October 2024 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

A Particular Problem with a Crucified Messiah

In my previous post I started to show that most Jews rejected Christian claims about Jesus because Jesus was just the *opposite* of what the messiah was expected to be. The messiah was to be a figure of grandeur and power who would overthrow God’s enemies and set up a new kingdom on earth in which God’s will would prevail. Jesus was and did none of that. He was a lower-class peasant who was arrested, humiliated, tortured, and executed. He didn’t destroy God’s enemies. He was crushed by them. Paul is the first Jewish persecutor of the Christians that we know by name; there is really no doubt that he was bent on wiping out the followers of Jesus – since he himself says so (and says so to his own shame [Gal 1:13); he did not gain any glory for this rather despicable past--despicable in both his eyes and the eyes of the Christians). Presumably his reasons for hating and opposing the followers of Jesus were comparable to those of other Jewish persecutors. But [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-25T11:09:19-04:00October 31st, 2024|Paul and His Letters|

Paul and the Crucified Messiah in 1 Corinthians

Historians usually have reasons for what they say; that is, when they make a historical claim, it is almost always based on a close reading of the surviving sources. When it’s not, they’re just blowin’ smoke. But if they’re reputable scholars AND are blowin’ smoke – that is, taking a guess –they’ll usually tell you. I suppose that’s one difference between an expert (in any field) and an amateur: the expert actually has a deep and nuanced reading of the sources that informs his/her views. I have to say, as you probably have noticed in your own areas of expertise, it is pretty easy if you are an expert to know who else is an expert and who is not. I say that as someone who is an expert in one or two areas, but an amateur in thousands. When I have an interpretation of Hamlet or Lear that I bounce off my wife – who really is a recognized expert on Shakespeare – I realize that, for the most part, I’m just taking a [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-25T11:14:07-04:00October 30th, 2024|Paul and His Letters|

Why Would A Christian Author Lie About Who He Was?
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Why Would A Christian Author Lie About Who He Was?

Forgery in Antiquity

Why Would A Christian Author Lie About Who He Was?

In my previous post I said a bit about “forgeries” in the NT, that is, books whose authors claimed to be a famous person (Peter, Paul, James, Jude), knowing full well they were someone else. In the ancient world, these books were called “lies” (pseudoi) or “books inscribed with a lie” (pseudepigrapha). But why would a Christian author lie about who he was? How could he live with himself? I discuss the matter at length in my books Forged and even more in Forgery and Counterforgery. In my textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (Oxford University Press) I can discuss the matter only briefly in a sidebar box, to give my students a sense of the situation in antiquity. With this post I'll be concluding for now my thread giving some of these kinds of boxes, but since this is such an intriguing subject, I'd like to set it up by first quoting a paragraph from my book Forged, about the author of Ephesians, who claimed to be Paul (lying [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-30T10:15:51-04:00October 29th, 2024|Forgery in Antiquity|

Blog Etiquette in These Troubling Times!

In these massively troubling times (no need for me to itemize the issues) and the incredibly disturbing bifurcation of opinions, views, and perspectives, where very few people have even the slightest interest in listening to someone on "the other side," there is at least one thing that virtually everyone agrees on: these are massively troubling times with incredibly disturbing bifurcation of .... Well. right. We can at least agree it's a mess. And what, I ask you, does that have to do with the blog? Well, in short, nothing and everything. Over lo these many years, I have tried very hard to allow everyone to express their opinions on matters connected with the blog -- principally, the study of the New Testament, the historical Jesus, the origins of Christianity, the first several centuries of Christian literature and history, and cognate fields such as Hebrew Bible, early Judaism, Greek and Roman religion, with a touch of personal religious views and modern religion, etc. I have also tried very hard not to take sides on the social [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-28T19:27:26-04:00October 28th, 2024|Public Forum|

An Imagined Dialogue for the Dispute Between Paul & Barnabas in Acts Part I by Angus Nisbet

Here is the first of a four-post thread for Platinum members by long-standing Platinum member Angus Nisbet. It is a terrifically imaginative discussion of Paul and Barnabas (focused on the book of Acts) that touches on a wide range of issues that we deal with a lot on the blog -- Paul's conflict with other apostles such as James; the views of Christ and salvation dominant among the earliest Jewish followers of Jesus; early Christian Gnosticism; the reliability of the book of Acts; and ... more! Angus will be interested in your feedback, and so will I! Remember: you as a Platinum member not only get access to all Platinum posts written by other Platinums, but you also can write some yourself! You don't have to be thoroughly well-versed in the field to write one! Do you have any thoughts or ideas or curiosities you would like others to see and respond to? Send us a post!! ****************************** This first post is an introduction to a series of 3 further posts, in which I have [...]

