The New Testament

By: Bart D. Ehrman, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman

Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

But now a distinguished religious scholar is available to help you gain a carefully reasoned understanding of not only the New Testament itself, but of the individuals and communities who created its texts.

Drawing on modern biblical scholarship, recent archaeological discoveries, and careful literary analysis - and approaching his subject purely as a historian, with belief or disbelief suspended - Professor Ehrman has crafted a series of 24 fascinating lectures that trace the history of the New Testament and the early Christian faith community. He discusses not only the 27 books included in the New Testament, but also many of the significant texts that were excluded as he addresses key historical questions around the issues of authorship, circumstance, audience, content, meaning, and historical accuracy.

"Our ultimate goal," he notes, "is to come to a fuller appreciation and understanding of these books that have made such an enormous impact on the history of Western civilization and that continue to play such an important role for people today."

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2000 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2000 The Great Courses

great overview of new testament

Keeping in mind that the author is agnostic, the arguments are always consequencial and well exposed. Many common sense ideas about new testament are dissected, still a good completion that is missing would be a recap of the teachings of Jesus that are supposed to be filologically reliable.

PRICELESS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE NEW TESTAMENT

I really appreciate the historical knowledge and analysis of the New Testament that Bart Ehrman makes available to us through this course (and through other great courses he presented).

It is a very objective and down to earth look at the New Testament. I don't find his approach and attitude at all offensive as other reviewers have said, he just points out some historical realities about the writings of the New Testament that it happens to tear down some very rooted beliefs about its books and about Jesus.

How can be the truth offensive? It is as if some people tried to convince other people for hundrens of years that the sky is red and then later somebody that is interested in how things truly are in this world naturally observed that the sky is actually blue and then told other people of his discovery in order to help them see the world as it is.

I think people like Bart Ehrman have to be appreciated by all of us - believers and non-believers alike - because i believe that those who have the courage to seek and see the truth and then help other people see and discover the truth ,be it an unpleasant one for some us, are truly the ones that are have an awakened spirit - as probably Jesus was before other people started to write non-sense about him.

Yes i know that he says about himself that he is an atheist but I also understand why he had come to believe that God and our spiritual nature doesn't exist - because religions didn't convince him and because religions and people that represents them aren't convincing at all.

I don't think God wants us to be ignorant and naive - on the contrary.

Fascinating

I became interested in the historical view of the Bible after reading Reza Aslan's excellent Zealot. This is just as fascinating and provides a close reading of the New Testament in view of what it meant at the time. It was phenomenally interesting to see the differences in the various writings (the Bible is most definitely an anthology), which sometimes seem to constitute separate religions altogether (did Paul even know what Jesus taught?). This method also allows for tracing of how the religion evolved from the apocalyptic Judaism of Jesus to a religion based on belief in Jesus's death and resurrection of Paul to a structured hierarchy that excluded women and no longer thought the end was imminent of the later Church.

Overall, this is highly recommended for literally everyone. Western culture is saturated with Christian imagery, and seeing where those images came from is well worth the time.

wow

i learned a lot from this course. i wish it would have been twice as long!

Great Historical Lecture!

I've never listened to any type of lecture before but I really enjoyed this series. Being a Christian and always wanting to learn new things surrounding the Bible and different studies, I thought a historical account would be interesting and it was really great! Easy to understand and to learn from.

Title should be "Dissecting the Origins of the New Testament"

Not for the faint in faith! But complementary to any true student of religion, human relations, psychology, politics and theology. The Professor is knowledgable and thorough. The title is a tad misleading. Thought it would focus more on the message of the New Testament. The audiobook Old Testament was more detailed in that respect to include dissecting the origins. It was for both religion and theological approach - probably the difference was that Professor is a Jewish believer. With that said, this Professor was very professional in his course and did not give a personal opinion or suggest anything one way or the other. Very fact focused and who cannot appreciate that. Very interesting data and will assist me in a better platform for reading scripture as a believer. Understanding that the words of God may not be conveyed in our bible exactly as we'd hope it to magically be. Takes a mature person to understand religious beliefs and take the wisdom from it. I'm a believer of the gospel. But do find peace in the ideology of human nature to improve upon or reconstruct a message to better appeal or to better control humankind. As a business leader we do the same for our corporation to thrive. In any event, felt like a pretty good 101 course. Not at all inclusive in its information but a good enough book to add to your studies.

Enjoyable and Accessible Biblical History

I have a background in Early Christianity and the early representation of the Bible in the medieval period, but have never focused strictly on the early development and veracity
of the work itself. Professor Ehrman makes a potentially dense and confusing subject both accessible and interesting. If you are seeking history, and not necessarily theology, this is a great overview. I look forward to listening to/reading more of his work.

Very interesting!

The narrator does a fantastic job of addressing a controversial subject with care. Keep in mind that this is a historical discussion of the New Testament, not a theological discussion.

Grotesque and disrespectful.

The professor could be an atheist and also respectful. Unfortunately, he is not. He is not worried about sharing different points of view, but only apparent mistakes of the Gospels. It is fanatic and disrespectful atheistic preaching.

insightful and educational

For me this was a very challenging read. In the end I find the sovereignty of God in the middle of it all.