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Did Jesus Exist?
- The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 11 mins
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Publisher's summary
Large numbers of atheists, humanists, and conspiracy theorists are raising one of the most pressing questions in the history of religion: "Did Jesus exist at all?" Was he invented out of whole cloth for nefarious purposes by those seeking to control the masses? Or was Jesus such a shadowy figure - far removed from any credible historical evidence - that he bears no meaningful resemblance to the person described in the Bible?
In Did Jesus Exist? historian and Bible expert Bart Ehrman confronts these questions, vigorously defends the historicity of Jesus, and provides a compelling portrait of the man from Nazareth. The Jesus you discover here may not be the Jesus you had hoped to meet - but he did exist, whether we like it or not.
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Three decades after leaving the Mormon faith, Latayne Colvett Scott looks back to her original journey out of Mormonism and the reasons why she left. Revised and updated, this third edition of The Mormon Mirage presents both a fascinating inside look at Mormonism and new and formidable evidence against its claims and teachings.
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Keep away from it. Hate-Literature.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-13-12
By: Latayne C. Scott
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Creating Christ
- How Roman Emperors Invented Christianity
- By: James S. Valliant, C. W. Fahy
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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This explosive work of history unearths clues that finally demonstrate the truth about one of the world's great religions: that it was born out of the conflict between the Romans and messianic Jews who fought a bitter war with each other during the first century. The Romans employed a tactic they routinely used to conquer and absorb other nations: they grafted their imperial rule onto the religion of the conquered.
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life is one big lie
- By Anonymous User on 12-25-19
By: James S. Valliant, and others
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James, the Brother of Jesus
- The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls
- By: Robert Eisenman
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 43 hrs
- Unabridged
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James was a vegetarian, wore only linen clothing, bathed daily at dawn in cold water, and was a life-long Nazirite. In this profound and provocative work of scholarly detection, eminent biblical scholar Robert Eisenman introduces a startling theory about the identity of James - the brother of Jesus - who was almost entirely marginalized in the New Testament.
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Regretable. Hard to follow. Repetitive.
- By Jimi on 08-18-17
By: Robert Eisenman
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Whose Bible Is It?
- A History of the Scriptures Through the Ages
- By: Jaroslav Pelikan
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Winner of the John W. Kluge Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Human Sciences, Jaroslav Pelikan is Professor Emeritus of history at Yale University and past president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. This examination of the history of the Bible reflects half a century of study and research by the author. In Whose Bible Is It?, Pelikan traces the transformation of the Bible from its earliest oral traditions to its modern forms.
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Too Verbose Not Enough "Big Picture" Bible History
- By Stephen on 07-05-11
By: Jaroslav Pelikan
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The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography
- Lives of the Great Religious Books
- By: John J. Collins
- Narrated by: Mark Moseley
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Since they were first discovered in the caves at Qumran, in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls have aroused more fascination - and more controversy - than perhaps any other archaeological find. They appear to have been hidden in the Judean desert by the Essenes, a Jewish sect that existed around the time of Jesus, and they continue to inspire veneration and conspiracy theories to this day. John Collins tells the story of the bitter conflicts that have swirled around the scrolls since their startling discovery, and sheds light on their true significance for Jewish and Christian history.
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"Great Biography"
- By Marilyn Lame' on 12-04-14
By: John J. Collins
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How God Became King
- The Forgotten Story of the Gospels
- By: N. T. Wright
- Narrated by: James Langton
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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New Testament scholar N. T. Wright reveals how we have been misreading the Gospels for centuries, powerfully restoring the lost central story of the scripture: that the coronation of God through the acts of Jesus was the climax of human history. Wright fills the gaps that centuries of misdirection have opened up in our collective spiritual story, tracing a narrative from Eden to Jesus to today.
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Jesus' life matters, not just his death
- By Adam Shields on 03-17-16
By: N. T. Wright
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The Misunderstood Jew
- The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus
- By: Amy Jill Levine
- Narrated by: Donna Postel
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Misunderstood Jew, scholar Amy-Jill Levine helps Christians and Jews understand the "Jewishness" of Jesus so that their appreciation of him deepens and a greater interfaith dialogue can take place. Levine's humor and informed truth - telling provokes honest conversation and debate about how Christians and Jews should understand Jesus, the New Testament, and each other.
