BDEhrman, Author at The Bart Ehrman Blog - Page 19 of 180

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.

Platinum Webinar! Forgiveness vs. Atonement

Dear Platinum members, It is time (finally!) for our quarterly Platinum webinar, for you Plats only. We have scheduled it for Wednesday March 15, 7:30 pm EST. I have decided to delve into a topic that you (or at least I) almost NEVER hear about: the difference between forgiveness and atonement. This difference plays a significant role in early Christianity, even though, so far as I know, no early Christian talks about it or even seems to recognize it. And it marks a very big difference between the teachings of Jesus and the preaching of his followers after his death. It matters a lot for understanding how "salvation" works AND for understanding interpersonal relations. All this will be part of the next book I'm working on, and I've never made a presentation on it! I'd like to try my ideas out on you. Wanna come? Come! Here's the Zoom link. I'm looking forward to it! https://unc.zoom.us/j/99912549124?pwd=NnNsSDRGbVlBWDA4MFFNUXJBS0taZz09 Bart

BDEhrman2023-03-20T13:04:11-04:00March 7th, 2023|Public Forum|

Revelation — A Novel. Guest Post Announcing Publication, by Gary McCarragher
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Revelation — A Novel. Guest Post Announcing Publication, by Gary McCarragher

Book Discussions, Public Forum

Revelation — A Novel. Guest Post Announcing Publication, by Gary McCarragher

Just now published, here is a novel about a New Testament scholar named Bart, at a major university in the South, who comes from a fundamentalist background and continues running up against it. But this Bart's story ain't mine. As a novel, this is a fictional narrative, which does, however, deal with issues that I and many of you have confronted and dealt with at length: how to come to grips with a historical understanding of the New Testament when coming from an evangelical world, a world still inhabited by those we love. Gary McCarragher is a blog member, a physician, and award-winning author. He contacted me a couple of years ago to see if I'd be willing to consult with him on his novel. As some of you know, I run a writing consultation service off my website (unconnected with the blog) for authors of fiction and nonfiction, screenwriters, and playwrights. Gary and I had a number of sessions about his work, and it has resulted now in this novel, Revelation . I found [...]

BDEhrman2023-03-06T11:30:48-05:00March 7th, 2023|Book Discussions, Public Forum|

March Gold Q&A: Submit your questions!

Dear Goldies, Our monthly Gold Q&A is coming upon us. DEADLINE for your question(s): this coming Friday, March 10, midnight your time. Interested in anything I can deal with? Now's your chance: Ask away! I'm more likely to answer questions that are relatively short and to the point than those that go on for a long paragraph. So be concise. I'll answer as the spirit leads. To enter your question on to the list: send it to Diane at [email protected] My plan is to record the session sometime over the few days after that. I will probably send out a note indicating when that'll be a day or so ahead of time in case any of you want to listen in live. So, let me hear what you're curious about and I'll do my best to respond! BDE

BDEhrman2023-05-01T16:12:36-04:00March 6th, 2023|Public Forum|

The Voice at Jesus’ Baptism–An Intriguing Version in the Gospel of the Ebionites

Last week in my class on "Jesus in Scholarship and Film" we were discussing the intriguing little fact that when Jesus is baptized, the voice of God that comes from heaven to call him his Son says different things in each of the three Synoptic Gospels (there is no voice in the Gospel of John). How does one explain that? It made me think of the Gospel of the Ebionites, and I started wondering if I ever talked about it on the blog. It turns out the answer is yes. Here is a post devoted to it, from years ago -- which begins with a general discussion of it along with two other "Jewish-Christian Gospels," and ends with a description of its rather clever way of reconciling the three accounts of the voice from heaven. ****************************** Yesterday in my graduate seminar we spent three hours analyzing the three so-called “Jewish-Christian Gospels.” These are very tricky texts to deal with. We don’t have any manuscripts of them – even small fragments. They come to us, instead, [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-21T11:05:21-05:00March 5th, 2023|Public Forum|

Is the Gospel of Mark in Papias Our Gospel of Mark?

