August 2026 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

Were Peter and Cephas the Same Person?

In Galatians 2 Paul describes a serious blow up that he had with "Cephas" over the relationship of Jews and Gentiles in the church. Major conflict. Possibly never resolved. Throughout history this event has usually been cited to show that Paul and Peter had very different views of things. But what if the Cephas Paul attacked was not Peter but someone else? A couple of weeks ago I gave a webinar on “Cephas and Peter” for members of the Biblical Studies Academy (my for-profit business that produces on-line courses, etc., not connected with the blog). I had written an academic article with that title many years ago, some time back in the Pleistocene age, arguing that contrary to what everyone thinks and says, they may not have been the same person. That there were two people with that name, not just one (despite what John 1:42 explicitly states). It was a rather, uh, controversial issue and I had to look up the details of a number of the arguments I used; in doing so I [...]

BDEhrman2026-08-13T22:53:12-04:00August 13th, 2026|Paul and His Letters|

Problems of Suffering and Why Gospels Started Being Written: Questions from Readers

Here are some excellent questions I've received from readers of the blog that I'd like to share with y'all, along with my attempts at responding.... QUESTION: Do you think that the presence of mass suffering is not necessarily an argument against the existence of God, but rather an argument against the existence of a loving God? If so, what would a loving God be expected to do regarding suffering? Or at what point does the amount of suffering become incompatible with the existence of a loving God? I’m curious how you would define divine love in this context and what implications that definition would have for the problem of suffering/evil. RESPONSE: I think the problem of suffering becomes a serious objection to “God” when the suffering is so intense, so widespread, so gratuitous, so random, and so horrible (as it has been from the beginning of human existence) that one can no longer believe a God is in charge. And so I'd say it's an argument against a God who is both [...]

BDEhrman2026-08-06T16:04:05-04:00August 12th, 2026|Reader’s Questions|

What Did Jesus’s Violent Action in the Temple Actually Mean?
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What Did Jesus’s Violent Action in the Temple Actually Mean?

Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus

What Did Jesus’s Violent Action in the Temple Actually Mean?

Several aspects of Jesus’s actions in the temple – the so-called “Cleansing of the Temple” – have long puzzled scholars. As I indicated in the previous post, in all four Gospels – with some important differences among them – Jesus enters the temple compound, is angered by what he sees, overturns the tables of those who are changing Roman currency for temple currency to allow people to purchase sacrificial animals, drives out those who are selling (and even buying) the animals, prevents (in one account) anyone from carrying anything needed for the sacrifices though the temple, and forcefully declares that the temple is to be “a house of prayer for all the nations” but that “you have made it a den of robbers” (quoting Isaiah 56:7). Most critical scholars agree that this cannot be construed as an attack on Judaism per se, since Jesus was thoroughly Jewish and stood in the line of Hebrew prophets who opposed the activities of the temple. But that’s where the puzzlement begins to arise. The temple was built on [...]

BDEhrman2026-08-09T21:28:30-04:00August 11th, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Blog Dinner in NYC, September 1. Interested?

I will be in NYC on Tuesday, Sept. 1, for an extremely important academic engagement (aka, the U.S. Open....). I'll be hosting a blog dinner for any blog members who would be interested. Yup up for it? I’ll probably start around 6:00 pm for drinks with whomever wants both to quench thirst and cha, and then head over to dinner (with both quenchers and non-quenchers) at 7:00 or so. Location TBD -- but somewhere relatively interesting and easy to get to. My plan (subject to whimsical change) is to limit the table to 10. For those who come there are no obligations other than: Being a blog member Showing up Talking Paying for whatever you ingest. (Whatever you exgest is free.) If you’d like to join me and a group of other blog members for an evening of interesting discussion of areas of mutual interest, simply send along an email at [email protected]. (NB: Please do NOT reply here as a comment). Hope you can come!

BDEhrman2026-08-10T13:42:46-04:00August 10th, 2026|Public Forum|

Prophetic Condemnations of Jews Within Judaism Before Jesus

Over the past few decades scholars have become loathe to label Jesus’s actions in the Temple (Mark 11:14-17; also in the other three Gospels) with the traditional phrase “The Cleansing of the Temple.” One reason is the hateful afterlife of this phrasing, because it makes it sound as if Judaism at its very heart was foul, dirty, unclean, and vile, and Jesus is the one who purified it. In other words, this phrase can be/has been taken to mean that God hates Jews and their religion and sent Jesus in order to show the true path of holiness. The social and political implications of that view are stunning. They stand at the root of horrible acts of violence over the centuries leading to the Holocaust. The problem, however, cannot be solved simply by insisting that Jesus was a Jew and was not at all opposed to the worship of the Jewish God. That is completely true, of course. He was Jewish in every way conceivable, as were his followers. But that does not [...]