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Courageous
- By Tad Davis on 07-27-17
By: Amy Jill Levine
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Hitler Homer Bible Christ
- The Historical Papers of Richard Carrier 1995-2013
- By: Richard Carrier
- Narrated by: Richard Carrier
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Richard Carrier, Ph.D., philosopher, historian, blogger, has published a number of papers in the field of ancient history and biblical studies. He has also written several books and chapters on diverse subjects, and has been blogging and speaking since 2006. He is known the world over for all the above. But here, together for the first time, are all of Dr. Carrier's peer reviewed academic journal articles in history through the year 2013, collected with his best magazine articles, research papers, and blog posts on the same subjects.
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"Call Me Underwhelmed"
- By Ray M on 09-12-16
By: Richard Carrier
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Jesus on Trial
- A Lawyer Affirms the Truth of the Gospel
- By: David Limbaugh
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 12 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In Jesus on Trial, New York Times bestselling author David Limbaugh applies his lifetime of legal experience to a unique new undertaking: making a case for the gospels as hard evidence of the life and work of Jesus Christ. Limbaugh, a practicing attorney and former professor of law, approaches the canonical gospels with the same level of scrutiny he would apply to any legal document and asks all the necessary questions about the story of Jesus....
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What a disappointment
- By JB on 10-07-14
By: David Limbaugh
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The Exodus
- By: Richard Elliott Friedman
- Narrated by: Richard Elliott Friedman
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Biblical scholars, Egyptologists, archaeologists, historians, literary scholars, anthropologists, and filmmakers are drawn to the mystery of the exodus. Unable to find physical evidence until now, many archaeologists and scholars claim this mass migration is just a story, not history. Others oppose this conclusion, defending the biblical account.
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It started well......
- By kboy2008 on 04-21-20
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Forged
- Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
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It is often said, even by critical scholars who should know better, that “writing in the name of another” was widely accepted in antiquity. But New York Times bestselling author Bart D. Ehrman dares to call it what it was: literary forgery, a practice that was as scandalous then as itis today. In Forged, Ehrman’s fresh and original research takes readers back to the ancient world, where forgeries were used as weapons by unknown authors to fend off attacks to their faith and establish their church.
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Faith shaking
- By Fletch on 09-05-12
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Jesus Before the Gospels
- How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior
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Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally - including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Erhman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament - how the telling of these stories not only spread Jesus' message but helped shape it.
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Insightful, but with limited depth
- By Jacobus on 05-28-16
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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How Jesus Became God
- The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 10 hrs and 35 mins
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In a book that took eight years to research and write, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman explores how an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state came to be thought of as equal with the one God Almighty Creator of all things. Ehrman sketches Jesus's transformation from a human prophet to the Son of God exalted to divine status at his resurrection. Only when some of Jesus's followers had visions of him after his death - alive again - did anyone come to think that he, the prophet from Galilee, had become God.
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Wishing for a bit more meat on the bones
- By Darwin8u on 04-09-14
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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God's Problem
- The Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganzer
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another.
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Despite "Suffer the little children"
- By Kaeli on 05-03-08
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Jesus, Interrupted
- Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
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Picking up where Bible expert Bart Ehrman's New York Times best seller, Misquoting Jesus, left off, Jesus, Interrupted addresses the larger issue of what the New Testament actually teaches...and it's not what most people think. This is the book that pastors, educators, and anyone interested in the Bible have been waiting for, a clear and compelling account of the central challenges we face when attempting to reconstruct the life and message of Jesus.
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Take a college course in New Testament in a book
- By R. Reed on 04-09-09
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot
- A New Look at the Betrayer and Betrayed
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Lost for nearly 1,700 years, newly restored and authenticated, the Gospel of Judas presents a very different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas. Rather than paint Judas as a traitor, it portrays him as acting at Jesus' request.
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Not Another One!
- By David on 04-12-07
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Forged
- Writing in the Name of God - Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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It is often said, even by critical scholars who should know better, that “writing in the name of another” was widely accepted in antiquity. But New York Times bestselling author Bart D. Ehrman dares to call it what it was: literary forgery, a practice that was as scandalous then as itis today. In Forged, Ehrman’s fresh and original research takes readers back to the ancient world, where forgeries were used as weapons by unknown authors to fend off attacks to their faith and establish their church.
-
-
Faith shaking
- By Fletch on 09-05-12
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Jesus Before the Gospels
- How the Earliest Christians Remembered, Changed, and Invented Their Stories of the Savior
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout much of human history, our most important stories were passed down orally - including the stories about Jesus before they became written down in the Gospels. In this fascinating and deeply researched work, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Erhman investigates the role oral history has played in the New Testament - how the telling of these stories not only spread Jesus' message but helped shape it.
