Here's a little bio on Ehrman:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_Ehrman
Bart D. Ehrman is a
New Testament Scholar and an expert on
Early Christianity. He received his
Ph.D and
M.Div. from
Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied under
Bruce Metzger. He currently serves as the chairperson of the Department of
Religious Studies at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was the President of the Southeast Region of the
Society of Biblical Literature, and worked closely as an editor on a number of the Society's publications. Currently, he co-edits the series
New Testament Tools and Studies.
Much of Ehrman's writing has concentrated on various aspects of
Walter Bauer's thesis that Christianity was always diversified or at odds with itself. Ehrman is often considered a pioneer in connecting the history of the early church to textual variants within biblical manuscripts and in coining such terms as "
Proto-orthodox Christianity." In his writings, Ehrman has turned around
textual criticism. From the time of the
Church Fathers, it was the heretics (
Marcion, for example) that were charged with tampering with the biblical manuscripts. Ehrman theorizes that it was actually the
Orthodox that "corrupted" the manuscripts. His scholarly output is extensive. He has authored or contributed to nineteen books.
Although Ehrman has a strong background in
Evangelical Christianity, having attending both
Moody Bible Institute and
Wheaton College (
B.A.,
1978), his personal beliefs have shifted over time. Ehrman now considers himself an
agnostic. He appeared on
The Colbert Report in 2006 to promote his book
Misquoting Jesus and was jokingly called an "atheist without
balls" (alluding to his agnosticism) on national television by
Stephen Colbert.
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.
In March of 2006, Ehrman and theologian
William Lane Craig engaged in a debate entitled "Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?" on the campus of the
College of the Holy Cross, with Ehrman arguing the opposing position. Following the event, Ehrman's publisher, along with Craig, expressed interest in publishing the transcript in book form. However, Ehrman declined.
[1] [2] [3] In June of 2006, a transcript of the debate was made available on the college's website.
[4]