BDEhrman, Author at The Bart Ehrman Blog - Page 14 of 207

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.

Three Common Misunderstandings of the Book of Revelation
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Three Common Misunderstandings of the Book of Revelation

Public Forum

Three Common Misunderstandings of the Book of Revelation

This post is directed to several widely held views about the book of Revelation that I think are probably wrong: Did the author make it so highly symbolic because he didn’t want the authorities to realize what he was saying for fear of reprisal? Does the book claim that non-believers will be consciously tormented forever in the Lake of Fire? Does it indicate that anyone who denies or alters a single one of its prophecies be damned forever (22:18-19)? I deal with these issues in my book The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction (Oxford University Press). Here’s what I say there: ****************************** The Book of Revelation as Underground Literature? Some readers of the book of Revelation have taken its mysterious symbols to suggest that it was “underground” literature. The symbolic language of the book, according to this interpretation, was used to keep the governing authorities from realizing that they themselves were under attack. There may be an element of truth in this view, but one might wonder whether a Roman administrator was [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-22T09:52:57-04:00October 28th, 2025|Public Forum|

Having Some Fun with 666!

As to the book of Revelation. And one of its best known mysteries, the Number of the Beast (the antiChrist figure), 666! Many moons ago I posted on how people in the modern period have interpreted 666 to refer to someone/something in their own day. When I was in college, books were published to prove conclusively that it referred to Henry Kissinger, or the Pope; later there were books on it referring to Gorbachov. Normally the guesses -- always wrong, need I point out -- have been politicians or public figures that the guesser despises. But that doesn't mean we can't see them as rather humorous. (Well, OK, I see most things as humorous....) I thought I'd repost the post, with the same caveat I made back then. As you know (I hope) , I try to keep my personal politics out of the blog (and I have a policy of not post overtly political comments, on either/any side). I want the blog to be open and welcoming to all people, whatever their political views [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-20T21:25:24-04:00October 26th, 2025|Public Forum, Revelation of John|

Questions on Jesus as God, the Belief in the Resurrection, Secretaries in Early Christianity, and the KJV!

Here are some of the scintillating questions I've received recently, on a range of topics, that I thought more readers would enjoy seeing, along with my responses. QUESTION: Dr. Ehrman, I read a number of your trade books (inc. How Jesus became God) and found it really interesting that you showed the increasing exaltation of Jesus toward his current state of being coequal with God. Your book mentioned the “how” behind this exaltation process but I wanted to hear from you if you knew the “why”. Why did early Christians feel the need to exalt Jesus to that level? Why not be content with understanding him as a divine servant of God (as what the Synoptics portrayed)? Were there theological difficulties with limiting Jesus to a divine servant? RESPONSE: My sense is that as Christians increasingly became amazed at the act of salvation Jesus brought they became increasingly convinced that he must have been even more amazing than they had first thought, and there was almost a competition among Christian believers [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-14T21:32:56-04:00October 25th, 2025|Reader’s Questions|

1 and 2 Peter and Jude “At a Glance,” and Questions for Reflection

1 Peter at a Glance 1 Peter claims to be written by Simon Peter, the close disciple of Jesus. Modern scholars have shown reasons to doubt this ascription. It may have been written in Peter’s name by a later Christian living near the end of the first century. If so, it is one of a number of early Christian pseudepigrapha allegedly written by Peter. The book is addressed to Christians in Asia Minor who have been experiencing persecution. The book is written to encourage them in their suffering, to explain why it is happening to them, and to urge them to remain faithful to God in the midst of it so that they may earn an eternal reward for their wrongful mistreatment. Questions for Reflection What do you think are the strongest arguments that 1 Peter was not actually written by Peter? Do you find these arguments convincing? Why or why not? In what ways does 1 Peter sound a lot like the teachings of Paul? Explain how a context of persecution [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-27T11:05:51-04:00October 23rd, 2025|Public Forum|

Hebrews and James: “At a Glance” and “Questions for Reflection”

