October 2024 - Page 2 of 2 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

Some More of the OT Apocrypha: the Letter of Jeremiah, Additions to Daniel, and 1 Maccabees

The OT Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books are truly fascinating, even if not widely read. Few people outside of the Catholic and Orthodox traditions knows about the first one; the other two here though are better known and, in fact, historically significant. Some descriptions from my book The New Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction. ****************************** The Letter of Jeremiah This is one of the shortest books of Apocrypha—it is only one chapter long, and in the Latin tradition of the Roman Catholic Church it is included as the final chapter of the book of Baruch. The book is allegedly written by the prophet Jeremiah, sent to the Judeans bound for Babylonian exile. In exile they will be among people who worship other gods through idols. This book is nothing but an attack on pagan idolatry. The real historical context of the writing is a situation in which Jews around the world were surrounded by idol worship. It may have been produced in the aftermath of the Maccabean Revolt; it appears to have been composed in [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:09:08-04:00October 10th, 2024|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|

Platinum Webinar for October: “The Literacy of Jesus: Could the Christian Savior Read and Write?”

Dear Platinum Members, If you missed the live session of this quarter's Platinum Webinar, fear not. We have recorded the talk and it is now available for you to view. This webinar addressed The Literacy of Jesus: Could the Christian Savior Read and Write? Bart covers a lot of fascinating ground in this talk, including: Why this topic is even a question. Context around literacy in ancient societies. What the Bible says (and doesn't say) about Jesus reading and writing. ...and so much more. Please enjoy the lecture here: Platinum Webinar: The Literacy of Jesus (October 2024) Hope to see you next time! -Jen

jennao2025-09-10T13:09:24-04:00October 10th, 2024|Platinums, Public Forum|

Some of the Old Testament Apocrypha: Tobit, Judith, and Additions to Esther

In my previous post I began to describe the Old Testament Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books. In the several posts that follow I will describe the ones commonly accepted by Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. These are very interesting books, well worth reading, and, as I've said, canonical Scripture for some parts of the Christian church. My summaries here are taken from my book, The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction (Oxford, 2018) ****************************** Tobit Tobit is a work of historical fiction —by which I mean it is a fictional tale set within a real historical context. Originally the book was written in Aramaic, either in the late third century b.c.e. or the early second. The narrative is set in the eighth century b.c.e. in the city of Nineveh, where the hero of the story, Tobit, has been exiled from his town in Galilee during the conquests of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser. In other words, the account is allegedly taking place after the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel. The story involves two subplots that eventually [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:09:08-04:00October 9th, 2024|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Public Forum|

Introducing the Old Testament Apocrypha
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Introducing the Old Testament Apocrypha

Early Judaism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Introducing the Old Testament Apocrypha

Lots of people on the blog seem to be really interested in early Christian apocrypha -- other Gospels, Acts, epistles, apocalypses that did not make it into the New Testament. It's a major area of fascination for me as well. But many folk talk about them as "the Apocrypha" and probably that's not quite right -- that is a designation usually reserved for the "Old Testament Apocrypha," which are not Christian books but Jewish. Many years ago I explained what these books are on the blog, and since I still get asked about them by members, I thought it would be helpful to over that ground again. I begin with a basic overview taken from my textbook on the entire Bible, Genesis to Revelation, The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction, 2nd. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2018). ****************************** In addition to the canonical books in the Hebrew Bible, there was other literature written by other Jewish authors that cannot be found there, but that is of great importance for anyone interested in it. [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:09:08-04:00October 8th, 2024|Early Judaism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|

Was the Apocalypse of Peter Originally Considered Part of the New Testament?

In my previous post I pointed out that our earliest list of which books should be considered Christian Scripture (that is, parts of the New Testament), the Muratorian Fragment from the 180s CE, lists the Apocalypse of Peter as a book that was accepted by some Christians. I've talked about the book on the blog before. It's extraordinarily interesting. It is the first Christian account we have of a journey to the realms of the damned and the blessed, where Peter himself is shown by Christ the torments of the one and the glories of the other. In my recent academic book Journeys to Heaven and Hell, I devote a chapter to explaining why the book in the end did not get included in Scripture but the book of 2 Peter, which was NOT accepted by the Muratorian canon or even known about then so far as we can tell, did make it in. In this post I'll simply explain what we know about the popularity and acceptance of the Apocalypse of Peter [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:09:08-04:00October 6th, 2024|Christian Apocrypha, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|