-
-
Insightful, but with limited depth
- By Jacobus on 05-28-16
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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How Jesus Became God
- The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
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- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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In a book that took eight years to research and write, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman explores how an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state came to be thought of as equal with the one God Almighty Creator of all things. Ehrman sketches Jesus's transformation from a human prophet to the Son of God exalted to divine status at his resurrection. Only when some of Jesus's followers had visions of him after his death - alive again - did anyone come to think that he, the prophet from Galilee, had become God.
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-
Wishing for a bit more meat on the bones
- By Darwin8u on 04-09-14
By: Bart D. Ehrman
-
God's Problem
- The Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganzer
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In times of questioning and despair, people often quote the Bible to provide answers. Surprisingly, though, the Bible does not have one answer but many "answers" that often contradict one another.
-
-
Despite "Suffer the little children"
- By Kaeli on 05-03-08
By: Bart D. Ehrman
-
Jesus, Interrupted
- Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Jason Culp
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Picking up where Bible expert Bart Ehrman's New York Times best seller, Misquoting Jesus, left off, Jesus, Interrupted addresses the larger issue of what the New Testament actually teaches...and it's not what most people think. This is the book that pastors, educators, and anyone interested in the Bible have been waiting for, a clear and compelling account of the central challenges we face when attempting to reconstruct the life and message of Jesus.
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Take a college course in New Testament in a book
- By R. Reed on 04-09-09
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot
- A New Look at the Betrayer and Betrayed
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Lost for nearly 1,700 years, newly restored and authenticated, the Gospel of Judas presents a very different view of the relationship between Jesus and Judas. Rather than paint Judas as a traitor, it portrays him as acting at Jesus' request.
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Not Another One!
- By David on 04-12-07
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Misquoting Jesus
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson
- Length: 9 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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When world-class biblical scholar Bart Ehrman first began to study the texts of the Bible in their original languages he was startled to discover the multitude of mistakes and intentional alterations that had been made by earlier translators. In Misquoting Jesus, Ehrman tells the story behind the mistakes and changes that ancient scribes made to the New Testament and shows the great impact they had upon the Bible we use today.
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Understanding Manuscripts
- By KaHef on 11-22-06
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Jesus
- Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In this highly accessible discussion, Bart Ehrman examines the most recent textual and archaeological sources for the life of Jesus, along with the history of first-century Palestine, drawing a fascinating portrait of the man and his teachings. Ehrman shows us what historians have long known about the Gospels and the man who stands behind them. Through a careful evaluation of the New Testament (and other surviving sources, including the more recently discovered Gospels of Thomas and Peter), Ehrman proposes that Jesus can be best understood as an apocalyptic prophet.
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I must read for those whose wanting to expand their insight from a single perspective (devotional) to include historical
- By RGO on 11-25-19
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Forgery and Counterforgery
- The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 25 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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"Arguably the most distinctive feature of the early Christian literature," writes Bart Ehrman, "is the degree to which it was forged." The Homilies and Recognitions of Clement; Paul's letters to and from Seneca; Gospels by Peter, Thomas, and Philip; Jesus' correspondence with Abgar, letters by Peter and Paul in the New Testament - all forgeries. To cite just a few examples.
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Needs to learn to pronounce big words
- By Sharon G on 08-09-17
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Journeys to Heaven and Hell
- Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: John Tefler
- Length: 11 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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From classics such as the Odyssey and the Aeneid to fifth-century Christian apocrypha, narratives that described guided tours of the afterlife played a major role in shaping ancient notions of morality and ethics. In this new account, acclaimed author Bart Ehrman contextualizes early Christian narratives of heaven and hell within the broader intellectual and cultural worlds from which they emerged.
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New Hits Here. Not Repackaged Hits.
- By Adam on 06-19-22
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene
- The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Bart Ehrman, author of the best sellers Misquoting Jesus and Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code, here takes listeners on another engaging tour of the early Christian church, illuminating the lives of three of Jesus' most intriguing followers: Simon Peter, Paul of Tarsus, and Mary Magdalene.
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A re-write of "Misquoting Jesus"
- By Miguel on 09-09-08
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Heaven and Hell
- A History of the Afterlife
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd, Bart D. Ehrman - preface
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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In this “eloquent understanding of how death is viewed through many spiritual traditions” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Bart Ehrman recounts the long history of the afterlife, ranging from The Epic of Gilgamesh up to the writings of Augustine, focusing especially on the teachings of Jesus and his early followers. He discusses ancient guided tours of heaven and hell, in which a living person observes the sublime blessings of heaven for those who are saved and the horrifying torments of hell for those who are damned.
