In my previous two posts I showed why Papias is not a reliable source when it comes to the authorship of Matthew and Mark.   If you haven’t read those posts and are personally inclined to think that his testimony about Matthew and Mark are accurate, I suggest you read them (the posts) before reading this one. In this post I want to argue that what he actually says about Matthew and Mark is not true of our Matthew and Mark, and so either he is talking about *other* Gospels that he knows about (or has heard about) called Matthew and Mark, that do not correspond to our Matthew and Mark, or he simply is wrong. I’ll reverse the order in which his comments are given, and deal with Matthew first. In the quotation of the fourth century historian Eusebius, we read this:  And this is what [Papias] says about Matthew: “And so Matthew composed the sayings in the Hebrew tongue, and each one interpreted [Or: translated] them to the best of his ability.” [...]

In my previous post I stressed that, contrary to what you sometimes may have heard or possibly will hear, Papias is not a direct witness to what the apostles of Jesus were saying.  That is an important point because Papias gives a testimony that is often taken as hard proof that the second Gospel of the NT was written by Mark, the companion of Peter, and that the first Gospel was really and truly written by Matthew, the disciple of Jesus.  If these claims were right, they would be highly significant.  Matthew would have been written by someone who was there to see these things happen; and Mark’s account would be based on arguably the most important witness to Jesus’ life.. Here is what Papias says. Remember, when he indicates what “the elder” says, he is indicating what he has learned from a person who was allegedly “companion” of the elder; the elder was someone who allegedly knew the apostles.  And this is what the elder used to say, When Mark was [...]

In my previous post I gave a short introduction to Papias, one of the Apostolic Fathers, and the one -- oddly enough (since we don't have any of his writings, just some quotations of them) -- that has garnered the most attention among New Testament scholars over the past some decades.  Especially those interested in the question of who wrote our Gospels. More than anything, biblical scholars have latched onto Papias because it is widely thought that he provides direct evidence that the Gospel of Matthew really was written by Matthew, and the Gospel of Mark was really written by Mark. I’ll be dealing with the evidence from Papias on both matters in subsequent posts.   What is even more remarkable is that some conservative scholars have actually argued that Papias gives us evidence about Luke and John, even though in none of the surviving fragments does Papias so much as *mention* Luke and John!!   Scholars can be amazingly inventive sometimes….. Before discussing what Papias says about the two Gospel-writers that he does actually [...]

As many of you know, my new book, Love Thy Stranger: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West, will be published on March 24th. I have spent the last few years immersed in researching a profound shift that occurred in antiquity. In the Greco-Roman world, ethical obligations were largely confined to one's family, friends, and local community. The idea that you had a moral duty to help those in need who were not part of your family or circle of friends or potential friends, regardless of ethnicity, race, nationality, religion, or anything else, was simply not on the radar screen. That changed with the teachings of Jesus and the subsequent spread of the early Christian movement, which introduced to the world the revolutionary concept that everyone, regardless of their origin or status, is deserving of care, compassion, medical attention, and the resources to survive.. To celebrate the release of this book, I wanted to do something that takes this historical concept and puts it into immediate, tangible practice. Today, we [...]

In case you're interested!   I am doing a live debate with Jonathan Sheffield, an Anglican Autodidact, on the resurrection of Jesus.  March 2 (tomorrow, as of this writing), 8:00 pm. Eastern Time.   You're welcome to come.  Hey, it's free!  And surely worth every penny you'll be paying for it. Feel free to comment (here on the blog) on what you see if you see any of it! Here is the brief promo add and link. Live Debate: Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? (Live Debate on FACTS Podcast, with Bart Ehrman and Jonathan Sheffield) Did Jesus rise from the dead? This debate focuses on the historical evidence surrounding the resurrection, examining early testimony, eyewitness claims, the empty tomb, and the origins of resurrection belief. Don't miss this free event! Watch the Live Debate