Why in earth would someone study the scripture of a religion that they don't even believe in?

Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me to explore that very question.

Welcome to Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman.

The only show, where a six-time New York Times best-selling author and world-renowned Bible scholar

uncovers the many fascinating, little-known facts about the New Testament, the historical Jesus,

and the rise of Christianity. I'm your host, Megan Lewis. Let's begin.

Hey friends, I have a quick reminder for you.

Our biggest event of the year, new insights into the New Testament, is coming up at the end of this month from September 26th to 28th,

where our theme is going to be the historical Jesus.

We'll be hearing the latest insights from 13 Jesus scholars, including Elaine Pagels, Mark Goodacre, Paula Friedrichson, and of course, Bart Ehrman.

And for all of September, we've got something special just for misquoting Jesus listeners.

When you grab an elite pass to N-I-N-T through the link Bart Bart Ehrman.com, forward slash MJ conference, you'll get our

very first merch ever created for the show, a custom misquoting Jesus coffee mug. Look,

look how pretty it is. Now, you can't buy this mug on our Etsy store or anywhere else. It's

just exclusively available through this promotion.

It is our gift to you for joining us at this incredible three-day event with the top scholars in the field.

All you have to do is sign up for an elite N-I-N-T pass in September,

and it is only available when you register through bart-ehrman.com forward slash

mj conference. Thanks, and I hope to see you there.

Welcome back, everybody, to misquoting Jesus, where today we are talking about why an atheist

would become an expert in biblical studies. We've also got Bart's scholars spotlight at the end, so definitely

stick around for that to see who the scholar is that you should be paying attention to.

...