Can we trust a source such as Papias on the question of whether our Gospel of Matthew was written by the disciple Matthew and that our Gospel of Mark was written by Mark, the companion of the disciple Peter? It is interesting that Papias tells a story that is recorded in our Matthew but tells it so completely differently that it appears he doesn’t know Matthew’s version. And so when he says Matthew wrote Matthew, is he referring to *our* Matthew, or to some other book? (Recall, the Gospel he refers to is a collection of Jesus’ sayings in Hebrew; the Gospel of Matthew that *we* have is a narrative, not a collection of sayings, and was written in Greek.) If he *is* referring to our Matthew, why doesn’t he see it as an authoritative account? Here's the conflicting story. It involves the death of Judas. And it’s quite a story! Here is my translation of it from my edition, The Apostolic Fathers (Loeb Classical Library, vol. 1; 2004). But Judas went about in this [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-26T12:40:53-05:00March 4th, 2023|Canonical Gospels, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|

Who Wrote the Gospels? Our Earliest (Apparent) Reference

I have begun to discuss the evidence provided by the early church father Papias that Mark was actually written by Mark. He appears to be the first source to say so. Does he? And if so, is he right? Here’s how I begin to discuss these matters in my book Jesus Before the Gospels (edited a bit here). ****************************** Papias is often taken as evidence that at least two of the Gospels, Matthew and Mark, were called by those names already several decades after they were in circulation. Papias was a Christian author who is normally thought to have been writing around 120 or 130 CE. His major work was a five-volume discussion of the teachings of Jesus, called Exposition of the Sayings of the Lord. [1] It is much to be regretted that we no longer have this book. We don’t know exactly why later scribes chose not to copy it, but it is commonly thought that the book was either uninspiring, naïve, or theologically questionable. Later church fathers who talk about Papias and [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-21T11:23:55-05:00March 2nd, 2023|Canonical Gospels, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|

Did Mark Write Mark? What the Apostolic Fathers Say

Did Mark write Mark? A couple of weeks ago I did an eight-lecture course on the Gospel of Mark for my separate (unrelated to the blog) venture, a series of courses on “How Historians Read the Bible” (the courses are available on my website: www.bartehrman.com). It was a blast. One of the things I loved about doing it was that I was able to read and reread scholarship on Mark and I learned some things I had long wondered about, and re-learned other things that I used to know. One of the things I had to think seriously about for the first time in some years was the question of why church fathers in the second century (but when?) began claiming that our second Gospel was written by John Mark, allegedly a secretary for the apostle Peter. That took me straight back to the question of the reliability of an early Christian writer named Papias (writing around 120 or 130 CE?). Papias gets used all the time as proof that Mark wrote Mark. Conservative Christian [...]

BDEhrman2023-03-01T16:20:35-05:00March 1st, 2023|Canonical Gospels, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|

Vote for your favorite Platinum Post

Dear Platinum Members, It is time to vote on your favorite Platinum guest posts to go on to the blog at large. We've had some dandy submissions over the past two months. Here are the four options. To vote, send the name of your choice to Diane, at [email protected]. Your DEADLINE: Saturday midnight (your time), March 4. She will tally the results and I will inform the lucky winner. Remember: you too can submit a Platinum post. Have any ideas/thoughts you'd like to bounce off a group of very generous and interested readers? It doesn't have to be brilliant or scholarly: just whatever you feel like addressing connected to the blog. If you're interested, zap one to me! If you have questions, let me know. January 13, 2023 Paul and the Gospels Ryan Fleming January 30, 2023 Recreational Drugs in the New Testament? Doug Wadeson February 3, 2023 Was the Roman Soldier Pantera Jesus’ Father? His Cousin? Omar Robb February 10, 2023 Why Do Muslims Deny that Jesus Was Crucified? Imran M. Usmani [...]