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It may not be what you expect
- By Library Bob on 05-25-20
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Lost Christianities
- The Battles of Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Matthew Kugler
- Length: 13 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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The early Christian Church was a chaos of contending beliefs. Some groups of Christians claimed that there was not one God but two or twelve or thirty. Some believed that the world had not been created by God but by a lesser, ignorant deity. Certain sects maintained that Jesus was human but not divine, while others said he was divine but not human.
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The Early Church(es)
- By Margaret on 01-06-14
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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The New Testament
- By: Bart D. Ehrman, The Great Courses
- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Original Recording
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Whether taken as a book of faith or a cultural artifact, the New Testament is among the most significant writings the world has ever known, its web of meaning relied upon by virtually every major writer in the last 2,000 years. Yet the New Testament is not only one of Western civilization’s most believed books, but also one of its most widely disputed, often maligned, and least clearly understood, with a vast number of people unaware of how it was written and transmitted.
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If you want a balanced overview this is not it
- By Amazon Customer on 02-27-16
By: Bart D. Ehrman, and others
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The Triumph of Christianity
- How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: George Newbern, Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 10 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Christianity didn't have to become the dominant religion in the West. It easily could have remained a sect of Judaism fated to have the historical importance of the Sadducees or the Essenes. In The Triumph of Christianity, Bart Ehrman, a master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, shows how a religion whose first believers were 20 or so illiterate day laborers in a remote part of the empire became the official religion of Rome, converting some 30 million people in just four centuries.
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Another Piece of the Jesus Puzzle
- By A Mom on 04-13-18
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Armageddon
- What the Bible Really Says About the End
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff, Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In Armageddon, acclaimed New Testament authority Bart D. Ehrman delves into the most misunderstood—and possibly the most dangerous—book of the Bible, exploring the horrifying social and political consequences of expecting an imminent apocalypse and offering a fascinating tour through three millennia of Judeo-Christian thinking about how our world will end. By turns hilarious, moving, troubling, and provocative, Armageddon presents inspiring insights into how to live our lives in the face of an uncertain future.
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The best explanation I have heard in my 70 years on Revelations
- By Ian Huntington on 05-19-23
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Lost Scriptures
- Books that Did Not Make It into the New Testament
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: James Clement
- Length: 18 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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While most people think that the 27 books of the New Testament are the only sacred writings of the early Christians, this is not at all the case. A companion volume to Bart Ehrman's Lost Christianities, this book offers an anthology of up-to-date and easy-listening translations of many noncanonical writings from the first centuries after Christ - texts that have been for the most part lost or neglected for almost two millennia.
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Great book destroyed by horrific narration.
- By Stephen P Bielski on 05-31-21
By: Bart D. Ehrman
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Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code
- By: Bart D. Ehrman
- Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman
- Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Dan Brown's immensely popular New York Times best-selling The Da Vinci Code is one of the most successful books of recent history. It has captivated millions the world over with its enthralling suspense and its provocative questions about the true nature of Jesus' life.
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A historian's approach to the Da Vinci code
- By John Mertus on 01-23-05
By: Bart D. Ehrman
What listeners say about Did Jesus Exist?
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Jacobus
- 07-17-12
Vintage Ehrman
By now Bart D. Ehrman, lapsed Evangelical Christian turned Agnostic with Atheist undercurrents, is well-known and well established as a populariser of 19th and 20th century critical Bible scholarship. In "Did Jesus exist?" Ehrman again brings the insights of critical scholarship to the table to engage (not with Evangelical Christians) but with Mythicists (atheists holding the believe that Jesus didn't exist) on the question of how historical Jesus Christ really was. Did he really exist or was he made up?
In my opinion Ehrman does a good job of confirming that Jesus was a real man of flesh and blood that lived in the first century C.E. He argues from a modernist historical perspective and makes a convincing argument that there are enough "reliable" sources to attest to a historical Jesus.
After he looked at some of the evidence for Jesus' existence he analyses some of the commonest arguments of leading mythicists. He convincingly shows that this group of people has an agenda that clouds good scholarship. He offers a convincing rebuttal for all their major arguments against Jesus.
He then offers a scholarly reconstruction of Jesus and offers a comfort prize to the Mythicists, the Jesus of the Christian Church doesn't completely correspond with the real Jesus. He illustrates by bringing together the different earliest sources that has been identified from the gospels that Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet of his time.
