Can You Have Christian Ethics without Christianity? A Response to Bart Ehrman

As you might have noticed, Bart Ehrman has been making the rounds again this recent Easter season regarding his new book, Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West. Most notable was his appearance on the podcast of New York Time’s columnist, Ross Douthat.
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In this new book, Ehrman argues that Christian teachings about helping others in need—especially those we don’t know—was genuinely distinctive in the ancient Greco-Roman world. Altruism was not a value of the polytheistic religions nor the philosophical systems of the time. It was ultimately the influence of Christianity that led to the building of hospitals and orphanages and systems …