The First Ancient Christian List of the Books (allegedly) of the New Testament

The first church father to name Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as the four Gospels in the New Testament is Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons in Gaul (i.e., the ancient forerunner of Lyon, France), in his five-volume work, "Against Heresies" in 180 CE. He spent significant time in Rome itself before his appointment in Gaul, and he considered the Roman church to be the center of Christendom at his time, but there are no Roman authors before him who say anything about it. The important teacher / philosopher Justin (who acquired the epithet "Martyr"), from whom we have three surviving writings about Jesus, Scripture, and the truth of Christianity, quotes the Gospels but never indicates who wrote them. There is another (apparent) witness to the fourfold Gospel of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John from Irenaeus’s time, and also appears to be connected with Rome -- and as it turns out, it is the first list of canonical NT books that we have from antiquity. This comes to us in the fragmentary Latin text [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:09:08-04:00October 5th, 2024|Canonical Gospels, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|

Was the New Testament Canon Really Closed in 367 CE?

If we are talking about the earliest Christian writings -- the subject of my previous three posts -- we naturally want to know when decisions were made about WHEN church father settled on our 27-book canon of the New Testament. Many people -- including tons of scholars -- set a precise date: 367 CE, in the decision written by the famous theologian Athanasius of Alexandria. Is that right? My first academic publication addressed this question and answered: NO. Here's how I have talked about the issue and my attempt to overturn the widely held view, from long ago! ****************************** My first semester in the PhD program at Princeton Theological Seminary I had a seminar on the “Canon of the New Testament” with Bruce Metzger. This was a class that focused on the questions surrounding how we ended up with the twenty-seven books in the New Testament. Who decided that it would be these twenty-seven books, and no others? What was motivating these people? What were the grounds for their decisions? And when did they make [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:09:07-04:00October 3rd, 2024|Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE), Public Forum|

Special Webinar Announcement: Hurricane Helene Fundraiser

10/3/2024 Update: Bart has returned safely home and recorded the below video message for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDM8_jr6qn0&t=108s Original Post: As many of you know, Hurricane Helene swept through the mountains of Western North Carolina over the weekend, leaving significant destruction in its path. On Sunday, we announced a fundraiser to support relief efforts. We're asking for a suggested donation of $50.00, though any amount is appreciated. Those who donate will be invited to attend a lecture by Bart to be given on Monday October 7th at 7:30pm ET on the topic of: Why Do Disasters Hit? The Bible’s Views. All those who donate and register for the event will be sent a recording of the lecture, so please consider donating even if you're not able to attend live. To the many of you who have already donated, we sincerely thank you for your generosity and look forward to seeing you on Monday. If you missed that email, we're sharing the details here as well. ****************************** Hi from Jen, I hope this message finds you safe [...]

jennao2025-09-10T13:09:08-04:00October 2nd, 2024|Public Forum|

Finding All the Earliest Christian Texts in One Place

How does one decide which books should belong to a collection of ALL the surviving early Christian writings of the first hundred years of the church? Here I explain my procedure when producing my set of translations with introductions, The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader, 2nd ed. 2004 (Oxford University Press), and explain the other features of book. This follows on my earlier posts and again is taken from the Introduction to the volume. ****************************** In sum, it is important for modern readers to realize that the book we call the New Testament is actually a collection of books, put together by persons living much later than the actual authors. When "Matthew" wrote his Gospel, he had no idea that someone would eventually combine his book with three others that were more or less like it to form the first section of a canon of Scripture, a canon that was to include a history of the Christian movement, personal letters sent by other early Christians, and an apocalyptic narrative [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:09:07-04:00October 2nd, 2024|Public Forum|

Why Were Some of the Earliest Christian Books Left OUT of the NT?
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Why Were Some of the Earliest Christian Books Left OUT of the NT?

Book Discussions, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)

Why Were Some of the Earliest Christian Books Left OUT of the NT?

How did church leaders decide which books would be included in the New Testament canon? Why were some let in, but others left out? Here I continue my discussion as excerpted from the Introduction in my anthology: The New Testament and Other Early Christian Writings: A Reader, 2nd ed. 2004 (Oxford University Press.) ****************************** The literature that was produced by early Christians served to bind the various Christian communities together. Leaders and groups from one congregation wrote to others; books written in one place for one purpose were taken to another place, copied there, and read by Christians completely unknown to the author and his or her own community. This earliest Christian literature thus provided spiritual, intellectual, and emotional cohesion for communities that were geographically separated. The literature that was produced by early Christians served to bind the various Christian communities together. Leaders and groups from one congregation wrote to others; books written in one place for one purpose were taken to another place, copied there, and read by Christians completely unknown to [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:09:07-04:00October 1st, 2024|Book Discussions, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|

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