BDEhrman, Author at The Bart Ehrman Blog - Page 22 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.

Can We Trust the Bible? The First Published (as opposed to Printed) Greek New Testament
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Can We Trust the Bible? The First Published (as opposed to Printed) Greek New Testament

History of Biblical Scholarship, New Testament Manuscripts, Public Forum

Can We Trust the Bible? The First Published (as opposed to Printed) Greek New Testament

In this thread on Bible translation, I have been talking about what it is translators of the New Testament actually translate. In order to answer the question, I have had to explain how we started to get printed editions of the Greek New Testament, including the first to come off the printing press, the Complutensian Polyglot (discussed in yesterday’s post). Today I take the discussion a step further, to talk about the first published (not the first printed!) Greek New Testament. Again, the discussion is taken from my book Misquoting Jesus. ****************************** The First Published Edition of the Greek New Testament Even though the Complutensian Polyglot was the first printed edition of the Greek New Testament, it was not the first published version. As I pointed out, even though the work was printed by 1514, it did not actually see the light of published day until 1522. Between those two dates a famous and enterprising Dutch scholar, the humanist intellectual Desiderius Erasmus, both produced and published an edition of the Greek New Testament, receiving the [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-10T10:56:50-05:00January 10th, 2023|History of Biblical Scholarship, New Testament Manuscripts, Public Forum|

My All-Time Favorite Jesus Movie. Wanna Discuss It With Me?

Here's a reminder about a first-time-ever blog event, coming soon. Interested? Here's the original announcement. ************************* People often ask me what my favorite “Jesus Movie” is, and they almost never expect my answer. For me it’s hands down. A clear forerunner. A movie most people have never heard of, but in my opinion, the best of all time: “Jesus of Montreal.” This is not just my favorite Jesus movie of all time but one of my very favorite movies of any kind of all time. Want to watch it and then have a discussion about it with me? This will be our first ever Blog Movie Club event (BMC)! The main event, the discussion with me, will be on Sunday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 pm EST. The Movie Club viewing will not be that day, but before; and you have two (well three!) massively convenient options. You can: Watch it on your own at your leisure. Join other blog members in watching it simultaneously in silence, with a brief introduction and discussion afterward (without me) led [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-18T12:39:32-05:00January 9th, 2023|Public Forum|

What Is a Viable Christian Theology? Platinum Guest Post by Joel Scheller

Here is a thoughtful and interesting guest post by fellow Platinum member Joel Scheller. It deals with something we don't get a lot of on the blog -- reflections on what actually would be an adequate approach to theology by modern, sophisticated believers. Even if you're not a believer, there is a lot of food for thought here. The title Joel gives to it will make sense when you start reading. It's an interesting conundrum: in what is Christian theology to be rooted? John Wesley had ideas about it -- and that is certainly interesting historically. The system has come to be known as the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. OK, what's it all about and is it time to rethink it within the Methodist tradition? As an outsider I find it a fascinating question. Here are Joel's reflections. ****************************** Is it Time to Revisit the Wesleyan Quadrilateral? The Wesleyan Quadrilateral, a termed coined by American Methodist Albert Outler, is a reflection of what John Wesley viewed as the structural elements that inform theology. Those elements, as listed in [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-06T11:51:42-05:00January 9th, 2023|Public Forum|

Can We Trust the Bible? The First Printed Greek New Testament

I have started to explain what it is translators of the New Testament actually translate. They do not translate just one manuscript or another; they translate what they take to be the “original” text as it has been reconstructed by textual specialists (some of whom are the translators themselves). These reconstructions can be found in printed editions of the Greek New Testament. To make sense of what the translators actually have in front of them when they are translating, I need to give a brief history of the printing of the Greek New Testament. To that end I will provide in two or three posts the directly relevant material given in my book Misquoting Jesus. I’ve always thought this is unusually interesting information connected to “how we got our Bible.” I start at the beginning, with the invention of printing. ****************************** The text of the New Testament was copied in a fairly standardized form throughout the centuries of the Middle Ages, both in the East (the “Byzantine” text) and the West (the Latin Vulgate). It [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-08T07:08:04-05:00January 8th, 2023|History of Biblical Scholarship, New Testament Manuscripts|

What New Testament Do New Testament Translators Translate?