Diane2024-10-30T10:13:05-04:00October 28th, 2024|Acts of the Apostles, Paul and His Letters, Public Forum|

Forged Books, Anonymous Books, and The Use of Secretaries as Authors in the NT

My books Forged, for normal human beings, and Forgery and Counterforgery, for abnormal scholars, both deal with issues of the authorship of the writings of the New Testament (and other books in early Christianity) and with why there are good reasons for thinking that some of them were forgeries (written in the name of famous people like Paul or Peter by people who knew full well they were not Paul or Peter), others are anonymous though later attributed to famous people who didn't write them (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). It also deals with why I don't think we can explain any of these writings on the popular but, based on my research, totally unfounded idea that "secretaries" wrote them for these famous people. In my book The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings, 8th ed, with Hugo Mendez I address such issues only briefly, on side-bar boxes, to give students a brief sense of the issues. Here they are! ****************************** Box 25.3 Another Glimpse Into the Past Authors and Their [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-23T12:46:25-04:00October 27th, 2024|Forgery in Antiquity|

Unexpected Social Agendas in the New Testament. Who Woulda Thought?

Most Christians turn to the Bible to some degree or another for guidance on their ethical views and perspectives on social agendas. For those who read it closely, the Bible can be problematic ethically. Most people realize there is a problem with the endorsement of slavery in the Bible (both Old and New Testaments); few have ever seen that there is also a problem with what today we think of a "family values." In my book The New Testament: A Historical Introduction, now in its eight edition with Hugo Mendez (Oxford University Press, 2024), I address these issues very briefly in a couple of those side-bar boxes I've mentioned in the two previous posts. Here they are! ****************************** Box 22.12 What Do You Think? The New Testament and Slavery Many people who read the book of Philemon simply assume that Paul writes the letter in order to urge Philemon to set his slave Onesimus free. After all, slavery is, and was, a horrible institution, and surely the apostle would have done everything [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-23T12:41:37-04:00October 26th, 2024|Public Forum|

Jesus as God in the New Testament

One of my personal favorite books (of mine!) is How Jesus Became God. In my New Testament textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction, now in its eighth edition with Hugo Mendez, we include a couple of brief discussions of the topic in two of the sidebars. One of the tricks in writing a textbook is figuring out how to say something in a way that is succinct and interesting, when there is not much space to cover a topic fully (so, my first box here covers in 326 words what I take an entire chapter to develop in my book!) But how to make something succinct but also accurate and / or interesting? It’s always a balancing act. In any event, here are the two boxes. ****************************** Box 19.2 What Do You Think? Humans Exalted to Heaven at the End of Their Lives What do you imagine the early Christians would think had happened to Jesus once they came to believe that he had not only been raised from the dead but [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-23T15:47:36-04:00October 24th, 2024|Book Discussions, Early Christian Doctrine|

Oral Traditions and the Dates of Our Gospels

As many of you know, this past year I published the 8th edition of my textbook The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the New Testament (Oxford University Press, 2024), but this time, rather than doing it myself, I asked my colleague Hugo Mendez to join me in editing / updating it, and truth be told, since hey, I believe in telling the truth, he did the vast bulk of the work on this one. Most of the changes came in his rewriting sections that needed to be brought up to snuff with current scholarship, including the one dealing with the sources of Synoptics, since a lot of scholars (though not the majority, so far as I can tell) are inclined to think the Q source never existed (including Hugo!) and the entire chapter on the Gospel of John, on which Hugo is a major expert and the paradigm of how to understand it has changed significantly over the past five years or so. In ANY event, one of the features I've always liked [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-14T16:07:25-04:00October 23rd, 2024|Book Discussions, Canonical Gospels|

Why CAN’T the Hard Problems Have Simple Answers?
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Why CAN’T the Hard Problems Have Simple Answers?

Reflections and Ruminations

Why CAN’T the Hard Problems Have Simple Answers?

