Recent Posts

Arguments for “Historical Accuracy” That Are All Smoke and Mirrors.

By |March 17th, 2024|Acts of the Apostles, Bart's Debates|10 Comments

In my next post I will be staking out the “negative” side on the debate I had with myself in class, arguing against the resolution, Resolved: The Book of Acts is Historically Reliable.  I have already made the affirmative case; in the negative I will argue that the book is not reliable (that first speech was a set speech, prepared without reference to anything the affirmative side said).  I will then give a negative refutation of the affirmative’s first speech, and I will end with an affirmative rebuttal of the negative’s two speeches. Before I do all that, however, [...]

The Book of Acts IS HISTORICAL! The Affirmative Argument

By |March 16th, 2024|Acts of the Apostles, Bart's Debates|13 Comments

I am ready now to explain how I did the debate with myself in front of my undergraduate class on the resolution, Resolved: The Book of Acts is Historically Reliable. As always happens in a debate, the Affirmative side goes first and gives a prepared speech. In arguing for the affirmative, I made the following points (Note: I’m not saying I personally agree with these points, just as I’m not going to be saying that I agreed with the Negative points. I’m simply making the best case I can for both positions.): THE REST OF THIS POST IS FOR MEMBERS [...]

Who Cares if the Book of Acts is Historical??

By |March 14th, 2024|Acts of the Apostles, Bart's Debates|27 Comments

The debate over the historical accuracy of the book of Acts is important, in no small measure because – as I have pointed out already – it provides us our one and only narrative of what was happening among the followers of Jesus in the years immediately after his death.  This is the key, formative period in the formation of Christianity.  How did it start as a religion?  Acts is our only surviving historical account.  But is it an accurate history? The first thing to stress is that Acts – like all histories – is highly restrictive in [...]

Important Literary Features of the Book of Acts

By |March 13th, 2024|Acts of the Apostles|21 Comments

I am in the middle of a thread dealing with debates over the New Testament book of Acts, the first account that we have of the history of the Christian church at its very beginnings – starting with the events happening right after the resurrection of Jesus and covering the spread of the Christian faith through the Roman world up until the time Paul reached the city of Rome, presumably in the early 60s CE.  And so this is an account of the first three decades of Christianity.   It’s the only one we have of this period.  That’s one reason [...]

What is the Book of Acts About?

By |March 12th, 2024|Acts of the Apostles|25 Comments

To understand a debate about whether the book of Acts is historical, I first have to explain -- by way or reminder or by way of ... minder -- what the book of Acts is actually about.  After this post I'll lay out how I debate (with myself) whether what it says can actually be seen as historically accurate. The first four books of the NT are Gospels, followed then by the book of Acts.  The Gospels each, in their own way, present accounts of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.  The book of Acts picks up where the Gospels drop [...]

Gold Q&A: Ask Your Questions!

By |March 11th, 2024|Public Forum|10 Comments

Hey Golds and Platinums, you the few, the proud: Time again for the Big Dance!  I'll be recording the March Gold Q&A this weekend, scheduling gods willing, to be published next week..  Got a burning, a smoldering, or a cool question?  Ask away!  Anything related to the blog.   I'll do my best to answer.  , Send your questions to [email protected], and Diane will compile and send me the list. DEADLINE: Get your question in by Friday  (March 15, 2024) midnight (whenever midnight is in your time zone). Every question I get is interesting, but remember, Many are culled, but few [...]

Is There Any Point Doing a Public Debate?

By |March 10th, 2024|Bart's Debates|63 Comments

I'm contemplating doing another debate for BECO (Bart Ehrman Courses Online; you can see the various courses on my website: http://www.bartehrman.com).  It won't be just like the last one, on whether historians can "prove" that Jesus was raised from the dead,  since that one was, well, seven hours! (https://www.bartehrman.com/did-the-resurrection-of-jesus-really-happen-bart-ehrman-mike-licona-debate/).  But if I do it, it would be on something equally interesting.  While pondering doing it, I remembered that long ago on the blog I talked about the value (or lack of value) of public debates, in relation to one of the exercises I do in my undergradaute classroom.  I looked [...]

Did Paul Exchange Letters with the Greatest Roman Philosopher of His Day??

By |March 9th, 2024|Christian Apocrypha, Forgery in Antiquity, Paul and His Letters|8 Comments

I've mentioned several non-canonical letters forged in Paul's name connected with the views of the second-century heretic Marcion.   There are other letters out there that also (falsely) claim to be written by Paul but that were not forged in order to support or attack a particular heretical view in Paul's name.  That is almost certainly the case with a set of letters that were accepted as authentically Paul's (though never accepted as canonical) for many centuries, down until relatively modern times: Paul's correspondence with the great philosopher (and personal tutor and advisor to the emperor Nero).  Here's what I say [...]

