text: Hi Neko. Indeed there evidently were many forms of messianic expectation, as demonstrated by the Dead Sea documents, so it is more complex than the dichotomy of political messiah and spiritual messiah. The only NT text that portrays Jesus as a priest is Hebrews, for in his historical life he was most critical of the priestly Saducees. You are also right: Ehrman is, in his own words, an agnostic, for the familiar reasons: so much evil. Still, he remains a NT exegete, and his Introduction to the New Testament had been widely used in courses in NT studies. I think we ought to attend to all the skeptics, from Schweitzer to Ehrman. Innocent of theological commitments, they think unthought thoughts. And they have outsized impact and wide readership, especially effective against metaphysical doctrines about the "real" Jesus. We always need, I think, a theology from below, rooted in our shared experiences of Christ from the unattainable beginning.