The Bible is not an answer machine to all your questions (despite what billboards on US I-40 tell me); many of our modern questions are not addressed in the Bible (most of them, in fact: think of the issues people are each others' throats about half the time in our country); the Bible often gives a range of answers to various issues; sometimes these contradict one another; and sometimes they simply don't make any sense in our modern context (if you think they do, then look through your closet to see if you have any clothing made out of more then one fabric). These are some of the issues I address toward the tail end of my Introduction in my book God's Problem (HarperOne, 2008), excerpted here. ****************************** It is important, I think, to realize that the Bible has a wide range of answers to the problem of suffering because this realization reveals the problem of thinking that the Bible has one simple answer to every issue. Many people in our world take a smorgasbord approach [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-15T16:43:56-04:00October 22nd, 2024|Reflections and Ruminations|

October 2024 Gold Q&A Replay

Gold & Platinum Members, Thank you so much for submitting your questions and attending the live Q&A yesterday. For those of you who were not able to attend the Q&A live, the replay is ready and available for your viewing. Please find the replay at this link: October 2024 Gold Member Q&A Replay Mark your calendars now. November's Gold Q&A live recording is scheduled for Sunday November 17th at 7pm ET. We will send out a reminder and a link to attend live as we get closer to the date. We hope you enjoy the replay and look forward to seeing you next month! Jen

jennao2024-10-21T13:23:21-04:00October 21st, 2024|Public Forum|

Suffering. Is It Really Worth Talking About? Doesn’t the Bible Give the Right Answer?

People react lots of different ways when trying to deal with the problem of how there can be so much suffering in a world that is said to be controlled by the almighty God who loves people and wants the best for them. I decided to write my book God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Address our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer (HarperOne, 2008) both because many people don’t realize how many different answers the Bible itself gives (some of them at odds about it) and also because in my judgment lots and lots of people (most?) simply don’t take it seriously enough. Here's how I talk about why I think it matters and my approach to it, another excerpt from the book itself. (Recall: the book was published in 2008, so 16 years ago now). ****************************** Based on my experience with the class, I decided at the end of the term that I wanted to write a book about it, a study of suffering and biblical responses to it. [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-14T16:00:05-04:00October 20th, 2024|Book Discussions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Doesn’t “Free Will” Explain Suffering?

When teaching undergraduate students about the problem of suffering, I have sometimes found it hard to explain to them why it is a “problem” for those who believe in God. Many people do not find it an insurmountable problem; many others do. My concern is far less where someone lines up on that issue than on that they realize it is indeed a huge issue that should not be ignored or swept under a rug. It took a while for some of my students at Rutgers to see the problem years ago when I was teaching about it, as I mentioned in my last post. I continue my reflections here. Again, this is excerpted from my book God’s Problem (HarperOne, 2008), edited a bit. ****************************** Before the semester was over, I think my students got the point. Most of them did learn to grapple with the problem. At the beginning of the course, many of them had thought that whatever problem there was with suffering could be fairly easily solved. The most popular [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-14T15:55:33-04:00October 19th, 2024|Reflections and Ruminations|

New Course by Bart Ehrman: The Genius of the Acts of the Apostles

Please note: The below course is not affiliated with The Bart Ehrman Blog. We’re sharing it with you because we believe it may be of interest to our members. Thank you for your continued support of the Bart Ehrman Foundation and Blog. *********************************** Hello from Chris Huntley, Did you know that the book of Acts is often seen as a straightforward record of early Christian history? But there’s so much more to it than meets the eye. For example, what if I told you that Acts may actually blend history with theological storytelling in order to illuminate the rise of Christianity? In our new online course, "The Genius of the Acts of the Apostles," bestselling author and renowned New Testament scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman takes you beyond the surface to explore these nuances in depth. Unlock the Complexities of Acts: Is Acts just a historical account, or does it go beyond facts to offer profound insights about the early church and the apostles? How does it reveal the role of divine intervention, Paul's transformative mission, and the [...]

jennao2024-10-17T13:34:23-04:00October 17th, 2024|Public Forum|

The Problem of Suffering? So What’s the Problem?

The “problem of suffering” is especially a problem in the monotheistic religions. In ancient Greek and Roman religions, with their many, many gods, it wasn’t an intellectual puzzle. If there’s suffering, it’s because some or all of the gods are ticked off and out to get you. There are some bad ones up there as well as good ones. Just the way it is. But if there’s only one God, why is there suffering? Many people have very simply solutions and they don’t see a problem. But there is a problem. It just has to be explained. Here I continue by showing why it’s a problem and to motivate some thinking by trying to explain how deep thinkers have expressed the problem and tried to address it. Again, this is excerpted from my book God’s Problem (HarperOne, 2008). Just before this excerpt I was explaining my first time teaching about the issue in a class I did at Rutgers in the mid 1980s. ****************************** For the class I had students do a lot [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-11T12:29:51-04:00October 17th, 2024|Book Discussions, Reflections and Ruminations|

How Can We Imagine That God is Active in Our World? (A genuine, not rhetorical, question)

