BDEhrman, Author at The Bart Ehrman Blog

About BDEhrman

Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he has served as the director of graduate studies and chair of the Department of Religious Studies.

The Martyrdom of Polycarp (Another Book of the Apostolic Fathers): In a Nutshell

Do you know the first account of a Christian martyr -- the actual narrative of his trial and executio -- from outside the New Testament? It's one of the Apostolic Fathers, and for many readers one of the most intriguing: The Martyrdom of Polycarp. Here is a nutshell summary of the work, an edited version of my Introduction to the translation I made for my collection, The Apostolic Fathers (Harvard University Press) ****************************** The Martyrdom of Polycarp has long occupied a place of special intrigue for readers of the Apostolic Fathers. This is an account, evidently based on the testimony of eyewitnesses, of the trial and execution of a prominent church leader of the early and mid-second century, Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. Known already from the letter addressed to him by Ignatius, an earlier martyr (whose own death is recounted only in later legends), and from the letter that he wrote to the church in Philippi (see the Letter of Polycarp), Polycarp was an important figure in the development of proto-orthodox Christianity. Tradition held [...]

BDEhrman2026-07-07T20:07:54-04:00July 12th, 2026|Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|

2 Clement (one of the “Apostolic Fathers”) in a Nutshell

What does our earliest Christian sermon outside the New Testament look like? It is found in one of the apostolic fathers, in a book called 2 Clement, allegedly (but not really) written by the early bishop of Rome, Clement, and historically associated with another book of the Apostolic Fathers, 1 Clement. The following is an edited version of the Introduction to my translation of the text in The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 1 (Loeb Classical Library; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003) ****************************** Second Clement is probably the most overlooked and least appreciated of the writings of the Apostolic Fathers. This is somewhat to be regretted, as it is in some ways a historically significant work. As with 1 Clement, the book is misnamed – even more so, as in addition to being written by a different author, who cannot be identified as Clement of Rome, it is not even a letter. Readers have long recognized that the book appears in fact to be an early Christian homily, a written exposition of Scripture with an accompanying set [...]

BDEhrman2026-07-08T07:25:50-04:00July 11th, 2026|Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|

Christian Justifications for Lying

Isn't lying acceptable and even the "right thing to do" in some circumstances? I became keenly interested in this question when writing my books oon early Christian forgeries (Forged and Forgery and Counterforgery) -- canonical and non-canonical writings by authors claiming to be Peter, Paul, John, or even Jesus, knowing full well they were, well, someone else. Contrary to what you sometimes hear, this was decidedly (and repeatedly) talked of as a kind of "lying" throughout the ancient world, intentional attempts to deceive others. But isn't intentional deception the right thing to do sometimes? It is certainly possible ancient Christian authors sometimes felt that way, that lying is the right thing to do in some instances. Throughout much of antiquity, this view was based on the idea that there could be such a thing as a “noble lie,” a lie that serves a noble cause. If a doctor needs to lie to a patient in order to get her to take the medicine she needs, then that can be a good form of deception. [...]

BDEhrman2026-07-01T10:06:25-04:00July 9th, 2026|Forgery in Antiquity, Reflections and Ruminations|

Ancient Christians Who Wanted to Lie

Is it ever OK to lie in order to promote the truth? Even in Christian circles? In my previous post I talked about an evangelical Christian who flat-out lied about things I've said and written. It's also possible, of course, that he simply repeated a complete falsehood he had heard about my views without bothering to take a minute to check. That too would be bad, but different. But to give him the benefit of the doubt, so to say, I'll assume that as an influential speaker on scholarly matters and a representative of conservative evangelical Christianity he usually does his homework. Whether he himself was lying or not, the phenomenon of lying to convey the truth is interesting and worth thinking about. I've thought and read a lot about it over the past 10-15 years, especially when I was writing my books on forgery in the ancient world. By forgery I mean (specifically) a book written by an author who falsely claims to be a famous person in order to deceive his [...]

BDEhrman2026-07-02T08:55:25-04:00July 8th, 2026|Forgery in Antiquity, Reflections and Ruminations|

Evangelicals Who Lie to Promote the(ir) Truth….
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Evangelicals Who Lie to Promote the(ir) Truth….

Public Forum

Evangelicals Who Lie to Promote the(ir) Truth….

I was looking through the archives of posts from many years ago and came across one that struck me as rather hilarious. Why do devout Christians sometimes tell flat-out lies to support their truth-claims? Here's what I said in the post: ******************************* Sometimes it’s enough to make my blood boil. Maybe someone can explain it to me. If you were to interview the billions of occupants of this planet, you would find no group of people who declare themselves more committed to “truth” than evangelical Christians. Evangelical Christianity, historically, is about nothing other than the Truth. Jesus himself said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6); and “You shall know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free” (John 8:32). The Christian faith, for these people, is all about finding the Truth that leads to eternal life. So why do so many of their spokespersons simply tell lies? Or at least propagate willful ignorance? Those are the two choices: they [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-29T08:41:15-04:00July 7th, 2026|Public Forum|

Free Course on … Hell!