BDEhrman2026-08-06T20:53:07-04:00August 9th, 2026|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Historical Jesus|

Gist and Exaggeration: Jesus and the Cleansing of the Temple

It is virtually impossible to disentangle religion and politics when studying ancient sources:, they were not separate entities but tightly interwoven aspects of the same entity, involving questions of authority, who wields it, how they should wield it, and how these “authorities” are “authorized.” Kings could be gods, and vice versa. Priests were governmental officials and vice versa. Laws were divinely sanctioned. Opposition to the state meant opposition to the gods who supported it and opposition to the state gods meant opposition to the state. That’s why Jesus’s “religious” views that God was soon to bring in a new kingdom and appoint him its ruler was seen as a “political” offense leading to his execution for insurrection. It is also why his so-called “Cleansing of the Temple” was not only a religious statement but also a threat to the established order. The event is recounted in all four of our Gospels, again with important differences in detail (particularly in John), but with the same gist. Mark provides our earliest account (Mark 11:15-17). The day [...]

BDEhrman2026-08-06T21:41:48-04:00August 8th, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Render Unto Caesar: Jesus’s Indifference to Human Governments and Economies

In this thread have been arguing that Jesus was decidedly a revolutionary: he despised the current system (government) (both Roman and Jewish) and hoped for/anticipated its complete overthrow. But he was not in support of rebellion. That seems a bit odd, since most revolutionaries are precisely trying to incite either a violent or peaceful coup for a new system to be put in place. Jesus was different precisely because of his apocalyptic views: governments were necessarily human institutions, the humans in power were part of a cosmic-wide network of evil and corruption, and the powers ultimately in control (above their human minions) could not be dismantled by human effort. Only an intervention of God would resolve the world’s plight, and he would do so not through human initiative but in an act of divine judgment, to be brought by a cosmic figure, the Son of Man. What mattered for Jesus was not one government or another; one governmental policy or that, this corrupt official or that, a particular systemic problem or another – [...]

BDEhrman2026-08-02T16:25:32-04:00August 6th, 2026|Public Forum|

Was Jesus’s Crucifixion One Big Mistake?

In my previous post I indicated that, looked at in one way, the crucifixion of Jesus was one big mistake. The ruling authorities knew that he considered himself the future ruler of Israel, the messiah, and so they condemned him for insurrection. But Jesus wasn’t in favor of insurrection. He was predicting something much bigger, a cosmic intervention by God. He personally posed no threat to Roman rule. Once I wrote that, it occurred to me – in a rather tangential and possibly irrelevant way – that there actually were early Christians who taught that Jesus crucifixion was One Big Mistake but in a different, unconnected, way. Or rather different ways. So in this post I move us onto a tangent before returning to my thread in the post that follows. Here are two of the most intriguing attempts to explain that the rulers made a BIG mistake when they crucified Jesus. Or when they thought they did. ****************************** Basilides is one of the early Gnostic figures mentioned by the late-second century [...]

BDEhrman2026-08-02T16:16:13-04:00August 5th, 2026|Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE), Heresy and Orthodoxy, Historical Jesus|

The Triumphal Entry and Jesus’s Mistaken Identity
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The Triumphal Entry and Jesus’s Mistaken Identity

Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus

The Triumphal Entry and Jesus’s Mistaken Identity

Even though the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem almost certainly could not have happened as described (see previous post), they clearly contain some elements of historical truth. This is often the case with the Gospels and with other historical narratives that have come down to us from antiquity. The task of the historian is to determine what is invention, what exaggeration, and what is (more or less) historical. With respect to the historical elements, the following seem reasonably secure (even some of these, of course, can be debated, but in my judgment the evidence for them is overwhelming): Jesus did come from Galilee to Jerusalem to celebrate a Passover Feast, sometime around 30-33 CE (the year is much debated); While there he preached his message to anyone who would listen (it seems unlikely it was “the masses” but it could well have been small crowds); He offended the local Jewish authorities; At the end of the week they arranged to have him arrested; He was turned over to the governor Pontius Pilate; [...]

BDEhrman2026-08-02T14:39:06-04:00August 4th, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

The Implausibility of the Triumphal Entry

It is precisely the intricate and complete intertwining of (what we would call) “religion” and “politics” in the ancient world (see my previous post) that explains why Jesus’ forthright views about God and understanding of himself as God’s spokesperson let to his arrest and execution, as well as, ironically, his indifference to the governmental and cultic status quo. His revolutionary views and yet indifference can be illustrated by his two incendiary actions near the end of his life and, oddly, his two discussions of taxation. I will deal with the first of his two actions, typically designated the “Triumphal Entry,” in two posts. The Triumphal Entry refers to Jesus’s coming into Jerusalem on the occasion of the Passover Feast riding on a colt (according to Mark and Luke) or a small donkey (according to John) or both a colt and a donkey (at the same time! According to Matthew), to the acclamation of the crowd of Jewish pilgrims, who welcomed him as the one who was bringing in the Kingdom to Israel (Matthew 21:1-9; Mark [...]

BDEhrman2026-07-31T10:22:53-04:00August 2nd, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Understanding Jesus: A Swedish Podcast Interview

When my book Love They Stranger came out a few months ago, I was honored to be interviewed for a Swedish podcast about my major theses and how I support them. It was one episode in a multi-part series, and has now just recently been aired. I thought it was a particularly interesting back and forth, and the producers have given us permission to share it here on the blog. I hope you enjoy it! (My host begins by welcoming his audience in Swedish -- but have no fear! He has very fine English and breaks into it at about the 1.30 mark.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxkCnMyBqaQ

jennao2026-07-28T12:15:49-04:00August 1st, 2026|Public Forum|

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