Some of this may sound familiar, if you have read or listened to Ehrman previously. There are quite a lot of data and information that has been presented in different packages in his previous books.
One thing that bothered me a bit about Ehrman's reconstruction of the historical Jesus, was his insistence that Jesus didn't refer to himself when he spoke of the "son of Man." There is definitely not scholarly agreement on this theory and it is still hotly debated. Ehrman presents it as a well-known scholarly fact.
While this book repeats various of his arguments from previous books, it is still a worthwhile book. Ehrman is known for following his arguments through. This book is a must for anyone that is not convinced that there lived a historical Jesus.
Walter Dixon narrated the book superbly. He might become synonymous with Ehrman's future audio books.
One thing about the production that was bothering is that to the end one or two chapters of the book is repeated. This is probably the case due to a bad cut and past job.
This is vintage Ehrman, excellent but with a much needed acquired taste!
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32 people found this helpful
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- G-Man
- 07-16-12
Ehrman is not an agenda-bender.
Any additional comments?
I've 'read' all of Bart Ehrman's audiobooks plus his lecture series offered elsewhere and viewed his Youtube lectures because the subject matter is interesting and entertaining.
The premise of this book is the least interesting to me because I already believe that Jesus did exist in the flesh.So this is preaching to the choir.
I did not enjoy the book at first for that reason, but in the usual Bart way it still hooked me -though it took longer. Ehrman responds to many writers -point by point- who don't believe Jesus really existed. His own belief is that a man named Jesus did exist and this is pretty much the view of biblical scholars.
I read a criticism that this book dismisses writers who are outside of academia and that those inside academia would not be there if they did not believe Jesus existed. So they are all biased. This is true. True in the same way that academic biologists all believe in evolution and are biased against creationism.
After discussing and refuting many of the arguments that Jesus was just a fabrication, and many of the beliefs held in that era, then we get back onto familiar turf with discussions of contextual criticisms, sources and a final look at what Jesus may have been like and actually said. (The good stuff).
The contextual criticism is covered in many other Ehrman works of course, but I still got quite a bit from this because one does not absorb it all the first time if one is not taking notes and reviewing it.
The principle discussion was informative too. It discussed what we know about Jesus and informed me of the arguments others make about Jesus being a fabrication along with many of the curious beliefs of that period which I did not know. If you like to hear about the early Jesus movement, this is more Ehrman gold, though not completely new. That is fine by me. What I really like about the writer is his scholarship and his pursuit of the truth no matter where it leads. The book comes across as a logical, fully informed work that doesn't have a particular agenda. Ehrman is not an agenda-bender.That is worth so much in learning about Jesus and why I like his work so much.
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26 people found this helpful
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- aussieGeorge68
- 07-25-12
Jesus, a Jewish Apocalyptic preacher.
In this book Dr Ehrman with some (but in my view not compelling) success tries to argue that Jesus did exist as a man and was executed as apposed to the view common amongst some groups of atheists that Jesus (man, god or both) was simply a myth and never existed at all.
The first argument presented is that the vast majority of biblical scholars believe that Jesus existed falls particularly flat, there has been many times in many fields where the vast majority of scholars in a field have been found to be wrong. Its an unhelpful argument and should have been left out.
Dr Ehrman calls those who don't believe Jesus existed in any physical form Mythicists. While I think the book succeeds in disposing many of the arguments of the Mythicists, it does not present any compelling arguments in the other direction. In the end no significant proof is presented that Jesus did exist other than the biblical sources. While Dr Ehrman presents some very good analysis of the biblical sources and makes a good argument as to the more historically plausible sections, at the end of the day one has to rely on the flawed and biased biblical sources as proof Jesus existed.
Based on this evidence, my opinion is that Jesus probably existed, but I am far from certain. After listening to this book I am actually less certain than I was, I was shocked by the lack of non-biblical references to Jesus in material dating to the first century.
Where this book shines however is Dr Ehrman's argument of Jesus as a Apocalyptic preacher similar to John the baptist. Its a well thought out argument and the most plausible argument as to who and what Jesus was I have heard. If you have read or listened to Dr Ehrmans other books and are short on time, I would suggest skipping to the final few chapters.
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15 people found this helpful
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- David
- 09-10-12
Jesus Did Exist, But Not the Jesus We Expected
What did you love best about Did Jesus Exist??
