THIS COURSE
Who was Jesus of Nazareth? What was he like? For more than 2,000 years, people and groups of varying convictions have pondered these questions and done their best to answer them. The significance of the subject is apparent. From the late Roman Empire all the way to our own time, no continuously existing institution or belief system has wielded as much influence as Christianity, no figure as much as Jesus. Worshiped around the globe by more than a billion people today, he is undoubtedly the single most important figure in the story of Western civilization and one of the most significant in world history altogether. Everyone who has even the faintest knowledge of Jesus has an opinion about him, says Professor Bart D. Ehrman, and these opinions vary widely. Those differences are visible not only among laypeople but even among professional scholars who have devoted their lives to the task of reconstructing what the historical Jesus was probably like and what he most likely said and did. In this course, you learn what the best historical evidence seems to indicate as you listen to lectures developed with no intention of affirming or denying any particular theological beliefs. Professor Ehrman-who created this course as a companion to his 24-lecture Teaching Company course on The New Testament-approaches the question from a purely historical perspective. He explains why it has proven so difficult to know about this "Jesus of history." And he reveals the kinds of conclusions modern scholars have drawn about him.
Everyone who has even the faintest knowledge of Jesus has an opinion about him, says Professor Bart D. Ehrman, and these opinions vary widely. Those differences are visible not only among lay people but even among professional scholars who have devoted their lives to the task of reconstructing what the historical Jesus was probably like and what he most likely said and did.
In the last phase of this course, you will learn the Professor’s best historical evidence as you listen to lectures developed with no intention of affirming or denying any particular theological beliefs. Except that Jesus was an Apocalyptic Prophet. Professor Ehrman-who created this course as a companion to his 24-lecture Teaching Company course on The New Testament, tries to approach this subject from a purely historical perspective. He explains why it has proven so difficult to know about this "Jesus of history." And he reveals the kinds of conclusions that some modern scholars have drawn about him.
This course is twenty four lectures, 30 minutes per lecture.