I continue here with my posts that give brief bullet-point summaries of each book of the New Testament “At a Glance” along with questions for reflection to help think through some of the major issues each book presents. Here I cover the first two books of the “General (or Catholic) Epistles,” Hebrews and James. AT A GLANCE: Hebrews The book of Hebrews is anonymous, although it was eventually admitted into the canon by Christians who thought Paul had written it. Modern scholars are unified in thinking that he did not. The book was probably produced sometime near the end of the first century. It is frequently called an “epistle,” but it appears in fact to be a Christian homily or sermon—the earliest one we have, outside of those in the book of Acts. It is written for a group of Christians who have experienced persecution. Despite the book’s title (“To the Hebrews”), the recipients appear to have been Gentiles. The author’s purpose is to convince his listeners not to convert to Judaism. [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-14T21:24:25-04:00October 23rd, 2025|Public Forum|

Lecturing on a Cruise up the Coast of Norway to Svalbard. Wanna Go With Me?

Some of you have asked when / where my next lecture tour would be, and now I've decided. Sometimes I do kinda obvious ones (Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, etc.) and sometimes less obvious (or, well, unexpected) ones because ... I've never done them before. And so this time. It's supposed to be flippin' amazing. A cruise from Bergen Norway up the gorgeous coast to Svalbard and check out the polar bears (and lots of other things). It'll be this June. I'll be lecturing on a topic of key interest for anyone connected with the blog. (It will not be related to Polar Bears; others will be doing that. 'Cause we'll be seeing them). Wanna come? I'll be giving out more information anon, but for now, here is the description that I've written for the forthcoming brochure. Give it some thought for now, with more details coming soon. ****************************** On June 1-14, 2026, I’ll be giving lectures on a cruise traveling up the western coast of Norway to the incredible Svalbard [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-20T21:28:47-04:00October 22nd, 2025|Public Forum|

Understanding the Book of Revelation as an Apocalypse
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Understanding the Book of Revelation as an Apocalypse

Revelation of John

Understanding the Book of Revelation as an Apocalypse

In my previous post I tried to explain that the Apocalypse of John, as bizarre and weird and unfathomable as it may seem to most modern readers, would not have seemed that way at all to ancient readers who were accustomed to the ways “apocalypses” (Jewish and Christian) actually worked. These readers may have had trouble getting their minds around science fiction novels or limerick poems, but apocalypses were something they knew. Since Revelation was written as an apocalypse, it followed most of the expected protocols of apocalypses, as I described these in the previous posts: As I explain in my book The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction (Oxford University Press), it is a firsthand account written by a prophet who has been shown a vision of heaven that explains the realities of earth, a vision that is mediated by angels and full of bizarre and mysterious symbolism. The nature of the book is indicated at the outset in the magnificent vision of the exalted Christ that the prophet describes in chapter [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-20T21:07:22-04:00October 21st, 2025|Revelation of John|

Personal Annoucement: My Retirement from the University

Teaching has long been a passion of mine, even before I took my first university position at Rutgers in 1984, gulp, forty-one years ago. After four years there I moved to Chapel Hill and have taught in the Religious Studies Department here since 1988. And now I have decided it is time for me to retire. This semester will be my last. As of January 1, 2026, I will be gainfully unemployed. At least, at the university. I will still be engaging – actually, having more time to pursue – my other academic interests: my research and publications (Books!), the Blog, and what we originally called BEPS (my company, co-owned with Chris Huntley, that produces online courses, holds conferences, provides consultation services, and so on; if you don’t know about it, see my website bartehrman.com). In short, now that I’m moving out of the ABC’s it will be almost entirely the BBB’s (Books, Blog, BEPS). Well, not exactly. In addition I will also be able to put more attention to those things that matter most [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-20T08:58:21-04:00October 20th, 2025|Public Forum|

Revelation is an Apocalypse. What Is An Apocalypse?