The author followed the evidence wherever it led. He was very convincing and his arguments were clear.
What three words best describe Walter Dixon’s performance?
The reader did a fine job. However, 30+ minutes were inexplicably repeated near the end, which was quite jarring. I was not sure where the repeat ended and the new material began. That is why I did not give the performance a higher rating.
Any additional comments?
Although Ehrman concludes that a historical Jesus did live and was crucified by Pilate, he also concludes that this Jesus did not espouse many of the things we have been taught. For example, Ehrman concludes that Jesus was a Jewish apocalyptic who believes the Kingdom of Heaven would arrive in his lifetime, and so urged people to forsake their families and livelihoods in preparation. This is not the Jesus who values marriage and the family.
I am glad that I heard this side of the story.
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8 people found this helpful
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- Michael
- 08-28-12
Erudite, thoughtful [as always], and well read
Point 1 - it isn't a 'story' but I gave it 5* anyway! Perhaps this shouldn't be mandatory because there is a lot of non-fiction here [thankfully!].
As an atheist who has believed for a very long time that Jesus was an actual person who did have quite a bit to say [or is said to have had] about the human condition it was nice to read a well researched [as always with this author] explanation that clarified my ideas. I suppose he was starting with a 'believer' so my enjoyment of the book was probably a 'slam dunk' anyway. What impressed me even more was the way in which the argument was explained always using examples from known texts. Using comparisons and a clear path of argument to enlighten the reader. I am slowly reading all of Bart Ehrman's books and, so far, I think this is the one I enjoyed [and understood] more than any other. This later fact was also down to the sympathetic reading which was clear, concise, and very easy on the ear. I shall look for this Narrator in the future.
A good introduction into Bart Ehrman's works and a very interesting book which is highly recommended to any person interested in the man which changed the world.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Tim
- 08-10-12
Fail
This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?
The credulous
Has Did Jesus Exist? turned you off from other books in this genre?
No
What didn’t you like about Walter Dixon’s performance?
Needs to learn how to pronounce words he is not familiar with
What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?
Dissapointment
Any additional comments?
To sum this work up: Biblical writers believed Jesus existed, extrabiblical writers confirm they believed.......Ergo Jesus existed.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Patricia
- 04-28-13
A rather mundane look at the existance of Jesus
As an atheist, I often wondered if the man Jesus actually existed. I feel that the book had some reliable proof of his existance, but it was presented in a long drawn out and sometimes redundant way.
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- danny
- 03-06-17
Ehrman presents an indisputable case
Any additional comments?
Ehrman presents an indisputable case for the historicity of Jesus. This man's knowledge on the New Testament and early church history is staggering. I've read a number of his books multiple times and still find myself learning something new with each reading.
Ehrman's arguments are so strong, that for one to deny the historicity of Jesus would require a leap of faith equal to believing in Christ's divinity. Thus it shows the biases of mythicists like Richard Carrier, who are obviously intelligent enough to asses the evidence objectively, yet deny it in order to sell books.
The greatest shortcoming to this audio version is the rather drab and robotic narration, but I did eventually get used to it. This is not a book for Christian fundamentalists, nor is it for militant atheists, rather it's for the objectively intelligent reader who really want's the facts regarding the existence of the historical Jesus Of Nazareth.
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- Paul
- 07-29-12
Popular history by a first class scholar
If you could sum up Did Jesus Exist? in three words, what would they be?
Thorough, informative, entertaining
What did you like best about this story?
Dr Ehrman knows his stuff, and lays out the facts clearly. He is respectful to his opponents, but he has the authority of scholarship behind him. The book is far from dry, as he writes in a similar style to a news article.
What about Walter Dixon’s performance did you like?
The narration was clear, and had enough change in pitch and intonation to give the illusion that I was reading a novel.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
I found myself going back to this book instead of the novel I was reading concurrently.
Any additional comments?
I can't wait for his next book on why Jesus came to be regarded as God.
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- Tom
- 10-25-12
A book for Atheists and religious alike to read.
What made the experience of listening to Did Jesus Exist? the most enjoyable?
Dr. Bart Ehrman has done his home work on this book. Reading it really brought out many of my beliefs and changed a few of them.
What about Walter Dixon’s performance did you like?
Mr. Dixon has a voice that is easy to listen to. He came through loud and clear on my MP3 player while I listened at work.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
A simple and thought provoking look at a man that was made into a God.
Any additional comments?
Christians must remove their God glasses to really understand what the book says to us.
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2 people found this helpful