I've been talking about some of the intriguing issues and problems with the King James translation. The Biggest Problem is one that takes a bit of time to explain, and so will consume a couple of posts even before I explain the issue with the KJV. The broader context involves Bible translation in general, and revolves around a rather basic and highly important question that very few people know the answer to: What is it that Bible translators translate when they are translating? Here I will focus on the New Testament, my main area of expertise. When a translator wants to make an English version of, say, Mark (what I say about Mark will be true of all the books of the NT), what does she actually translate into English? Obviously she cannot take Mark’s original manuscript and translate it, since we don’t have it. Or the first copy of the original, or a copy of the copy of the original. We have hundreds of copies of Mark. Does she just choose one that seems good [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-02T11:00:04-05:00January 7th, 2023|New Testament Manuscripts, Reflections and Ruminations|

A FREEBIE for Gold and Platinum Members Only

Dear Gold and Platinum Members, As you may have noticed (and, well, as several of you have pointed out!) we have had technical difficulties in posting the Gold Q&A's the past several months. We think we've worked out the kinks now and hope it won't happen again. But it's been a flippin' nuisance for all involved -- especially YOU, the ones to whom these things are promised! SO, as an attempt at atonement (which does not involve either animal or human sacrifice), I'd like to offer you a blog gift -- for gold members only: a free webinar. DATE: Saturday January 28 TIME: 3:00 - 4:30 pm EST TITLE: "A History of the Devil" DESCRIPTION: Christians have always believed in the "Devil" (aka Satan, Beelzebub, the Prince of the Power of the Air, or ... name your politician). But you won't find him in the Old Testament (even though you might think you *have* seen him there. Hey, ain't he in the Garden of Eden? Or in the book of Job?). Where did the idea [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-05T12:13:24-05:00January 5th, 2023|Public Forum|

Infamous Typos in the King James Bible
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Infamous Typos in the King James Bible

Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations

Infamous Typos in the King James Bible

In some rather minor ways, the King James Version is not simply one thing but is many things. By that I mean that over the years there have been minor revisions made to it – most of them very minor indeed, picayune alterations of such things as spelling and punctuation – but revisions nonetheless. Two years after it was originally published, a new edition came out in 1613 that embodied 413 such changes. In 1769 the translation was modernized a bit; that happened again in 1873. The “New King James Version” that is popular today (the third best-selling Bible on the market behind the NIV and the KJV itself) (these are all popular among conservative evangelicals who, to no one’s surprise, buy the most Bibles) is a somewhat different kettle of fish. It was commissioned in 1975 and was produced by 130 people that its publisher (Thomas Nelson) indicates included scholars, church leaders, and laypeople. Whether these church leaders and laypeople actually knew any Hebrew or Greek they don’t say. My guess is.... Well, never [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-02T10:52:30-05:00January 5th, 2023|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

The King James Bible: Some Intriguing Word Choices

On the first day of my undergraduate classes on the Bible each semester, I tell my students which Bible translations are acceptable for the class. The basic answer: most any modern translation is fine (though I myself prefer the New Revised Standard Version), but I do not allow paraphrases (such as the ol' favorite, The Living Bible, or the more recent The Message -- which are not actually translations from the original Hebrew and Greek, but are simplifications of previously existing English translations and as a result can be highly interpretive and misleading) or the King James Version. When I tell them I do not allow the King James, I let them know that I think the King James is one of the great classics of English literature. As a piece of writing, it is arguably the most significant work ever produced in English. But it is decidedly not a good study Bible. That is for several reasons. As I've suggested and will say more about in a future post, one is that the manuscripts [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-02T10:37:15-05:00January 4th, 2023|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

An Unusually Significant Reference Work: The Encyclopedia of Ancient History

These past few weeks I've been reading up on various issues connected with the Ancient Near East (not my long suit) and have had occasion to make reference to a fantastic reference tool that everyone should know about but (other than scholars of antiquity) hardly anyone does: The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Ancient History. I posted on it nine years ago and have now realized it would be useful to do so again. So, for an end of the year special, here it is! (I've made a crucial addition in bold!) ****************************** I’m pleased to be able to announce (and only a month after the fact -- this was 9 years ago) that after years of labor, the thirteen-volume Encyclopedia of Ancient History, ed. by Roger Bagnall, Kai Bodersen, Craige Champion, Andrew Erskine, and Sabine Hueber has now appeared, published by Wiley-Blackwell. It’s not exactly an affordable reference tool for everyone’s library. The list price is $1995.00! But you can save $354 on Amazon, if you’re loaded and looking for the most authoritative and up-to-date reference [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-20T13:20:01-05:00January 3rd, 2023|Book Discussions|

Is the King James Bible Actually the William Tyndale Version?

Many, possibly most, people don’t realize that the King James Bible was not the first translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament into English. There were seven major translations published earlier, and all of them to a greater or lesser extent (almost always greater) were dependent on the one(s) that came before them. The first, greatest, and most influential was the translation by William Tyndale. It was also the riskiest. It cost Tyndale his life. In 1408 a law had been passed in England making it illegal to translate or to read the Bible in English without official ecclesiastical approval; this was in response to the translation activities connected with (pre-Reformer) John Wycliffe and his followers, whose English rendering was not from the original Hebrew and Greek, but from the Latin vulgate. By the time of Tyndale in the early 16th century, it was possible to learn Greek at Oxford, and just possible to pick up Hebrew, and he did so. Tyndale was refused permission to publish a translation in England, [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-06T13:48:51-05:00January 1st, 2023|History of Biblical Scholarship, New Testament Manuscripts|

Whoa. End of Year Review of the Blog, 2022.