To most modern readers, the Apocalypse of John seems mystical and bizarre, quite unlike anything else that they have read or, well, want to read. In part, this explains some (other) peoples’ fascination with the book—it is so strange, so unearthly, that its descriptions cannot simply have been dreamt up. Its supernatural feel seems to vindicate its supernatural character. The historian who approaches the book, however, sees it in a somewhat different light, for this was not the only book of its kind to be written in the ancient world, even if it is the only one that most of us have ever read. As with all genres (novels, epic poems, short stories, limericks) apocalypses shared a number of literary conventions that made them different from other kinds of writing. If you understand these conventions, you will be much better equipped to understand this particular book in light of them. In this post I’ll explain what those conventions were and in the next I’ll show how they help shape the book of Revelation. [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-14T21:05:27-04:00October 19th, 2025|Revelation of John|

The Book of Revelation: When and Why?

In my previous posts I have given a sketch of what the book of Revelation (AKA the Apocalypse of John) is all about, and discussed who actually wrote it (some fellow named John, but not John the son of Zebedee). Now we can move into the question of when it was written and why. I have taken this account from my textbook The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press). ****************************** As with all the apocalypses of the ancient world, it is important to situate the Revelation of John in some kind of historical context to make sense of its bizarre symbolism. There are hints scattered throughout the book that portions of it were written in the time of the emperor Nero (in the early 60s C.E.), although the final product is usually dated to the end of the first century, around the year 95 C.E. or so, during the reign of the emperor Domitian. It is clear from the letters written to the seven churches in Revelation chapters [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-14T20:50:47-04:00October 18th, 2025|Revelation of John|

The Book of Revelation: Who Wrote It?

Now that I have summarized the book of Revelation – it’s not that difficult to follow the basic structure of the narrative -- we get to the thorny questions of who wrote it, when, and why. In this post we deal with the WHO. The author of Revelation certainly claims to be John (1:1), but there were numerous “Johns” in the early Christian community. Which one was he? He does give some information about himself (1:9): he is the “brother” of the Christians he is addressing and he shares their tribulation as he writes to them from the island of Patmos, off the west coast of Asia Minor. Since his readers knew him, he had no need to explain any further who he was. Later readers, however, have tried to figure out his identity. John was a common name in Jewish circles, and eventually became a name taken up by non-Jewish Christians It is important to recognize that this John does not claim to be any particular John. He does not, for instance, [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-14T20:44:21-04:00October 16th, 2025|Revelation of John|

Why Most People Who Read Revelation Are Wrong About It
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Why Most People Who Read Revelation Are Wrong About It

Revelation of John

Why Most People Who Read Revelation Are Wrong About It

I’m going to spend a few posts explaining what the book of “Revelation” is actually “revealing,” but first I want to explain what it is NOT revealing. It is not revealing what is to happen soon, in our own day, as fundamentalist readers (just about the only ones who read the book in any detail) have repeatedly claimed (insisted!) for the past 200 years. Just last week there was another fundamentalist scare: the rapture is gonna happen soon! Hey, read the book of Revelation, it SAYS so!! Yeah, no it ain’t gonna happen soon and no, Revelation does not say so. It’s about something else. Who knew? Well, critical scholars for one. And anyone who follows all these doomsday predictions and predictors for another. Here’s (part of) what I say about it in my book Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End (Simon & Schuster, 2022). ****************************** It can be amusing for non-fundamentalist readers who first encounter modern prophecy books (which are written to show how the Bible predicts how the [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-14T20:32:05-04:00October 15th, 2025|Revelation of John|

The Book of Revelation in a Nutshell

We are fast approaching the end of this series on “The New Testament in a Nutshell,” in which I explain in summary fashion each book of the Christian (“new”) Scriptures. As is natural, we end with the final book of the New Testament which, as is also natural, is a detailed account of how the world as we know it will end, the book of Revelation. (Please note! It is not "Revelations" but "Revelation.") The Revelation of John, also known as the Apocalypse of John or just the Apocalypse (“apocalypse” is the Greek word for the Latin term “revelation” – both mean an “unveiling,” a “disclosure,” a revealing”) is the most mystifying and at-first-glance bizarre book of the New Testament, one of the the least read (people generally find it too strange), and the most widely misunderstood (since those who *do* read it take it to mean something other than it does). If I were to summarize it in fifty words, I could probably do worse (and better, for that matter) than this: [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-16T23:27:29-04:00October 13th, 2025|Revelation of John|

