Recently, Bart Ehrman appeared on NPR’s Fresh Air program to talk about his latest book, The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World.
Books by Bart Ehrman
The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World
Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why
How Jesus Became God : the Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth
Forged: Writing in the Name of God–Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are
God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question — Why We Suffer
Like Bart Ehrman, I also accept there was probably a historical Jesus. I also have been accused of being religious for this by other atheists. The problem with what I would call the Richard Carrier hypothesis equating Jesus of Nazareth with other presumed fictional figures like Herakles, is that I presume Herakles to have existed as well. In the Herakles narrative each iteration of the story makes him a bit stronger until at some point he is strength personified. In the Jesus narrative he gets more godlike until he is God personified.
Possibly the best evidence for the historical Jesus is the amount of convolution required to get Jesus to be in the house of David for example. The obvious rivalry between John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth (likely competing cults) is also very telling. There is always a possibility of Jesus being a parable that tells parables (actually it would make for a delicious irony) but convergence of evidence points to a historical dude.