasonable? What makes this more unreasonable than other miracles, including divine inspiration?

[steveweiss]

Yes. Dr. White, you are correct in saying that all ancient writings are of questionable veracity and that the standard for these writings is probability rather than certainty. The role of historians is to determine the most probable likelihood of interpretation based upon very meager sources recorded for a variety of motivations. There is far from necessary and sufficient documentation to validate what is found in ancient and often fragmentary texts.

[kennylee]

My review of this part of the debate:

Bart had a stronger opening statement. He got straight to the point, explained his position well, and was easy to understand while James’s was scripted and kind of hard to parse. Both bring up solid arguments though.

James had stronger rebuttals to Bart, though both kind of floundered with personal attacks. James addressed the flaws Bart brought up pretty well. Bart didn’t do that particularly well, but it’s understandable given his audience and probably really high-pressure circumstances.

In the end i feel the jabs against each other was a little unprofessional but the content was pretty enlightening. Definitely not a simple subject matter. James is seemingly more lenient with his acceptance of the bible, because he is satisfied with a wholistic overview of the text. Bart i feel struggles more with the nitty gritty. He needs absolutely solid evidence for this, which unfortunately I don’t think James managed to articulate effectively. Great debate in the end

[ahmedvasty]

There is no trinity. Deut 6:4, Colossians 2:9, Isaiah 45:5, there is only ONE God!!

[BiblicalStudiesandReviews]

It would be fun to see a rematch between Dr. Ehrman and Dr. White now that White is doing a PhD on the subject.

[j.w.w]

Bart's argument rests on reproduction mistakes. Copying by hand was the latest technology at that time/era and clearly accuracy was a problem. Because the copiers, just as we are today, do not have uniform handwritings. I think the argument should be whether the mistakes were deliberate or intentional. If so, what would be the benefit or gain?

Dr. Bart should place himself in the environment of that era. If Bart was commissioned to do copies for a church group would he miscopy?

[chrisreimers]

Thank you for posting this, Mr. Ehrman. I appreciate that you took time out of your schedule to show us both sides of this issue. I am solidly on the side of Mr. White's take on the issue but I do want you to know that I wouldn't know as much about this if it weren't for you. I will continue to study and follow the truth, as I understand it, where it leads.