Paul’s Letter to the … Laodiceans? Long Thought to be Part of the New Testament!

By |March 7th, 2024|Christian Apocrypha, Forgery in Antiquity, Paul and His Letters|15 Comments

One of the most intriguing letters forged in the name of Paul is his alleged letter to the Laodiceans.  As you’ll see, it’s intriguing both because some Christian churches accepted it as part of the New Testament for centuries and because scholars have never been able to figure out why a forger bothered to write it.  I have a theory about that though, which I laid out in my book Forgery and Counterforgery (Oxford University Press, 2013),  from which I have taken this discussion. (I’ve edited it a bit to get rid of the weeds; here I explain the issues [...]

Platinum Webinar for March: Ethics Without God??

By |March 6th, 2024|Public Forum|6 Comments

Dear Platinum Members, It's time for our Quarterly Platinum Webinar.  We have scheduled it for Wednesday, March 13, 2023, at 7:30 pm. When I was a young evangelical Christian, I ran across a book called Ethics Without God.  I thought the whole idea was preposterous.  Why would there by ANY reason for being ethical if there is not God overseeing the world?  And how could we possibly have any direction for knowing how to live without divine oversight?  I held those views for a long time, and in fact when I was contemplating leaving the faith, some 30 years ago now, [...]

Paul’s *THIRD* Letter to the Corinthians? A Very Interesting Forgery

By |March 6th, 2024|Christian Apocrypha, Forgery in Antiquity, Heresy and Orthodoxy, Paul and His Letters|18 Comments

Even though we don’t have the forgeries of Pauline letters connected with Marcion (they’ve all been lost or destroyed by orthodox Christians), we have other letters forged in Paul’s name that appear to be opposing Marcion (you don't need to read the previous posts to make sense of this one; but if you want to learn more about Marcion -- see the two posts preceding).  These surviving letters are forgeries written to oppose forgeries, an orthodox attempt to fight fire with fire.   One of the most interesting is Paul’s alleged Third Letter to the Corinthians! Here’s what I say about [...]

The Two Gods of Marcion and the Forgeries in the Name of Paul

By |March 5th, 2024|Forgery in Antiquity, Heresy and Orthodoxy, History of Christianity (100-300CE), Paul and His Letters|16 Comments

Here I continue my discussion of Marcion, the arch-heretic of the second century, whose followers forged writings in the name of Paul to support their view that the God of the Old Testament was not the God of Jesus and Paul.  Recall:  Marcion argued that the God of the Old Testament was the Jewish God who created this world, chose Israel to be his people, and then gave them his law.  He was a just, wrathful God:  not evil, just ruthlessly judicial.  The God of Jesus, on the other hand, was a God of love, mercy, and forgiveness.  This good [...]

The Heretic Marcion and Forgeries of Pauline Letters

By |March 3rd, 2024|Paul and His Letters|35 Comments

If Christians made up stories about Paul, did they also make up writings allegedly by Paul? My two previous posts were about fabricated narratives connected with Paul both from outside the New Testament and in the NT book of Acts.  After posting, I realized that after lo these many years, I’ve never discussed at any length the related topic, non-canonical Pauline forgeries, writings that claim to be written by Paul but were definitely not. I leave out of consideration here the six “disputed” Pauline epistles of the New Testament – Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Titus.  [...]

Facts Hidden Among the Legends of the Apostle Paul?

By |March 2nd, 2024|Public Forum|23 Comments

There are so many legends, and only so many facts, we know about Paul from our surviving sources.  Is there a way to tell which is which?   How much of what we read -- in the New Testament letters of Paul, the book of Acts, the Acts of Paul, the letters of Paul from outside the New Testament, such as the Letter of 3 Corinthians, the Letter to the Laodiceans, and the exchange of letters between Paul and Seneca -- how much of all that can be seen has historically reliable information and how much intriguing but unhistorical fiction? That's [...]

Our Controversial Sources About the Controversial Paul

By |February 29th, 2024|Paul and His Letters|36 Comments

Peter and Mary Magdalene are not the only early followers of Jesus whose lives are shrouded in mystery.  What about Paul?  As it turns out, of all of Jesus’ female disciples after his life, we have the most information about Mary Magdalene, and of all his male disciples, Peter and Paul.  All are mentioned (Mary just briefly) in the New Testament, and all have lots of stories floated about them after the New Testament, and there are writings allegedly by Peter and Paul in the New Testament, and more outside.  That’s a lot to go on. But, we have seen [...]

How Much Fact, How Much Fiction? The Life of Peter

By |February 28th, 2024|Canonical Gospels, Christian Apocrypha|18 Comments

History or Legend?  Fact or Fiction?  A bit of both?  It’s hard to know how to understand stories about the apostle Peter found both inside and outside the New Testament.  I began with some examples yesterday, involving his allegedly raising people from the dead.  OK, probably fiction, but still – presented as fact!   I pick up there with this post, taken from my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene (Oxford University, 2006). *************************** The resuscitation of dead bodies may not seem all that remarkable to readers of the New Testament.  To be sure, we don’t see this [...]

