Comments on: Podcast #51 – Bart Ehrman

By: Steven Carr

Steven Carr — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 10:05:06 +0000

‘At any rate, the more I hear about Mr. Salm the more I doubt his credentials.’

And what were the credentials of the Gospel authors?

Sherlock Holmes was based on a real person.

So was Popeye.

I guess that means they existed.

By: John C. Snider

John C. Snider — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:46:36 +0000

Shayne,

Thanks for your email. I admit I have not read Rene Salm’s work, but I did trade a couple of emails with him in which he said part of his Jesus-is-mythology thesis involved the “fact” that “Nazareth did not exist at the time of Jesus.” He didn’t say Nazareth was in an interim, so I assumed he meant it hadn’t even been settled.

At any rate, the more I hear about Mr. Salm the more I doubt his credentials. For example:

http://skippytheskeptic.blogspot.com/2009/03/who-hell-is-rene-salm.html

By: Shayne

Shayne — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:50:39 +0000

I think you left out of piece of crucial information regarding the author of the book who claimed there wasn’t a city of Nazareth until the 2nd century. I beleive that the author’s claim was that there was a Nazareth in the centuries before Jesus, but was not inhabited during New Testament times. It was later settled again early in the second century. The reason why the New Testament authors placed Jesus in Nazareth was because they had known Jesus as a Nazarite, figuring this to mean he was from Nazareth rather than the likely conclusion that he was of the sect of the Nazarites (like Sampson). I guess they figured he couldn’t have been a part of a sect. The way the discussion went it sounded like a proposterous notion when in fact it is very compelling and is backed up by archaological evidence.
Overall it was a very good interview and I am a big fan of Dr. Ehrman although I disagree with his certain claims of a historical Jesus. I think, at best, we have to be agnostic of the claim that there was a Jesus.

Good Job on the Podcast.

Shayne

Cleveland, Ohio