Loading...I am very pleased to announce that the Blog’s ten-year anniversary is on April 18! We have been going at it this whole time, ten years, non-stop! HA! Tempus is fugiting….
We are celebrating the upcoming date in a variety of ways. There will be at least one celebratory event, special announcements, reposting of favorite posts from years gone by, and a couple of fundraisers. Today I announce the first fundraiser. A LOTTERY with prizes, with all proceeds going to disaster relief in Ukraine.
As to the Lottery: Each ticket is $10 and you can buy as many as you like. So if you want to have a shot (see prizes below), buy one! If you want to increase the odds, buy more. The limit to the number you can buy is …. well, it is limitless.
Tickets can be purchased UNTIL MIDNIGHT APRIL 18 (the anniversary date itself).
ALL of the money will go to Ukraine relief, through one of the two charities we support that are doing amazing work in this most horrible of human-caused destruction, devastation, and disaster: CARE International and Doctors Without Borders. They desperately need funds. We’d like to give them as much as we can. So buying the lottery tickets will all be to a good cause, and all the funds you give will be tax deductible.
And the PRIZES! We will draw ten names of ticket holders. And there will be three prizes:
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- ALL TEN will be invited to a private 75-minute webinar with me: just me and the ten. The topic will be anything that the ten want: they will each be able to propose a topic and then they’ll vote and then we’ll do it at an agreed-upon time.
- The SECOND AND THIRD tickets (of the ten that are drawn) will have not just the webinar BUT ALSO a full hour, just the two of them, two-on-one with me. To talk about anything they want: Q&A and discussion, just the three of us.
- The FIRST ticket (of the ten) drawn will have the webinar and a FULL HOUR with me one-on-one. If you are shy and don’t want one-on-one, we can accommodate that too!
SO, are you interested in celebrating the blog? Are you interested in being one of the lucky winners? Are you interested in providing much-needed help to those in dire need? Participate! Buy a ticket! Buy 29,000 tickets! Everyone who gets involved will have a chance, and everyone will be doing a good deed for those who need it.
To register: click on this link: Blogaversary Lottery At the site you are taken to you can indicate how many tickets you want, and you will receive instructions in a follow-up email about how to donate.
I hope you can participate! I’m looking forward to celebrating ourselves and doing so in a way that will do some good in the world.
Dr. Ehrman, there are people who believe some or all books of the new testament, usually the gospels, were written in Hebrew or Aramaic, at least the originals were. I know the scholarly consensus is that the originals were in Greek, too. I do not debate the point myself, but I am ill-equipped to debate in favor of it, either. If someone challenged me about it, what books or resources would you recommend for me to use? Incidentally, if you were to pick just one argument for one book to argue it is not just a translation of the Hebrew or Aramaic original, what is the most hard-hitting counter you can think of? Something with detailed philological arguments would be great. I think you know where I’m going with this. But if there is a way to demonstrate this without quoting obscure linguistic trivia, that would be great, too. Thank you.
There’s not really a debate about it any more among scholars, given detailed philolgicaal studies. I’m not sure of a book that deals with it for layfol. But one very good argument for one of the leading candicates, Matthew. Matthew can be shown to have used Mark for one of his sources; both he and Luke have word for word agreements with Mark. That shows they ALL must be writing in Greek, since there’s no way translators from ARamaic would all have the exact same translations (Read two translations of, say, a French novel, and you’ll see what I mean). They were copying a Greek document and did so in Greek.
Congratulations, Professor Ehrman. What a privilege it has been for me to be among your blog members over the years!
I do t want to waste your time on a webinar ( although I’ve been a member and enjoyed the reading for several years) ….How about the chance to win a Bart Ehrman coffee mug? Ha
Ha! good idea!
Mr. Ehrman, you are an amazing person! Thank you for the knowledge and the wisdom and the kindness!
Thanks Dr. Ehrman for this wonderful charity lottery!
Also, I’d absolutely buy some Bart Ehrman merch. Coffee mug, shot glass? Even better a marble bust?!
A nice framed picture to give my Feyman and RBG pictures company would also be great 😉
Ha!
Hey Bart,
I am curious as to what extent you think modern Christianity is based on the views of Paul vs. the teaching and views of Jesus. Jesus seems to really be the centerpiece of modern Christianity, at least in the US where I am located, but after decades spent in an evangelical church (EPC) I realized that outside of holidays like Christmas and Easter, the vast majority of sermons seemed to be based on Paul’s teaching and theology. It’s only after reading the Bible and also trying to understand the context that I’ve realized that there seems to be quite a difference in what Paul and Jesus said and thought. I could very well be off base here which is why I wanted to ask you your thoughts!
I’d say there are few Christians who accept Jesus’ own view of salvation, that one needs to repent and to what God demands in the law by helping those in need to have salvation; almost everyone things that salvation comes by the atoning death and resurretion of Jesus (Paul’s view)
Hi Dr. Ehrman, No question today I just want to say thanks for all the content produced through the blog. The lectures and Q&A events have been especially enjoyable as those have been frequent over the past year or two. I love that your always looking for ways to progress the blog and was very happy to see you were once again on the Unbelievable program! I’ll have to listen. Thanks again!