October 2025 - Page 2 of 2 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

Jude, The Denigration of Angels, and the Followers of Paul
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Jude, The Denigration of Angels, and the Followers of Paul

Catholic Epistles, Paul and His Letters

Jude, The Denigration of Angels, and the Followers of Paul

In my previous post I tried to show that the pseudonymous author of the book of Jude appears to be attacking an understanding of the Christian faith endorsed by members of Paul’s churches sometime after his death – that is, he is not attacking Paul head-on, but the views that had developed after Paul’s day to an extreme he would have himself strongly objected to. I summed up this view with this paragraph. The alleged opponents of Jude argue that: Antinomian activities (actively sinful lives) demonstrate the full grace of God, which alone brings salvation – see how GRACIOUS God is? He’ll save you by faith even if you are an immoral Cretan! Or at least the author of Jude portrays his opponents as making that argument. Whether they did so or not is anyone’s guess; but it does give one pause that Paul himself was falsely accused of something similar already decades earlier (as he indicates in Romans 3:8). In any event, this charge against what appears to be a (post-)Pauline position [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-05T08:09:56-04:00October 7th, 2025|Catholic Epistles, Paul and His Letters|

Seventy Years on This Planet and One Fundraiser: You’re Invited
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Seventy Years on This Planet and One Fundraiser: You’re Invited

Public Forum

Seventy Years on This Planet and One Fundraiser: You’re Invited

Today I'm celebrating one of those birthdays that ends in a zero. Yes, October 5th marks my 70th spin around the sun. Ouch. Or... Yay! For reasons that escape me, people keep insisting that reaching such an age is an accomplishment. Personally, I think of it more as an accident, but an accident worth marking if it can do some good in the world. And that’s what I’d like to do with all of you. A Birthday Fundraiser To celebrate, we’re announcing a special fundraiser here on the blog to support the charities that all your membership fees already go to. This time, I’ll be giving a live online lecture, and you’re invited. It will be called "How Things Change: Major Archaeological and Scholarly Discoveries in my Fifty Years of Research" Here’s the idea: The lecture will talk about how much more we know now (and what different things scholars think now, since I devoted myself to this field in the mid 70s. Wanna come? We're asking for a donation -- not for me (though [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-05T10:47:11-04:00October 5th, 2025|Public Forum|

Does Jude Attack Pauline Christians?

In my previous two posts I’ve tried to show why the short letter of Jude appears to be forged in the name of Jesus’s own brother Jude. That naturally leads to the question of why someone would do that – not just in general (why write a forgery!): there were lots of early Christian forgeries, just as there were lots of Jewish, Greek, and Roman forgeries, all done for a range of reasons, which I lay out in my book Forged. But why was this particular book forged, and when, and how would we know? I deal with that problem here based on (and sometimes lifting from!) my discussion in my book Forgery and Counterforgery (Oxford University Press, 2013), reworked and reworded to avoid some of the crazy jargon and in-house talk that scholars often use in order to show that they are … scholars. It would be helpful, first, though, to summarize what I’m going to try to demonstrate. Short story: the book of Jude was forged at the end of the [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-02T10:18:12-04:00October 4th, 2025|Catholic Epistles, Forgery in Antiquity, Paul and His Letters|

October 2025 Gold Q&A Announcement

It's that time again, Gold & Platinum Members! Our October Gold Q&A is scheduled for Saturday October 25th at 3pm Eastern. You know the drill. Submit your burning questions for Bart to [email protected] by the end of the day Thursday October 23rd. Jen will compile them and hand them off to Bart, who will do his best to answer as many as he can over the course of an hour. Remember: Preference will be given to questions that are short and to-the-point. Want to attend live? Here's the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87053453027?pwd=jnCfSJM9XHiU42drYxrqnjgjctONJo.1 Meeting ID: 870 5345 3027 Passcode: 135440 Can't join us live? No problem. The meeting will be recorded. Jen will send out the replay within a day or two. We look forward to seeing you there!

jennao2025-10-02T23:34:16-04:00October 3rd, 2025|Public Forum|

Unpacking 1 Enoch, the Apocryphal Writing Quoted by Jude

In my previous post I began to describe the Jewish apocryphal book 1 Enoch, the only apocryphon clearly quoted in the New Testament, and apparently quoted as an authoritative Scripture (Jude 14-15). Here I pick up where I left off, describing what the opening section of the book, the “Book of the Watchers” is all about. The apocalyptic strain of the book is here obvious from the outset. ****************************** After a short poem the author launches directly into his account of the coming judgment by describing a future theophany to (literally) end all theophanies. The Great Holy One will come from his dwelling and the eternal God will tread from thence upon Mount Sinai He will appear with his army, He will appear with his mighty host from the heaven of heavens. All the watchers will see and quake, and those who are hiding in all the ends of the earth will sing; All the ends of the earth will be shaken, and trembling and great fear will seize them (the watchers) [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-02T10:08:03-04:00October 1st, 2025|Afterlife, Early Judaism|

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Jude, The Denigration of Angels, and the Followers of Paul

Jude, The Denigration of Angels, and the Followers of Paul

Seventy Years on This Planet and One Fundraiser: You’re Invited

Seventy Years on This Planet and One Fundraiser: You’re Invited

Does Jude Attack Pauline Christians?

October 2025 Gold Q&A Announcement

Unpacking 1 Enoch, the Apocryphal Writing Quoted by Jude