ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Bart Ehrman — one of the world's leading New Testament scholars and a self-described agnostic — makes a surprising argument: the West owes more to Jesus than it realizes. Not for salvation. Not for atonement.
For something hiding in plain sight.
📖 Love Thy Stranger by Bart Ehrman: (Affiliate Link)🎙️ Bart Ehrman's channel: In this conversation we explore Ehrman's new book Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West — and the historical case that Jesus invented something the ancient Greco-Roman world simply didn't have: the idea that you should care for strangers, enemies, and the poor not because it benefits you, but because they're human.We also uncover one of the most striking ironies in the history of religion: Jesus almost certainly got crucified for teaching that God forgives freely — no sacrifice required. His followers then turned his death into the very mechanism he was arguing against.In this conversation:- Why C.S. Lewis's universal morality argument doesn't hold up- What the Greco-Roman world actually believed about the poor- How Jesus radicalized Jewish ethics through apocalypticism- Why Jesus taught forgiveness — and Paul taught atonement- How Basil of Caesarea institutionalized altruism into hospitals and orphanages- Why an atheist scholar is saying thank you to Jesus
