Bart D. Ehrman is a New Testament Scholar and an expert on Early Christianity. He received his Ph.D & M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary where he studied under Bruce Metzger. He currently serves as the chairperson of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was the President of the Southeast Region of the Society of Biblical Literature, and worked closely as an editor on a number of the Society's publications. Currently, he co-edits the series New Testament Tools and Studies.
Much of Ehrman's writing has concentrated on various aspects of Walter Bauer's thesis that Christianity was always diversified or at odds with itself. Ehrman is often considered a pioneer in connecting the history of the early church to textual variants within biblical manuscripts and in coining such terms as "Proto-Orthodox." In his writings, Ehrman has turned the tables of textual criticism. From the time of the Church Fathers, it was the heretics (Marcion, for example) that were charged with tampering with the biblical manuscripts. Ehrman theorizes that it was actually the Orthodox that "corrupted" the manuscripts.
Although Ehrman has a strong background in Evangelical Christianity, having attending both Moody Bible Institute and Wheaton College (B.A., 1978), his personal beliefs have shifted over time. Ehrman now considers himself an agnostic.
Ehrman has two children, a daughter, Kelly, and a son, Derek. He is married to Sarah Beckwith (Ph.D., King's College London), Marcello Lotti Professor of English at Duke University.
Ehrman's scholarly output is extensive. He has authored or contributed to nineteen books.