I am pleased to let all you blog members to know that on Saturday July 18, 2:00 - 5:00 pm ET, I will be doing a FREE two-lecture course on where the Christian idea of hell (as a place of eternal conscious torment) came from. This course is NOT connected with blog per se, except insofar as I am connected with both. It is rather a production of my on-line course company, Paths in Biblical Studies. But since this is a complete Freebie, I thought I would be remiss not to let all of you know about it who haven't learned about it from another channel. The course is called: What theHell? The Real Teaching of Jesus on the Afterlife. It will will consist of two lectures of 50 minutes each, followed by a live Q&A. Anyone can come. There's zero cost. If you're interested, you can find out more about it here: https://learn.bartehrman.com/what-the-hell?widget=courses Here's a brief overview: What The Hell? The Real Teachings of Jesus on the Afterlife Many people have trouble understanding how a good God could [...]

BDEhrman2026-07-05T06:32:43-04:00July 6th, 2026|Public Forum|

Exonerating Pilate to Implicate the Jews

Why did early Christians portray Pontius Pilate, who ordered Jesus' crucifixion, as increasingly innocent in Jesus' death? Was it be blame Jews for being "Christ killers"? In a couple of recent posts I've talked about a couple of the "Pilate Gospels" -- apocryphal accounts of Jesus' trial and crucifixion -- in which Pilate himself is shown to be innocent and "the Jews" (either their leaders or the entire people) were at fault for the execution of the son of God. These accounts may have started to appear in the second century, but the texts we have now are from later periods when anti-Jewish hatred in some parts of the Christian church had become standard rhetoric, sometimes leading to violence. This rhetorical strategy did not originate after the New Testament period, but can be found already in the canonical Gospels. I should stress that the earliest Christians -- starting obviously with Jesus himself and his disciples -- were Jewish through and through, with nothing non-Jewish, let alone anti-Jewish about them. Jesus did not plan [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-28T10:29:28-04:00July 5th, 2026|Public Forum|

Jesus the Forager

Is there any evidence to support the idea that Jesus and his followers survived during his public ministry principally, normally, or often by foraging? In my previous post I explained why it is plausible. But is there any reason to consider it probable? (Sidenote: In my view, far too many scholars of New Testament and early Christianity in recent years have succumbed to the temptation of advancing claims/views that could be true, without worrying if there is evidence that shows they probalby are [or at least without citing and evidence]; and without considering counter-evidence. For readers, books that do that can certainly be more scintillating than an account -- even at a popular level -- recognizes the need to mount an argument rather than simply make an assertion. But in my view it’s bad history and not helpful) Since our best sources of information about Jesus’ life of any real merit are the earliest Gospels, it is to these we turn. Here are three passages that seem to relate directly to my question, all from our [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-30T07:23:38-04:00July 4th, 2026|Public Forum|

Foraging in the World of Jesus

I don’t recall hearing or reading anyone make the case that Jesus and his disciples survived during their time of itinerant ministry by foraging. But it’s an idea that makes a good bit of sense and there is some evidence for it in the Gospels. In this post I explain why it seems to make sense; I’ll deal with some of the evidence in the next post. Let me say I’ve only started thinking and reading about all this – so this is my first attempt to articulate my thoughts (at this point). In most developed countries today, foraging is a hobby that outdoorsy and environmentally minded people pick up through books and live instruction, practiced more as a pastime or a social statement than as a mode of survival. In large part that’s because we live in capitalist societies, principally in cities and towns, and most of us can purchase about anything we want from a store. Those who do need or choose to scavenge tend not to do so in isolated [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-28T12:00:25-04:00July 2nd, 2026|Historical Jesus|

Did Jesus Have Wealthy Donors?
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Did Jesus Have Wealthy Donors?

Historical Jesus

Did Jesus Have Wealthy Donors?

In my previous post I raised the question of how Jesus and his disciples supported themselves for a year or three (depending on which Gospel you read) when they were unemployed itinerates? One of the options (I'll get to two others in the posts that follow, so stay tuned) would be that they had wealthy donors, as explicitly indicated in one passage of the Gospels (that I'll discuss below), and intimated in other ways. But is it likely? To begin with, Jesus does seem to get invited to a lot of homes for dinner in the Gospels. It is difficult to know if the Gospel writers are simply telling good stories – for example, setting up a plausible situation for Jesus to have a discussion or controversy with other Jewish teachers -- or if it actually happened regularly. If it did – how often? From a social and historical perspective, it’s a little bit difficult to think that sort of thing was happening a lot during Jesus’ ministry. Wealth – and therefore wealthy people with [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-23T16:31:31-04:00June 30th, 2026|Historical Jesus|

How Did Jesus and His Disciples Get Enough to Eat?

