
Earlier this week, I interviewed Bart Ehrman, New Testament scholar at UNC. We talked about his latest book,
Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (And Why We Don't Know about Them). Among the other topics: philosophical hermeneutics, seminary education, preaching, conspiracy theories, and his Holy Week appearance on
The Colbert Report.
I think we had a really enjoyable conversation, and he pretty much stayed off his usual talking points from this book tour. What I'm saying is, he's done a lot of media in the last couple months, but I don't think he's gotten too many questions about philosophical hermeneutics.
While I am sorry that Bart lost his faith, I think he's an honest guy. His the contradictions in scripture are not "hidden" from me, so he didn't reveal them. And they don't tempt me to abandon faith -- not at all. So my real interest was in Bart's motivation for writing these popular books that debunk the literalist, inerrantist, objectivist readings of the Bible. I think, by the end of the half hour, we got there.
I'm really looking forward to your comments on the interview.
Link to the audio after the jump.