who goes by the Word of God the Scriptures.

you are incorrect in your assumption that "the majority of historians" disagree with Bart Ehrman. RARELY, does Ehrman say anything new. it IS new to those of us without extensive study in the field. i tried to imply before that, in his books, Ehrman repeats himself OVER AND OVER (i found myself constantly re-checking the cover of each book as i read them thinking, "but i just read that.") Mr Ehrman even restates this position in some of his debates, which is that he is simply telling us what the vast majority of Bible Scholars already know! there is little argument against that point. where Ehrman is breaking from the crowd, is recently, in his retitling the term "pseudonymous" as forgery in those writings that are falsely penned.

the only "scholars" who disagree with Ehrman ARE "fundies" and VERY conservative Christians, though we might omit "cartoon" as an adjective. these, however, have motive for maintaining their disagreement, ie, they'd be out of a job (or maybe more correctly, they are worried that they'd be out of a job). when one denies what is known to be true, one puts oneself in a position to be identified with certain labels. just saying...

i try to point out that my awareness that the Bible was changed "in translation" began with one word as i was shown by a Jehovah's Witness. that, however, was just the beginning. the closest i ever came to "agreeing" with any proponent of a certain form of Christianity was Herbert W Armstrong. i say that as a warning to others. it should tell you that for years i found most Christian "belief" heretical, when compared to the "Bible". i found Irish Roman Catholicism to be rife with polytheism, long before that. when i read Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard E. Friedman, that was probably the beginning of my "realization" that "The Bible" is not what we think it is.

it was during a period of reading many, many translations of the Hebrew Bible that i became a Muslim. those translations all by Mesorah Publishing.
www.artscroll.com/Categories/bbt.html

while i heard of Ehrman first, my current "investigation" was inspired by Professor Kenneth Harl of Tulane University. i own all of his courses from The Teaching Company.
www.thegreatcourses.com/tgc/professors/professor_detail.aspx?pid=170

he has this curious habit of dropping little tidbits of information about Christianity in the most off-handed way, these little tidbits have sent me scurrying into historical works to confirm them. HE is actually the inspiring force behind my readings. i'll just point out that he is an historian.

i have all but the last lecture series by Ehrman on mp3, though most of them i have on dvd as well. by itself, Ehrman might seem odd, but when put into historical context it jumps to the foreground as extremely accurate.

while Harl is the impetus, the actual written works that have been holding my fascination are:

Jesus Wars by Philip Jenkins

AD 381 Heretics, Pagans, and the Dawn of the Monotheistic State by Charles S Freeman

When Jesus Became God by Richard R Rubenstein

A New History of Early Christianity by Charles Freeman

The Lost History of Christianity by Philip Jenkins

i decided to reread those, after i reread Misquoting Jesus, Jesus Interrupted and the reading Forged, all by Ehrman.

while currently doing that, i am also reading The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture by Ehrman, and finally i started to read Early Christian Doctrines by JND Kelly.

further mention should be made of a few other courses by The Teaching Company:

The Dead Sea Scrolls and The Book of Genesis by Professor Gary Rendsburg of Rutgers.
The History of Christian Theology by Prof. Philip Cary of Easter University
The Catholic Church: A History by Prof William Cook
Beginnings of Judaism by Prof Isaiah Gafni of Hebrew University
The History of the English Language by Prof Seth Lerer of Stanford
The Story of The Bible by Prof Luke Timothy Johnson of Emory University
The Holy Land Revealed by Prof Jodi Magness of NC @ Chapel Hill
The Other 1492: Ferdinand, Isabella, and the Making of an Empire by Prof Teo Ruiz of UCLA
The Apocalypse: Controversies and Meanings in Western History by Prof Craig Koester of Luther Seminary
Italians Before Italy: Conflict and Competition in the Mediterranean and The Italian Renaissance by Prof Kenneth Bartlett, University of Toronto
The History of Christianity in the Reformation Era by Prof Brad Gregory of Stanford

those along with other TTC lectures on ancient and medieval history and the history or religion, along with various Bibles and other works on History are the foundation for my positions. yes, i use Ehrman, but generally only after finding confirmation in other works (not always, though).

that being said, i've got some reading to do!

Peace, Love & Joy!

i have a few spare moments, i don't want anyone to think i am "spouting Ehrman", when "spouting Harl" is closer to the truth, though not entirely accurate. the HWA should be sending all sorts of red flags, but doesn't seem to be, thus i keep mentioning it.

the reading list is what i intend to use as supporting evidence, just wanted to put it out there (even if the list keeps growing).

i actually responded because of your Amy Jill Levine comment. there's definitely her OT lecture at the top of my list plus a couple of her books. from my list i also recommend:

The Catholic Church: A History by Prof William Cook (and his wardrobe will give your tv pixels a tremendous workout!)

but everyone should view:

The Dead Sea Scrolls by Rutgers
The Holy Land Revealed by Jodi Magness
The History of Christianity in the Reformation Era by Gregory
The History of the English Language by Prof Seth Lerer
The Story of The Bible by Prof Luke Timothy Johnson

along with all of Professor Harl's lectures. granted he is lacking in charisma, and you'll go nuts if you try to count every time he says, "uh"! but his subject matter is fascinating.

and i really, really loved Teo's The Other 1492: Ferdinand, Isabella, and the Making of an Empire (you can sometimes pick it up for ten bucks).

i think TTC has started to go "mainstream" and "pro Federal Reserve", but they do have some great stuff.

Peace, Love & Joy