How did Jesus and his disciples support themselves? They left their families, homes, and jobs, to engage in a life of itineracy, preaching about the coming kingdom. But until it came, how did they survive? Specifically, how did they eat? I don’t recall ever seeing any extended discussion of the question in a scholarly (or a popular) book or article. If one of you has, let me know. It seems like an obvious question, and I suppose most people think there is an obvious answer. There may be (I can think of three), but it’s worth thinking about in greater depth. One very BIG problem about understanding the historical Jesus (I confront this all the time) is that nearly everyone (including lots of scholars) seems to assume that modern common sense – both in our minds and our actions – would have been common sense in the time and place of Jesus. And so scholars (and people who read them) talk about Jesus being middle class, or having a summer home around Bethlehem, [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-22T11:05:55-04:00June 28th, 2026|Historical Jesus|

The Execution of Pontius Pilate for Killing Jesus (!)

In my previous post I explained and provided a translation of the intriguing apocryphal letter that Pontius Pilate (allegedly) wrote to the Emperor Tiberius to explain why he had crucified the Son of God. Later, another Christian author wrote a fictional account of what happened next. Tiberius did not take kindly to Pilate's horrible crime and ... well, it ends up not going well for the governor of Judea. But on the upside ... he converts! Here is my introduction to the text and a fresh translation of it from the Greek, as found in the collection of apocryphal Gospels I did with my colleague Zlatko Plese, The Other Gospels (Oxford University Press). ****************************** Introduction The Handing Over of Pilate (Paradosis Pilati) The “Handing Over of Pilate” is a fictitious account of Pilate being recalled to Rome and censured by the Emperor Tiberius for his role in having the divine man, Jesus, crucified. Pilate pays the ultimate price for his heinous behavior by being beheaded--but only after he has repented of his [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-20T20:48:35-04:00June 27th, 2026|Christian Apocrypha, Public Forum|

A Blog Dinner In Central London July 15. Wanna Come?

I’m in London for a bit just now, as is my summer wont, currently enjoying the heatwave (96 degrees without air conditioning!), as all you other London and thereabouts residents are! But this too shall pass. And so.... I would love to have a blog dinner in central London with anyone who can make it, hopefully in cooler conditions, on the evening of Wednesday July 15. Would you be interested? I’ll probably start around 6:00 or so for a pint with whomever is interested in quenching thirst before satisfying hunger, and then head over to dinner at 7:00 or so. Location TBD -- but somewhere relatively interesting and easy to get to. You interested? My plan 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 [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-26T07:05:55-04:00June 26th, 2026|Public Forum|

Did Pontius Pilate Write a Letter Explaining Why He Crucified Jesus?

I was recently asked about a letter allegedly written by Pontius Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius, explaining why he crucified the Son of God. Outside of academic circles, this apocryphal letter is not well known. For that matter, it's not well known even within academic circles. Most New Testament scholars don't know it exists. But it does! It is part of a group of texts that scholars (the ones who study these things) sometimes call the "Pilate Gospels." There are a number of these writings -- all of them legendary/apocryphal, of course. This particular letter is called the Anaphora Pilati (= The Report of Pilate) . I made a new translation of the text from the Greek, along with a brief explanation of what it is all about, in the the book I co-edited with my colleague Zlatko Pleše, The Other Gospels. Here is the introduction (edited a bit) and translation. If you're interested in this kind of thing, check out the book itself! (in my next post I'll give Tiberius's [alleged] reply!) ****************************** Introduction The “Report” [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-20T20:37:20-04:00June 25th, 2026|Christian Apocrypha, Public Forum|

Jesus and the Gospel of John: Some Readers’ Good Questions

I've received some interesting and important questions involving the Gospel of John -- who actually wrote it and whether it's record of Jesus' claims to be divine are likely historical. Here are the questions an my attempts to answer QUESTION: I heard Mike Licona say the other day, that he seems to think Tertius wrote Romans in the same way a literate Greek-speaking secretary wrote the Gospel of John on behalf of John, the son of Zebedee. So strictly speaking, these are his words and the letter ought to be called, the Letter to the Romans according to Paul. What is your understanding of Rom 16:22 – ‘I Tertius, the writer of this letter, greet you in the Lord”? Was Tertius simply taking dictation or did he put his interpretation of Paul’s thoughts into words? RESPONSE: I’m afraid I don’t think Mike is right about this at all. Romans 16:22 certainly does come as a surprise to many modern readers of Romans. What?? Someone named Tertius wrote this letter? I thought [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-24T09:06:33-04:00June 24th, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

How Do You Publish a Book for a General Audience?
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How Do You Publish a Book for a General Audience?

