Sorting by

×
Engaging Discussions about Early Christianity

HNN News Story on Jesus Before the Gospels

Below is an article that I published for the History News Network, based on my recent book Jesus Before the Gospels.  Enjoy!! ******************************************************************************** Historians/History article featured on HNN (History News Network) posted 3-18-16: Are the Stories in the Bible About the Last Days and Hours of Jesus True? by Bart D. Ehrman The season of Lent has come upon us, the time when Christians focus their devotional attention on the last days and hours of Jesus. Even though we devote more social (and media) space to Jesus’ birth, historically the Christian church has paid far more attention to his death. That is certainly the case with the New Testament itself. The Gospel of John, the perennial favorite of believers, after spending eleven chapters on the three years of Jesus’ public ministry, devotes fully ten chapters to his final week and its aftermath. It says not a word about his birth. The stories of Jesus’ last days – his Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his cleansing of the temple, his last supper, his betrayal by Judas Iscariot, his [...]

2017-11-13T21:11:18-05:00April 3rd, 2016|Book Discussions, Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Public Forum|
Read More

The Letters of Paul: Mailbag April 1, 2016

In today’s Readers’ Mailbag, I will be answering questions connected with the writings of Paul: what is the earliest manuscript of his letters; did the author of Acts know Paul’s letters; and is Paul described as a heretic in the Dead Sea Scrolls. ******************************************************************************************* QUESTION Bart, early in your book Misquoting Jesus (p. 4) you wrote a sudden, shocking surprise (to many born-again Christians) when you said “As we learned at Moody in one of the first courses in the curriculum, we don’t actually have the original writings of the New Testament.” I’ve witnessed my own neighbor’s disbelief and visible anger when I pointed this out to him. … My interest is your response to my question “How old are the earliest copies we have of Paul’s letters 1 Corinthians and 1 Thessalonians.” … As you know, these books describe, in part, the resurrection of Jesus.   RESPONSE It is a little difficult for me to know the question behind this question, so first let me answer the direct question and then to respond to [...]

2020-04-17T13:45:02-04:00April 1st, 2016|Acts of the Apostles, Early Judaism, Paul and His Letters, Public Forum, Reader’s Questions|
Read More

Stripe Credit Card Donation

No Account Required

Credit and Debit Cards Processed: Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, AmericanExpress, Diners Club, JCB, UnionPay, ApplePay, and GooglePay.

Paypal Donations

Since April 2012, this blog has raised over $1,000,000 for charity. You can help too! Any one-time donation to the Bart Ehrman Foundation helps conquer hunger and homelessness. The optional form on the right allows recurring donations! Please Note: These free will donations are not counted toward membership fees.

Paypal Recurring Donations

Schedule recurring donations to Bart's foundation using the form below.
Comment Rules

  • Each blog member is allowed to make 2 comments a day.
  • Comments posted must be limited to 200 words or less.
  • All comments will be moderated by the post author before release.
  • Please post respectful comments even when you have strong opinions.
  • Please keep your comments relevant to the issues discussed in the post.
  • If you would like to ask a question, simply ask it in your comment.
  • Please ask only one question per comment posted.

Go to Top