Podcasts about how god became jesus

Michael F. Bird is a well-known New Testament scholar and theologian from Brisbane, Australia. After serving in the military as a paratrooper, he completed his PhD at the University of Queensland. Dr. Bird is currently the Academic Dean and Lecturer in Theology at Ridley College in Australia. in 2013. Dr. Bird has written or edited many books in the areas of New Testament and Christian theology, several of them aimed specifically for lay Christians. Among these are How God Became Jesus (a response to Bart Ehrman's How Jesus Became God), What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles' Creed, and Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology. In today's episode we chat with Dr. Bird about two of his books: Evangelical Theology and Seven Things I Wish Christians Knew About the Bible.

New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman's latest explosive book How Jesus Became God claims that the early Church turned Christ into the son of God, but Jesus himself never believed it and nor did his first followers. Cambridge scholar Simon Gathercole has contributed to a response book How God Became Jesus (released at the same time) and, in the first of two shows, debates with Ehrman about whether the Gospels present a human or divine character. Book for Unbelievable? The Conference 2014 www.premier.org.uk/reasonablefaith MP3 of this show http://media.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/76d00b68-7544-44e3-87dd-0b8d32948aa5.mp3 For 'How Jesus Became God': http://www.harpercollins.com/books/How-Jesus-Became-God-Bart-D-Ehrman/?isbn=9780061778186 For 'How God Became Jesus': http://www.zondervan.com/how-god-became-jesus.html For Bart Ehrman www.bartdehrman.com For the Euangelion Blog http://www.patheos.com/blogs/euangelion This show brought to you in partnership with www.biola.edu/apologetics and in association with www.reasons.org For more faith debates visit www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable Join the conversation: Facebook and Twitter Get the MP3 podcast of Unbelievable? http://ondemand.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/AudioFeed.aspx or Via Itunes You may also enjoy: Unbelievable? 10 Oct 2009 - Jesus and the God of Israel - Richard Bauckham & James Crossley. Unbelievable? 15 December 2012 Did Jesus Exist? Richard Carrier vs Mark Goodacre.

In this episode, Dr. Craig A. Evans and I discuss the surprising and bold methodological claims about doing history in chapter 4 of Dr. Ehrman's How Jesus Became God. Along the way we bring up such topics as Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon,  the historicity of the New Testament gospels, the views of David Hume (pictured above) on belief in miracles, the probability of miracles, Paul's religious experiences, writing outside of one's area of expertise, and the usable life of ancient papyri. Here's part of the discussion of Hume in Paley's Evidences of Christianity that I refer to: But the short consideration which, independently of every other, convinces me that there is no solid foundation in Mr. Hume's conclusion, is the following. When a theorem is proposed to a mathematician, the first thing he does with it is to try it upon a simple case, and if it produce a false result, he is sure that there must be some mistake in the demonstration. Now to proceed in this way with what may be called Mr. Hume's theorem. If twelve men, whose probity and good sense I had long known, should seriously and circumstantially relate to me an account of a miracle wrought before their eyes, and in which it was impossible that they should be deceived: if the governor of the country, hearing a rumour of this account, should call these men into his presence, and offer them a short proposal, either to confess the imposture, or submit to be tied up to a gibbet; if they should refuse with one voice to acknowledge that there existed any falsehood or imposture in the case: if this threat were communicated to them separately, yet with no different effect; if it was at last executed; if I myself saw them, one after another, consenting to be racked, burnt, or strangled, rather than live up the truth of their account;--still if Mr. Hume's rule be my guide, I am not to believe them. Now I undertake to say that there exists not a sceptic in the world who would not believe them, or who would defend such incredulity. Instances of spurious miracles supported by strong apparent testimony undoubtedly demand examination; Mr. Hume has endeavoured to fortify his argument by some examples of this kind. I hope in a proper place to show that none of them reach the strength or circumstances of the Christian evidence. In these, however, consists the weight of his objection; in the principle itself, I am persuaded, there is none. This episode is also available on youtube. Links: Paley's Evidences of Christianity. David Hume's chapter of his Enquiry in which he argues that it is never rational to believe any report of a miracle, modernized by philosopher Jonathan Bennett (starts on p. 55). Hume's Abject Failure by John Earman. A blog post on Dr. Bart Ehrman's methodology by Dr. Michael J. Kruger. How God Became Jesus - the evangelical response book to which Dr. Evans contributed.

In How Jesus Became God, Dr. Bart Ehrman argues that we should doubt the New Testament reports that Jesus was buried in a tomb, and that this tomb was found empty on the third day after Jesus' crucifixion. (Dr. Ehrman and I discussed this briefly in episode 35.) In this episode, I discuss Ehrman's arguments on this with Dr. Craig Evans, who wrote a chapter about these arguments in the response book How God Became Jesus. Dr. Evans brings to bear some fascinating historical and archaeological evidence. Comparing the two, it seems to me that Dr. Evans has the stronger case. Do you agree? Why or why not? You can also listen to this episode on youtube. Some relevant links for this episode: Dr. Craig A. Evans's website From Jesus to the Church: The First Christian Generation Jesus and His World: The Archaeological Evidence Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels Archaelogist Dr. Jodi Magness. Paul's possible incorporation of an early creed in 1 Corinthians 15. The burial rules in Deuteronomy 21. A 2011 debate between Drs. Evans and Ehrman. And a written review of it.

In this episode, a conversation with Dr. Bart Ehrman about his How Jesus Became God, and the evangelical response book How God Became Jesus. Dr. Ehrman has given other interviews in which he gives an overview of his project in the book. So skipping that, we jump right into some of his more controversial conclusions, and how he arrived at them. We also discuss the currently popular "christology of divine identity," and the evangelical response book mentioned above. You can also listen to this episode on youtube. In next week's episode, we discuss monotheism and the gospel of John. You can subscribe to the trinities podcast on itunes. Also, please rate the podcast there, to help other itunes users find it. You can also subscribe through Dale’s youtube channel ( that channel also has other educational videos). Click here to upload your audio feedback, for possible use in a future episode – .wav, .mp3, and probably any other common audio format should be OK. Try to keep it to a minute or less.  

Join us as we talk with Chris Tilling, Charles Hill, nd Michael Bird about their book How God Became Jesus, which is a response to Bart Ehrman's How Jesus Became God.