Archaeology in the Time of Jesus! New Course March 2-3!!

By |February 27th, 2024|Public Forum|12 Comments

If you're interested in what archaeology can tell us about the world in which Jesus lived, moved, and had his being -- you need to check out the course on offer this weekend, March 2-3, by world-class archaeologist Jodi Magness, my colleague at UNC and one of the leading experts on the archaeology of ancient Israel. Jodi will be giving four lectures on key topics of interest, two on Saturday and two on Sunday, with a live Q&A each day. I will be M-C'ing the event, and can't wait.   If you want o check it out, click on this link. [...]

The Disciple Peter in History and Legend

By |February 27th, 2024|Canonical Gospels, Christian Apocrypha|12 Comments

Probably my best-named book is Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene.  This is a book I wrote so I could use the title.  (A) In fact a publisher wanted to give me a contract for the book, but I turned it down because they wanted me to do other apostles too.  NO! I said.  It’s gotta be these three.  It’s perfect!  They disagreed.  Some people just don’t have a sense of humor.  So I went with a different publisher.  (!) The short thread I just did on Mary Magdalene gave me an occasion to look back at the book.  I recall [...]

Jesus and Mary Magdalene Seen Kissing??

By |February 25th, 2024|Christian Apocrypha, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE), Historical Jesus, Women in Early Christianity|16 Comments

While I'm on the "Jesus and Mary Magdalene" question (see my earlier posts), what about the claims that some (lots) of people have heard, that there is a story in a later Gospel that talk about them kissing? The later Gospel in question is the Gospel of Philip, one of the "Gnostic Gospels" discovered in 1945 near Nag Hammadi Egypt.  Does it actually talk about this moment (or repeated moments) of intimacy? I have a reasonably full discussion of the relevant issues in my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene (Oxford University Press 2006).   In the book I put the [...]

When Did Mary Magdalene Become a Prostitute?

By |February 24th, 2024|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Women in Early Christianity|14 Comments

Mary Magdalene has become one of the most talked about figures from the life of Jesus, even though she hardly ever shows up in the Gospel accounts about him (during his public ministry, just in one verse, total!, Luke 8:2).  (She shows up only at the crucifixion and, most important, the empty tomb). In my last post I began to explore the tradition -- not found in the New Testament -- that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute.  Here I pick up  the thread where I left it off. I had mentioned a number of passages that people read *AS IF* [...]

Was Mary Magdalene a Prostitute?

By |February 22nd, 2024|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Women in Early Christianity|33 Comments

It is "common knowledge" that Mary Magdalene is portrayed as a prostitute in the New Testament, but like so much "common knowledge" this view, while common, is not "knowledge."  In fact it's not true.  I get asked about this on occasion, and so I thought I should devote a couple of posts on it. I discuss most of what I think we can know in the final section of my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene (Oxford University Press, 2006) (A book I remember fondly, in part because I wrote it in a coffee shop in Wimbledon!).  In that book [...]

Some Random Reflections on Our Significance

By |February 21st, 2024|Reflections and Ruminations|84 Comments

I think a lot about significance these days, about why we, or rather, why I, matter.  I mean really, this universe is 13.8 billion years old and I’ve been around for, well, 68 of those years and certainly won’t be around for another 68.  So, for how much of time to this point?  Do the math. Then there’s the space factor.  I’m a small dot in my house; my house is a small dot in my neighborhood; my neighborhood is a small dot in my city; my city is a small dot in my state; my state is a not-large [...]

Changing the Past in Light of the Present

By |February 20th, 2024|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|13 Comments

Did people in oral cultures even care if stories were changed?  We do! We have an interest not just in story but in establishing with some kind of accuracy what actually happened in the past, whether it is about the Civil War, the assassination of JFK, or the last election.  Did people in oral cultures have a way to know the past with historical accuracy?  Did they care? Here I end this thread on what we know about how oral cultures passed along their traditions – not just their myths and customs but also the past events that affected their [...]

Still Spots Open: Blog Dinner in Wichita KS, this Thursday Feb. 22

By |February 18th, 2024|Public Forum|0 Comments

In case you happen to be in striking distance of Wichita KS this week, and missed my announcement: there are still a couple of spots open for the blog dinner this coming Thursday (Feb. 22).  Here's my original announcement.  If you can come, let me know! *********************** I'm will be in Wichita Kansas to give some talks at the Plymouth Congregational Church (plymouth-church.net) on February 23-25, and have decided to come a day early in case anyone wants to do dinner with me on Thursday Feb. 22.    Anyone want to come?   It's a chance to shoot the breeze with [...]

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