As I was listening to Lecture 1 in Dr. Ehrman’s series about the Historical Jesus, I started to think deeper about one of Dr. Ehrman’s statements. 

“…people almost always find what they expect to find if they allow their expectations to guide the search”

In context, his point is that one shouldn’t allow their religious beliefs to determine the outcome of their historical investigation. If a person is an ardent believer in this or that claim about Jesus (that he is God, for example), then they are almost certainly going to filter everything they come across in their investigation through that belief and conclude with the belief with which they started. 

But, the fact of the matter is that this is true of not only religious beliefs; it is equally true of philosophical presuppositions. If, for example, someone comes to the investigation of the Historical Jesus with the philosophical presuppositions that miracles have never happened and cannot happen, their investigation is just as certainly going to end with a view of the Historical Jesus that conforms to that presupposition. 

Here is the real kicker, as I see it: No one does and no one can come to an investigation of anything, including the Historical Jesus, without philosophical presuppositions. No one can, in principle, search something without any expectations, which are determined by their philosophical presuppositions.

This being the case, I don’t see that it is even possible for a person to truly investigate something by suspending beliefs/disbeliefs, as Dr. Ehrman suggests. Rather, I think a person simply needs to do the following: 

1. Be honest about what their beliefs and disbeliefs are. 
2. Examine their reasons for those beliefs and disbeliefs. 
3. Be willing to change their beliefs and disbeliefs on the basis of the reasons and evidence they encounter as they investigate a matter.