I am very pleased to announce a fund-raiser for the Bart Ehrman blog on May 6, a special event in which I interview fellow New Testament scholar and social commentator Dr. James Tabor on a topic sure to be of interest.  James, as you may know, is a retired professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina Charlotte.  He is a public figure who has a large following on his own blog and in his many public appearances.  Among his numerous popular is Why Waco, which deals directly with the 1993 disaster at Waco just over 31 years ago.  James was consulted by the FBI, testified before a joint Committee in the US Congress on Waco, and was able to interpret the apocalyptic views endorsed by the Branch Davidians under David Koresh. The topic of our conversation will be connected to a broader issue that lay behind the disaster.  As you know, modern “prophets” in the Christian tradition (not just Koresh) use ancient texts to support their prognostications of what is soon to [...]

In my previous post I announced the new course I'll be doing on May 4 and 5, with scholar of Islam, Javad Hashmi, in which we both apply rigorous historical methods to analyzing the NT (me) and the Quran (Javad).  To register for the course, go to  https://ehrman.thrivecart.com/bibleandquran. For a $5 blog member discount, simply enter the code Blog5. Here now are the topics and specific lectures we'll be doing.  We shot for the really important and interesting issues; I'm really looking forward to what Javad has to say about them with respect to the Quran.  I'm sure it won't be what I've normally heard! After each of us lectures on a topic, we'll discuss the issues between ourselves. And at the end of each day (two topics/day) we'll open it up for audience Q&A. Topic A – Getting Back to the Originals: Knowing What the Authors Actually Wrote   Lecture 1:- The New Testament: Do We Have the Original Text?           The New Testament is often called “the best preserved writing of [...]

Most Muslims argue that the Quran is absolutely perfect in every way: it represents God's words, accurately recorded, with no contradictions, and no textual changes by scribes.  Most fundamentalist Christians argue the same thing about the New Testament.  Is either one true? I'm pleased to announce that I will be hosting a special event on May 4-5, an eight-lecture course on "The Bible and the Quran: Assessing their Historical Problems."   I will be giving half the lectures discussing textual, literary, and historical problems connected with the New Testament, and an expert on Islam, Javad Hashmi, will be dealing with the SAME problems with the Quran. Now THIS is something you've never heard before.   It is not connected directly with the blog (except to the extent that I'm involved with both and that blog people will certainly be interested in it!).  I myself am planning on learning a ton.   Here is some information on it: ******************************* Overview This course will consist of eight 45-50 minute lectures, alternating between Christianity and Islam, exploring the Bible and the [...]

In the previous post I began discussing the intriguing story of 1 Samuel 28, where the king of Israel, Saul, illicitly consults a medium in an attempt to communicate with his now-dead advisor and predecessor, the prophet Samuel.  This is the only case of necromancy in the entire Bible.   In this post I want to consider what the author of the passage seems to think about those who go to Sheol after death. I have taken much of what follows from my book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (Simon and Schuster, 2020). ******************************   In the account, King Saul learns of a medium in the town of Endor, near the front lines of the approaching battle.  He goes to her and, for rather obvious reasons, does so in disguise:  it would not help matters if she were to realize the illicit request for contact with the dead is coming from the sovereign ruler who made it illegal in the first place.   When approached, she is understandably reluctant: the Law of Moses [...]

Do you have fundraising experience? Are you a fan of the mission of this blog--to disseminate scholarly knowledge of the New Testament and the earliest periods of the Christian church to a non-scholarly audience, and (most importantly) to raise funds for charity? The blog has raised over $2,000,000 for our charities (The Urban Ministries of Durham, Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, The Durham Literacy Center, CARE, and Doctors Without Borders). You can read more about each of them here. But we want to do more. We're looking for a volunteer with experience in fundraising for nonprofits to help us find new and better ways to contribute to those in real need. Do you have that experience? Please drop us an email at [email protected].

One of the most captivating tiny fragments of a lost Gospel discovered in modern times came from a trash heap excavated from the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, one of many thousands of manuscript fragments found there, some of them Christian but most of them non-Christian (most of which were non-literary texts, that is, personal letters, land deeds, divorce certificates, bills of sale, etc.). Did this fragment come from Gospel of Peter? I've taken two posts to explain what the Gospel of Peter is, in order to set up this particular post.  If you haven't read the earlier posts, that's fine.  You'll still get this one.  If you have read them, even finer! As I pointed out in the earlier , the "Gospel of Peter" that we have today, which was discovered in 1886, is, unfortunately, only a portion – the only surviving portion – of what was once a complete Gospel.  But was it a complete Gospel? Or was it a passion Gospel (like the later Gospel of Nicodemus) that gave an account only [...]

I've been doing a thread on Lost Gospels as these are represented by fragments of manuscripts that have been discovered and by quotations in the writings of church fathers. I was getting ready to post my favorite one today and then I wondered: Have I talked about that one before on the blog? Turns out, yes! Some years ago. It is a fragment that MAY be a lost portion of the also otherwise also lost Gospel of Peter.  The Gospel of Peter is not *completely* lost: we have a chunk of it.  But how large a chunk, we can't really say.  I've talked about it on the blog several times, but have decided that I need to say something about it again, to make sense of the fragment that will be coming in a later post. And to talk about the Gospel of Peter itself will require a couple of posts.  So here's the first. For my money, this is one of our most interesting ancient non-canonical Gospels.  As I indicated, we [...]

In case any of you is around Winston Salem NC next Tuesday, April 2 -- I'll be giving a public lecture at Wake Forest.   This'll be the first event I've done like this since before Covid!   I'll be talking about the real-life effects of the Christian view that the End is Near, based on my book Armageddon.   The event is free, and you can find out more about it and register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-public-lecture-bart-ehrman-armageddon-in-america-visions-of-the-end-tickets-777270646427 

In my previous post I indicated that among the lost writings of early Christianity, one batch that I would especially like to see discovered would be those produced by Paul’s enemies among the Christians.  I don’t know how many of his opponents were writing-literate, but possibly some of them were, and their own attacks on him and defenses of their own positions would be fascinating and eye-opening.  Among these, I would especially love to see what his opponents in Galatia had to say for themselves.  My hunch is that they were every bit as aggressive and confident in their views as Paul was in his. I’ve always found the letter to the Galatians to be one of the most forceful, intriguing, and difficult letters of Paul.  I’ve studied it for over forty years, and there are still verses that I don’t understand.  My view is that most scholars don’t understand them either -- even the scholars who think they do!  It is a packed and theologically dense letter in places. But the basic point is [...]

I am very pleased to announce a free, two-lecture course that I'll be doing on March 30, 2-4pm EST, called Did Peter Hate Paul?  Check it out: bartehrman.com/peterandpaul This is part of my now two-year-old venture, Bart Ehrman Courses Online, which is not directly connected with the Blog, though it is indirectly connected to it by virtue of the facts that (a) these online courses cover the kinds of things y'all are almost certainly interested in (since you are, after all, members of a blog that deals with them all the time) and (b) I do 'em both.   You can find a full list of all my courses at  Online Courses by Dr. Bart Ehrman - 10% Off First Course!   And note: you can get a discount on every course by using the code BLOG5 But no discount needed this time!  Unlike most of my online courses, though, this one is FREE.   Wanna come?  You can join me live, no cost, for the two lectures, to be followed by a live Q&A.  By coming, you'll [...]