BDEhrman2023-03-01T10:18:09-05:00February 28th, 2023|Public Forum|

The End of the World Means the End of Sex. Guest Post by Daniel Kohanski

Here now is the third post by Platinum blog member Daniel Kohanski, based on his recently published book A God of our Invention. This one should grab your attention! **************************** From its beginnings, Christianity has had theological difficulties with human sexuality. In this edited excerpt from my latest book, A God of Our Invention: How Religion Shaped the Western World, I lay out what I believe are some of the reasons for this. --------------------------------------------------------------- The first Christian commentator that we have record of, the Apostle Paul, was also the first to recommend that Christians avoid sexual activity and stay celibate. “To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is well for them to remain unmarried as I am” (1 Cor. 7:8). Still, he did accept that not all were capable of it. He advised the Corinthians that if a man “thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his fiancée, if his passions are strong, and so it has to be, let him marry as he wishes; it is no sin” (1 [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-22T12:04:30-05:00February 28th, 2023|Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE), Sex and Sexuality in the Bible|

Do We Suffer Because We Have “Free Will”?

In my previous posts I discussed a class I once taught at Rutgers University on how the various biblical authors deal with the problem of suffering – the problem of how there can be such horrible suffering in a world that is said to be controlled by an all-loving and all-powerful God (who therefore wants the best for people and is able to provide it). Many of my students, as I pointed out, think that there’s an easy answer: we suffer because of “free will.” If we weren’t free to love and hate, to do good and do harm, we would just be robots or computers, not humans. If God wanted to create humans, as opposed to machines, necessarily we have to be free to hurt others. And many people do so, often in horrendous ways. Does that solve the problem? Naturally we dealt with that issue in my class. Here is how I discussed those conversations in my book on suffering, God’s Problem: How The Bible Fails to Answer our Most Important Question – [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-22T12:12:39-05:00February 26th, 2023|Public Forum|

Why Would Evolving Beliefs about Sin Lead to the Idea of an Afterlife? Guest Post by Daniel Kohanski

Last Week I published the first of three guest posts by blog member Daniel Kohanski, based on a book that he recently published that will be of interest to many blog readers. Here now is the second post. ****************************** Apocryphile Press has just published my latest book, A God of Our Invention: How Religion Shaped the Western World (https://apocryphilepress.com/book/a-god-of-our-invention-how-religion-shaped-the-western-world/). The book first examines how the western world’s idea of God developed, from the Israelite worship of many gods, Yahweh included, through the first centuries of Christianity. It then looks at how that idea of God has impacted the way we deal with sex, war, and death, and how the belief that Jesus is coming back has interfered with our ability to handle crises. Here is an edited excerpt from the first part of the book, exploring how the Jews first came to believe in judgment after death. (I’ve relied on some of Bart’s books, and other scholars, for some of this material, but omitted the references for space reasons.) --------------------------------------------------------------- In the days of [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-27T20:08:14-05:00February 25th, 2023|Afterlife, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|

Exciting Lecture: Archaeological Finds (Artwork!) in an Ancient Galilean Synagogue

Now *this* will be a great event. My UNC colleague Jodi Magness is one of the premier archaeologists of ancient Israel in the world. She started her career on a dig at Masada (the Roman army camps!) and for the past twelve years has run a dig in a village in Galilee called Huqoq. Her findings have been extraordinary, far beyond what anyone could hope for. Her team uncovered a (fifth-century) synagogue and discovered amazing mosaics unlike anything known before -- pictorial art, depicting humans (possibly Alexander the Great) and biblical scenes (Samson!). Pictorial art in a *synagogue*?!? What?? If you read National Geographic, you'll know about these discoveries: her dig is featured in the magazine nearly every year. This coming Wednesday, March 1, 6:00 pm Jodi will be giving an online lecture with slides about their most recent finds. I'll be hosting the event. It will not be recorded. There is no charge, though it is a fund-raiser for my department to help provide research funds for our graduate students (donations are voluntary). Below [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-25T10:58:15-05:00February 24th, 2023|Early Judaism, Public Forum|

