Debate: Ehrman vs Licona… “Can Historians Prove Jesus Rose From the Dead?”
This is a good questions to ask, with the two proponents in this debate seeking to “prove” their position!
As this is CNNZ, it does not take a expert to perceive where the Man of Spin’s presuppositions reside! Nevertheless, this is not about me, but the debate, which would not, be without these two men.
Here is a little about the protagonists…
Introducing Mike Licona…
Speaking: Mike is a national speaker with a busy travel schedule. He has been a guest speaker on numorous university campuses, has appeared as guest on numerous secular and Christian radio talk shows including nationally syndicated The Bible Answer Man Hank Hanegraff, Janet Parshall’s America, Truths That Transform with Dr. D. James Kennedy, The Current, is asked to speak frequently for parachurch ministries such as Young Life, MOPS (Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers), FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes), and has been the keynote speaker for multiple church retreats. Mike was twice a guest on Lee Strobel’s program Faith Under Fire (PAX TV), and numerous times on D. James Kennedy’s Sunday morning program The Coral Ridge Hour.
Published: Author of Paul Meets Muhammad: A Christian-Muslim Debate on the Resurrection (Baker: 2006); Co-author of The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, recipient of Christianity Today’s 2005 “Award of Merit” (ie, 2nd place “Book of the Year” in apologetics/evangelism); Contributed chapters in two other published books. Also a featured scholar in Lee Strobel’s book The Case for the Real Jesus and DVD The Case for Christ.
Education: Ph.D. in New Testament Studies (University of Pretoria): April 2009, M.A. in Religious Studies (Liberty University): April, 2000.
Debating: Mike has debated the following in public forums: Shabir Ally, twice (leading Muslim apologist), Ali Ataie (Muslim apologist), Dan Barker (Founder of the Freedom from Religion Foundation), Richard Carrier (atheist), Bart Ehrman, twice (Distinguished Prof. of Religious Studies: UNC Chapel Hill), Elaine Pagels, twice (Distinguished Prof. of Religion: Princeton), Steve Yothment (President of the Atlanta Free-Thought Society).
You can also find a more about the man on this PAGE where this bio was found, and by visiting his ministry website RISEN JESUS.
Introducing Bart Ehrman…
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. Since then he has published extensively in the fields of New Testament and Early Christianity, having written or edited twenty-three books, numerous scholarly articles, and dozens of book reviews.
Among his most recent books are a Greek-English edition of the Apostolic Fathers for the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press), an assessment of the newly discovered Gospel of Judas (Oxford University Press), and three New York Times Bestsellers: Jesus Interrupted ( an account of scholarly views of the New Testament), God’s Problem (an assessment of the biblical views of suffering), and Misquoting Jesus (an overview of the changes found in the surviving copies of the New Testament and of the scribes who produced them). His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages.
Among his fields of scholarly expertise are the historical Jesus, the early Christian apocrypha, the apostolic fathers, and the manuscript tradition of the New Testament.
Professor Ehrman has served as President of the Southeast Region of the Society of Biblical literature, chair of the New Testament textual criticism section of the Society, book review editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature, and editor of the monograph series The New Testament in the Greek Fathers (Scholars Press). He currently serves as co-editor of the series New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents (E. J. Brill), co-editor-in-chief for the journal Vigiliae Christianae, and on several other editorial boards for journals and monographs in the field.
Professor Ehrman lectures extensively throughout the country. Winner of numerous university awards and grants, he is the recipient of the 2009 J. W. Pope “Spirit of Inquiry” Teaching Award, the 1993 UNC Undergraduate Student Teaching Award, the 1994 Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement, and the Bowman and Gordon Gray Award for excellence in teaching.
Professor Ehrman has two children, a daughter, Kelly, and a son, Derek. He is married to Sarah Beckwith (Ph.D., King’s College London), Marcello Lotti Professor of English at Duke University. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.
You can find more about the man from his website HERE, where this Bio was also sourced!
This is how this debate is introduced on the YouTube page…
This is one thought provoking debate between Bart Ehrman, renowned author, professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Christian apologist and historian, Michael Licona.
Can historians really prove Jesus rose from the dead?
Watch and decide for yourself.
Enjoy…
Ehrman-Licona Debate: Can Historians Prove Jesus Rose From The Dead – Part 1
embedded by Embedded Video
YouTube Embedded Video Plugin
Ehrman-Licona Debate: Can Historians Prove Jesus Rose From The Dead – Part 2
embedded by Embedded Video
YouTube Embedded Video Plugin
Ehrman-Licona Debate: Can Historians Prove Jesus Rose From The Dead – Part 3
embedded by Embedded Video
YouTube Embedded Video Plugin
Ehrman-Licona Debate: Can Historians Prove Jesus Rose From The Dead – Part 4
embedded by Embedded Video
YouTube Embedded Video Plugin
If you would like to purchase this debate on DVD, you can find the details HERE!
For the Fame of His Name
Man of Spin
As a Christian, the resurrection is the heart of our faith. As Paul said, if Christ is not resurrected, then we are still in our sins. Of course, I believe the resurrection because scripture plainly teaches it. But that doesn’t mean that my belief exists in a vacuum. I believe not because it is part of my denominational belief (God gave us the gift of faith, not stupidy) but rather because of the historical-legal evidence that supports it, as do most Christians.
Simon Greenleaf, the famous Royall Professor of Law at Harvard University and one of the greatest legal minds in America, upon intensive legal examination of the testimony of the apostles to the resurrection of Jesus Christ, concluded that the resurrection of Christ was one of the best supported events in history according to the laws of legal evidence administered in courts of justice. After examining the evidence from a judicial perspective, Lord Darling, a former Chief Justice of England, concluded that “there exists such overwhelming evidence , positive and negative, factual and circumstantial, that no intelligent jury in the world would fail to bring in a verdict that the resurrection story is true. Tom Anderson, former president of the California Trial Lawyers Association and co-author of the Basic Advocacy Manual of the Association of Trial Lawyers in America, wrote, ” It is irresistibly noteworthy that nowhere in the historical account of the trial, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, or in any ‘ancient documents’ are any witnesses, documents, or accounts set forth which question the historical fact that Jesus Christ was crucified and the historical fact that He was Resurrected from the dead. Therefore, I, as a trial lawyer, would have to advise my clients who retained me to prove the truth or hoax of the Trial, Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus that all witnesses and all documents and all historians reveal it to be the truth.”
Rayburne,
Absolutely agree, and to carry on Paul’s words… we are of all people most to be pitied
Thanks for your comment… and the further insight, underscoring the truthfulness of the Christian faith.
Great to have your input!
Leave your response!
Nano-Blog News from around the world
NZ CHRISTIAN BLOGS
NZ CHRISTIAN MINISTRIES
PLACES TO VISIT