Four More Intriguing Topics on the Historical Jesus

The previous post provided a summary of the first four lectures given by internationally known historical Jesus scholars at our New Insights Into the New Testament conference at the end of September (the summary was produced by Marko Marina, in advance of the lectures). The second day of the conference also had four lectures, by Paula Fredriksen (Boston University emerita and Hebrew University of Jerusalem), Me (UNC Chapel Hill), James Tabor (UNC-Charlotte, emeritus), and A.J. Levine (Hartford International University and Vanderbilt University, emerita). Well, sort of. James Tabor was in Athens and his Internet went a bit haywire, so he had to record his talk later -- it is included in the recording of the conference. In its place, I gave a rather impromptu additional talk (on whether Jesus was probably literate). Here are Marko's summaries of the lectures, made in advance of the conference itself: Dr. Paula Fredriksen: Turning the Tables on the ‘Purification’ of the Temple All scholarship, as the saying goes, stands on the shoulders of those who came before. [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-09T10:34:48-04:00October 12th, 2025|Historical Jesus, Public Forum|

Four Intriguing Topics in the Study of the Historical Jesus

The previous two posts explained why scholars have such difficulty using the Gospels as historical sources, as explained by early Christianity scholar Marko Marina (see more about him here: https://tragoviproslosti.eu/about-me/). This primer was mean to set the stage for the eight lectures given by a range of internationally known historical Jesus scholars at our New Insights Into the New Testament conference at the end of September. Marko ALSO provided overviews of what the lectures would be about and why he thought the topics were important. Here is what he said about the first four (to be continued in the next post), the lectures given by Mark Goodacre (Duke University), Helen Bond (University of Edinburgh), Dale Allison (Princeton Theological Seminary, emeritus), and Joel Marcus (Duke Divinity School, emeritus): Dr. Mark Goodacre: The Missing Pieces in the Quest for the Historical Jesus I think it was Martin Hengel who once estimated that nearly 80 percent of early Christian literature has been lost to history. That observation resonates strongly with anyone working in the field of antiquity: much of [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-09T10:26:51-04:00October 11th, 2025|Public Forum|

Problems with the Gospels: A Primer for the Study of the Historical Jesus (Part 2)

This now is the second part of the Primer on the Historical Jesus prepared by Marko Marina, which deals head on with the hardest question of all: how do scholars deal with the Gospels of the New Testament "critically" (not "criticizing" them but providing an honest assessment of their historical value) Marko provides a very clear summary and set of insights, as you'll see: To Begin With For me as a historian, it’s self-evident that no narrative source from the ancient world can be taken at face value. All texts reflect the perspectives, interests, and cultural assumptions of their authors -- even ones that are discussing historical events. This is all the more true for writings that come from a time and place so distant from our own. When we turn to the canonical Gospels from a historical perspective, we must therefore be prepared to recognize both their immense value and their serious limitations. Canonical Gospels and Their Historical Value On the side of value, the Gospels remain our earliest extended narratives [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-09T17:20:38-04:00October 9th, 2025|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, History of Biblical Scholarship|

A Primer for the Study of the Historical Jesus: Our Non-Gospel Sources

As some of you know, my recording company, Paths in Biblical Studies (PBS) which normally produces online courses (www.bartehrman.com) held its third annual New Insights Into the New Testament (NINT) live/remote/recorded conference last week. The topic was the Historical Jesus, and we had eight speakers along with a keynote address by Elaine Pagels (you can see it all here: https://www.bartehrman.com/new-insights-into-the-new-testament-conference-2025/_) About a week prior to the event I realized (duh...) that some in the audience may not know a number of the fundamental critical issues that scholars have to deal with when broaching the topic. And so we asked Marko Marina, an early Christianity specialist who writes online articles and does sundry other things for us at PBS, to write up a "Primer" to explain what scholars who work to unpack what Jesus really said and did have to confront when taking on the task (so that viewers would not think: "Well, why don't they just read the Gospels and see?") Marko produced a primer to set the stage for the conference [...]

BDEhrman2025-10-07T08:37:16-04:00October 8th, 2025|Historical Jesus, Public Forum|

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

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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|

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