Seeing the Problem of Suffering as a PROBLEM

In my previous post I began to talk about how thinkers in the Jewish and Christian traditions have wrestled with the problem of suffering. I indicated that the technical term for this “problem” is “theodicy,” and it is often said to involve the status of three assertions which all are typically thought to be true by those in these two religions, but if true appear to contradict one another. The assertions are these: God is all-powerful. God is all-loving. There is suffering. How can all three be true at once? If God is all powerful, then he is able to do whatever he wants (and can therefore remove suffering). If he is all loving, then he obviously wants the best for people (and therefore does not want them to suffer). And yet people suffer. How can that be explained? As I pointed out some thinkers have tried to deny one or the other of the assertions: either God is not actually all powerful, or he is not all loving, or there is no suffering. But [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-13T11:09:27-05:00February 23rd, 2023|Public Forum|

Is Suffering a “Problem” for Believers?

This past week I had a long talk with one of my bright undergraduates, a first-year student who had been raised in a Christian context but had come to have serious doubts driven in large part by the difficulty she had understanding how there could be suffering in a world controlled by an all-knowing and all-powerful God. I naturally resonated with the question, since this is why I myself left the Christian faith. I get asked about that transition a lot, and it’s been five or six years since I’ve discussed it at any length on the blog. So I thought I might return to it. The one and only time I”ve talked about it at length is in my book God’s Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer our Most Important Question – Why We Suffer (Oxford University Press, 2008). Here is how I discuss it there, slightly edited. (This will take several posts) ******************************* I think I know when suffering started to become a “problem” for me. It was while I was still [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-13T11:21:17-05:00February 22nd, 2023|Bart’s Biography, Reflections and Ruminations|

Wait, Was Jesus Married? Guest Post by Kyle Smith

This is now the second guest post by Kyle Smith, scholar of early Christianity, on a hot topic related to his recently published book. Kyle is Associate Professor and Director of the History of Religions Program at the University of Toronto. An award-winning teacher, he is the author or coauthor of five books about Christian saints and martyrs, including Cult of the Dead: A Brief History of Christianity (University of California Press, 2022). You can find him on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and the Peloton @kylesmithTO. ****************************** Few characterizations of Jesus’s life have spurred as much intrigue (and outrage) as the idea that he might’ve been married. In 2012, before it was discredited as a forgery, a scrap of papyrus inscribed with a few lines of Coptic set off a media furor when reports emerged that it quoted Jesus as saying, “My wife …” Conveniently, the rest was cut off. Despite the abiding popularity of books like The Da Vinci Code, which might lead one to think otherwise, there is no scholarly debate over whether Jesus [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-13T11:29:18-05:00February 21st, 2023|Book Discussions, Canonical Gospels, History of Christianity (100-300CE)|

How Does Something “Mean”
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How Does Something “Mean”

Public Forum

How Does Something “Mean”

One morning recently, at the crack of dawn, I was walking my dog when I saw my neighbor Sally walk across the street and pick up the newspaper from my neighbor Jane’s driveway, and head back to her house. I thought WHOA! Sally is stealing Jane’s paper! I bet her own paper didn’t get delivered this morning! Interesting and a bit amusing. But Sally she stopped in her own driveway and picked up her (identical) paper, and I suddenly realized, OH! Jane must be gone for a few days and Sally is picking up her paper so it won’t be obvious she’s away. Sally wasn’t doing something slightly nasty but something very neighborly. And it made me think how the *context* of an action is completely determinative of its meaning. The very same action, in a different context, means something different and can have, in fact, precisely the opposite moral worth. Naturally, I started thinking about other actions along these lines. ‘Cause that’s the kind of thing I do when I walk my dog. What [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-23T11:10:34-05:00February 19th, 2023|Public Forum|