Public Forum

How Do You Publish a Book for a General Audience?

In my previous post I talked about what it takes to write and publish a scholarly book. Most people who aren't scholars aren't thinking that way. They want to publish a book for a broader audience to get their ideas out there. How do you do that? These days it can be done relatively simply by self-publishing. I know almost nothing about how that works, other than that people do it all the time (more books get published that way than with trade-book publishers, I believe). But I can say something about what it takes to get a book published with a professional publisher. That, as it turns out, is really tricky, for reasons some people may not expect. It involves a weird Catch-22. In most academic fields -- whether astronomy or biblical studies -- trade books (that is, books for a broader readership) have normally been published by scholars who want to communicate with non-scholars. The problem is that most scholars are not particularly adept at doing that -- they have difficulty explaining their [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-20T20:40:21-04:00June 23rd, 2026|Public Forum|

The Realities of Publishing a Scholarly Book

One of the emails I get *all* the time is from authors who have written a book, or hope to write a book, who want to know how they can get a publisher to take a look at it. The short answer: it ain’t easy. Often the inquiry comes from someone who wants to publish a book for scholars to convince them to take a different view on a matter of scholarly importance. How does a someone get a publisher to publish a book like that? People don't like to hear this, but if you don't already have scholarly credentials an academic publisher will almost certainly (or at least extremely rarely) even consider your manuscript. And having the credentials, for a first-time author, almost always means having done advanced graduate level education in the field. I know a lot of authors who think that it’s not fair that they can’t get their books published “just because I don’t have a PhD.” It get that -- it must be hugely frustrating. But the problem is that [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-16T07:20:22-04:00June 21st, 2026|Public Forum|

Memory of My Past: My First Girlfriend and Jesus

Some of you have probably had this same experience. Now that I'm 70, I'm thinking about my past a lot more than ... in the past. The other day I was thinking about my life in high school soon after I had become a born-again Christian (an incredibly ignorant born-again Christian). One incident quickly came to mind. Before I became a gung-ho Christian, my first serious girlfriend was Linda, whom I met when we were starting our sophomore year in high school. She was funny, personable, attractive, intelligent, and Jewish. I’m not sure I had ever known a Jewish person before her. Now I don’t recall that we ever talked about religion, and looking back I suppose it’s not particularly surprising. She and her family certainly weren’t observant Jews and my uninformed sense is that they were completely secular. I don’t know if they went to synagogue or kept any of the holidays, but I kind-a doubt it. In any event, at that point in my life religion wasn’t really my main concern [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-16T07:12:09-04:00June 20th, 2026|Public Forum|

Did Paul Have an Exalted View of Himself?

Yesterday one of my fellow-travelers on a trip I'm taking wanted to talk about Paul and his self-image, and whether Paul had a rather (or extremely) exalted view of his own importance. I gave him one of my standard answers, that I think it's impossible to engage in a psychological analysis of a person's self-image when they lived millennia ago (it's certainly hard enough when they share our time and culture and we've known them for years). But it is possible to know, sometimes, what a person actually thought about themselves on some level. And however we evaluate the psychological elements involved, I do think it's safe to say that Paul saw himself as an important and inspired person in the history of the salvation of the world. Make of it what you will! Here's how I have explained it before, based on my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene (Oxford University Press), edited here for the occasion. ****************************** To make sense of how Paul’s conversion affected his actual life, not just his theology, [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-20T16:09:53-04:00June 18th, 2026|Paul and His Letters|

The Most Likely Capitalist Parable of Jesus?

Of all the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30; the same parable, with important differences, is the Parable of the Pounds in Luke 19:11-27), in my view, is the one most amenable to a capitalist interpretation – easily and often seen as an exhortation to invest one’s money to make money, at the highest possible rate. Even so, this, in my calculation (!), would be a serious misreading of the parable. It is indeed a parable that discusses money and investment at interest. But it is not about that at all. I’ll explain. But first, by way of summary (recall: a talent not a personal ability but a large unit of money): A man goes on a long journey and entrusts money to three of his slaves: five talents to one, two to another, one to the third. The first two invest the money at interest and double what they received. When the man returns, he showers them with praise for their stewardship. The third slave, however, [...]

BDEhrman2026-06-19T09:38:01-04:00June 17th, 2026|Historical Jesus|

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