Bart Ehrman: Wolf in sheep's clothing?

I live in the same part of the same state as Dr. Bart Ehrman, though I've never met him. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, about 10 miles from where I live. He's also one of the nation's most prominent and well-known New Testament scholars, and his books sell like hotcakes.

In the newest issue of The Christian Century, I noticed that Dr. Ehrman has been invited to serve as the "theologian-in-residence" for Ecumenical Christian Ministries (or ECM), a consortium of student ministries at Kansas University and churches in the Lawrence, KS, area. As a part of his duties, Dr. Ehrman will travel to Lawrence to deliver a series of lectures this coming April.

Now in some ways, Dr. Ehrman's selection makes sense. As I mentioned, he is the author of numerous books on the New Testament, and he is a widely sought-after speaker. He has received teaching awards during his time as a professor at UNC. He is also well-known for his published courses through The Teaching Company. And, while as a biblical scholar Ehrman is not technically a "theologian," I'm sure ECM uses its "theologian-in-residence" label generously.

But in another way, Dr. Ehrman's selection makes no sense at all.

Why? Because he's an avowed agnostic who regularly proclaims that he does not believe in the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Case in point: Dr. Ehrman is Terry Gross' most recent guest on NPR's Fresh Air. He appeared to be interviewed about his newest book, God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question - Why We Suffer. On Fresh Air's website, an excerpt from Dr. Ehrman's book is printed along with a promo about the interview, wherein he admits his agnosticism and says that, if there is a God, he does not believe it is the God proclaimed in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

This raises a question. I assume that the purpose of having a "theologian-in-residence" for your church-related organization is to invite someone in to speak who will, in some way, help to form your members in the Christian faith. If that is so, then why would you bring in a self-described agnostic who does not believe that Jesus is who he claims to be in the New Testament? I understand the desire to be edgy and provocative, but isn't it counterproductive to go in that direction if you end up encouraging agnosticism in those who are affected by his teaching?

A look at ECM's website triggered the knee-jerk reaction to just chalk it up to the character of the organization - ECM's mission statement says that it represents "a stream of the Christian faith tradition that tries to be intellectually honest, liberating, and sensitive to how we know mystery in our lives." Such nebulous statements are typical of Christian churches and organizations that are so wedded to the Protestant liberal narrative that they don't even realize they are in a state of slow suicide. But I don't really know anything about ECM, and it's not fair of me to jump to those conclusions.

So if this ministry cares about both the present spiritual well-being and the eternal salvation of its members, why would it invite a wolf in sheep's clothing into its midst? And as one with the authority of a teacher of Scripture, no less?

[January 2009 Update: Bishop William Willimon has written a review of Ehrman's book, God's Problem, in the 12/30/08 edition of The Christian Century that offers a good insight into many of the aspects of Ehrman's scholarship and approach to the Christian faith that caused me to write this blog post in the first place. You can find Bishop Willimon's review here.]

[April 2009 Update: A short article in the 3/30/09 issue of Newsweek reports on Ehrman's newest book, Jesus, Interrupted. The book is about biblical authorship, and from the Newsweek story, appears to predictably reflect Ehrman's radical historical critical views and refusal to consider any form of pneumatological influence on the writing of the Scriptures that would allow them to be considered inspired. Ehrman's position seeks to undercut the church's historic teaching of the Bible as the word of God, just as his other popularizing works seek to undercut other doctrinal positions that are drawn from Scripture and have been refined through the historic tradition of the church. This should only reinforce Christians' skepticism about inviting such a scholar to pose as an authoritative teacher to the faithful of God's flock. The online version of the article, written by Adam B. Kushner, can be found here.]