Are there moments when you wonder not just why things are going badly for you, or why they are very badly for others, but more comprehensively about why there needs to be suffering at all? I certainly have, and I am now doing a thread of posts that explain some of my reflections through excerpts of the opening sections of my book God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Explain our Most Important Problem – Why We Suffer (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2008). In my previous post I explained how these issues eventually led me to leave the faith. Now I continue by reflecting on a subsequent moment, long after I was no longer a believer, when I was particularly floored by the problem of suffering. ****************************** Only on rare occasions do I go to church now, usually when my wife, Sarah, very much wants me to go. Sarah is a brilliant intellectual-a distinguished professor of medieval English literature at Duke University—and a committed Christian, actively involved in the Episcopal church. For her the [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-11T12:46:31-04:00October 16th, 2024|Book Discussions|

Hurricanes, Suffering, And My Loss of Faith
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Hurricanes, Suffering, And My Loss of Faith

Book Discussions, Public Forum

Hurricanes, Suffering, And My Loss of Faith

Two weeks ago I gave a fundraising webinar for the victims of Hurricane Helene, on the topic: Why Do Disasters Strike: The Bible’s Views. In preparing for the talk I decided to re-read the opening section of my book God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer our Most Important Question: Why We Suffer (San Francisco: HarperOne, 2008). I hadn’t read it for years, and while I was reading it I realized anew just how important the topic is and how glad I am that I addressed it. I’ve decided to excerpt the opening bit from the first chapter and the beginning of the second to give you a sense of the book. If you’re interested in more, check it out. It is definitely different from all the others I’ve written, and now that I’ve re-read it, I think it’s the one I’m most proud of personally, not because of the author but because of the topic and its perennial importance. ALSO, if you would like to listen to the webinar (with Q&A) and [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-15T16:47:13-04:00October 15th, 2024|Book Discussions, Public Forum|

And Yet Other Apocrypha: 2 Maccabees and Others, Including Psalm 151!

This will be my final post for now on the Old Testament apocrypha. In it I discuss the final (and particularly intriguing) book accepted in the Roman Catholic church, and a few others accepted in Orthodox Christian circles. Again this all comes from my textbook, The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction (Oxford, 2018). 2 Maccabees The book known as 2 Maccabees is another account of the history of the Maccabean Revolt. Its author did not have 1 Maccabees as a source but was writing independently of it. His interest is principally with the events that transpired under the leadership of Judas Maccabeus, so that the book overlaps mainly with 1 Maccabees chapters 1–7. The author indicates that his work is in fact an abridgment of a much longer five-volume description of the revolt by someone named Jason of Cyrene. He has condensed Jason’s work into a single volume. Unlike 1 Maccabees, this account was originally composed in Greek. Whereas 1 Maccabees is a rather straightforward chronicle of what happened leading up to [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-04T14:07:58-04:00October 13th, 2024|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|

October Gold Q&A – Get Your Questions Answered!

Gold & Platinum Members, Your moment is here—get ready to fire off those questions for the October Gold Q&A! If all goes according to plan, Bart will be recording on October 20 at 7-8pm ET, with the replay dropping later that week. Got something simmering on your mind, or maybe a curiosity brewing? Now’s your chance to ask anything related to the blog. Bart will give it his best shot! How to submit: Shoot your questions over to [email protected], and we will gather them all up for Bart. Deadline: Make sure to send your questions by Friday October 18, 2023—just before midnight (whatever that means in your time zone). Pro tip: Keep it short and sharp! The clearer and more focused your question, the better chance it has of being featured. And hey—zingers are always appreciated! You can join the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85000509720?pwd=qcT3gyDXphxPii5dVHlSmUTuaGpebJ.1 Looking forward to it!

jennao2024-10-18T10:19:53-04:00October 12th, 2024|Public Forum|

Still More Books of the Apocrypha: Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and Baruch

In this post I continue discussing the books of the Apocrypha, accepted as part of Scripture by Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. These are important books, historically and culturally – but hardly known among Protestant readers. Here are three more! Descriptions are taken from my book The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction. The Wisdom of Solomon The Wisdom of Solomon is a book of positive wisdom (recall Proverbs), which claims to be written by the great king of the United Monarchy. In fact it was written many centuries later, by a Jew in the Diaspora, possibly in the first century b.c.e. or the first century c.e. The book celebrates Wisdom as the greatest gift to humans and insists that it involves proper fear and adoration of God, which will lead to eternal reward. Those who lead ungodly lives, on the other hand “will be punished as their reasoning deserves” (5:10). The exaltation of wisdom recalls Proverbs 8, where Wisdom appears as a female consort with God at the beginning of all [...]

BDEhrman2024-10-04T14:07:00-04:00October 12th, 2024|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|