Is It A Sin To Be Transgender? Platinum guest post by Douglas Wadeson MD

I am very pleased to publish this guest post on what the Bible might have to say about people who are transgender. Most people probably assume they know, or at least can surmise. Well, read on. The post is by Douglas Wadeson, a Platinum member of the blog. As you probably know, Platinum members are allowed to publish posts (just) for other p\Platinum members, and after a several come in then they all vote on which one goes onto the blog itself. This one is the winner from the past batch (BTW: it was running against three other posts that were also *terrific*). If you would like to get in on this action -- and create a blog post yourself (for example, taking a *different* point of view to this post or to any of mine, or simply posting about what you're interested in) -- check out the Platinum level of membership (click JOIN and you'll see); there are other nice benefits as well, including a quarterly webinar that I do with Platinum members. Here [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-23T11:19:21-05:00February 18th, 2023|Public Forum, Sex and Sexuality in the Bible|

Analyzing the Prophecies in Daniel 7, 2 and 9. Platinum Guest Post by Omar Abur-Robb

Here Omar Abdul-Robb takes on a brave task -- interpreting the apocalyptic predictions of Daniel chapters 2, 7, and 9. Have you read these chapters? Do so! It's one of the easiest ways of blowing your mind while staying within the bounds of legality. The interpretation of these passages has been highly contested since antiquity. Here is Omar's attempt (see http://www.omr-mhmd.yolasite.com) Comments/questions? Send them along! ****************************** 1# I am going to discuss here the prophecies of Danial in chapters 7, 2 and 9, and I am going to argue that there are some right predictions there, which are mixed with so many wrong ones. Therefore, we cannot say that these prophecies have a divine origin as they are mixed with so many wrong predictions. But also, we cannot ignore the conclusion that there are some impressive predictions. So, I am going here to suggest a philosophical model to explain the mix in these prophecies. 2# We can clearly conclude that the prophesy in Danial chapter 11 (the north and south kings) was a man-made [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-01T12:49:47-05:00February 17th, 2023|Public Forum|

Is Christianity a Cult of the Dead? Guest Post by Kyle Smith, PhD

Now here's an intriguing topic I bet you've never thought about. Can you (should we?) consider early Christianity -- and in fact Christianity as a whole, as a "cult of the dead"? Kyle Smith is an associate professor and director of the History of Religions program in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto (See: Kyle Smith | Department of Historical Studies (utoronto.ca). I have known Kyle for many years, since he was a PhD student in early Chrsitianity at Duke. Since then he has become a well-known scholar of Christianity in late antiquity, who already now at a relatively young age (compared to us geezers) has published six books. (Not sure if you know this, but many, many senior scholars publish only two or three for their entire careers.) Five of them are hard-hitting scholarship. His most recent one is for a general audience, Cult of the Dead: A Brief History of Christianity (University of California Press, 2022). I think it's unusually interesting. I thought it would be extremely interesting to [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-06T19:32:26-05:00February 16th, 2023|Book Discussions, Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE), History of Christianity (100-300CE)|

What Did Judas Betray, and Why Did He Do It?

In my previous post I indicated that there are several things we can say with relative certainly about the historical Judas Iscariot (and indicated why I think we can be pretty sure about all of them): he really existed, he was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, he was therefore an apocalyptic Jew from Palestine, and he really did hand Jesus over to the authorities to be arrested. But what is it exactly that Judas did that led to Jesus’ arrest, and why did he do it? Here we move from the grounds of relative historical certainty to issues of probability and speculation. The question of Judas’s motives for his act has intrigued Christians from the time before our earliest sources and continues to intrigue scholars today. The reality is that any discussion of motive is almost entirely speculative. If you can’t accurately describe my motives in writing this particular blog thread the way I have – and I can assure you, you don’t know my motives (and even if I *told* you, you couldn't be [...]

BDEhrman2023-02-13T18:55:11-05:00February 15th, 2023|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

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