I’m happy indeed to be writing this end of the year assessment of the Bart Ehrman blog. And so, how we doin’? Yowsers! To start with the climax: We blew the top out of our charity-giving this year, by bringing in and distributing $503,000. Not to put too fine a point on it, but that, well, is half a million dollars. Whoa. Many thanks to ALL of you for paying your membership fees and for MANY of you for making separate donations to the work of the blog. This is a magnificent outcome, well beyond what anyone could have imagined just a few years ago. For some perspective, in our first full (calendar) year of operation (2013) we raised $51,500. More interesting, just three years ago (2019) we raised $144,000. We have more than tripled that this year. None of this would be possible without significant help from generous supporters of the blog, including, I say again!, you, the members. In addition, there are several specific groups of blog participants I’d like to mention: First: [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-31T10:02:16-05:00December 31st, 2022|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

If the King James Was Good Enough for Paul, It’s Good Enough for Me

On my podcast ("Misquoting Jesus Podcast," with Bart Ehrman) I recently interviewed my friend and colleague Jennifer Knust about the problems involved with producing a modern translation of the Bible. It made me recall some lectures I gave in 2012 about the King James Bible, in celebration of it's 400th year anniversary. I made some posts about the great strengths and interesting problems posed (now) by the KJV. I looked, and lo and behold I posted about it too. Here's what I said (this will take several posts): ****************************** In a couple of weeks I’m going off to Los Angeles to give a lecture at Loyola Marymount University as a keynote address for their putting on of the (traveling) exhibition on the King James Bible, started in commemoration of its 400th year (in 2011). The exhibition is called Manifold Greatness: The Creation and Afterlife of the King James Bible, and my lecture is entitled: “What Kind of a Text Is the King James Bible? Manuscripts, Translation, and the Legacy of the KJV.” In addition to [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-27T11:25:55-05:00December 29th, 2022|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

Just Follow That Star!

In the previous post I commented that this idea of trying to follow a star to get anywhere (say, Bethlehem) would lead to problems. Some years ago I had pointed out that trying to do that would send them around in circles: since the earth is not "fixed" -- it rotates and is in orbit around the sun -- stars are never in the same place in the sky, so "following" one would take you all over the place. After posting on that, I found a hilarious illustration of what would happen if the wisemen followed a celestial body to find Jesus. I have borrowed this (no permission required, only acknowledgment) from here: http://what-if.xkcd.com/25/ Acknowledgement is here: http://xkcd.com/license.html ****************************** Three Wise Men The story of the three wise men got me wondering: What if you did walk towards a star at a fixed speed? What path would you trace on the Earth? Does it converge to a fixed cycle? —N. Murdoch If the wise men leave Jerusalem and walk toward the star Sirius, day and [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-15T11:08:25-05:00December 27th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Reflections and Ruminations|

Christmas Reflections 2022 (from ten years on)

Ten years ago I posted a Christmas reflection that I just now reread and think encapsulates some of my deepest feelings about the season still. This is what I said and say: ****************************** So, we have managed to make our way to another Christmas. I hope all of you – whether fundamentalist, liberal Christian, seeker, Jew, Muslim, agnostic, atheist, or none of the above – are having a very nice, relaxing, rejuvenating, and fulfilling holiday. In the opening chapter of my book God’s Problem, I talked about going to church on Christmas Eve in 2006 with my wife Sarah and brother-in-law Simon, in Saffron-Walden, a market town in England where Simon lives, not far from Cambridge. It was a somber but moving Christmas Eve service, and yet one that had the opposite of the intended effect on me. It made me realize just how estranged I was from the Christian faith, from the notion that with Christ God entered into the world and took its sufferings upon himself. I just didn’t see it, and it [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-16T11:24:54-05:00December 25th, 2022|Reflections and Ruminations|

O Little Town of Nazareth?

On several occasions on the blog I have discussed the similarities and differences between the accounts of Jesus' birth in Matthew and Luke (Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2), most recently, I think, two years ago at this time (check out the archives for December 2020). I won't go over all that turf again just now, but I do want to hit several of the key points because I think the *discrepancies* between the two accounts that appear irreconcilable tell us something significant about the birth of Jesus. I think they help show that he was actually born in Nazareth. Both accounts go to great lengths to show how Jesus could be born in *Bethlehem* when everyone in fact knew that he *came* from Nazareth. It is a particular problem for Matthew, because he points out that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Micah 5:2 , that a great ruler (the Messiah) would come from Bethlehem (Matthew 5:2). If you read the account carefully, you'll see that Matthew explains it by indicating that Joseph and Mary were [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-26T08:09:17-05:00December 24th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Want to Watch/Discuss a Jesus Movie with Me? The Blog Movie Club!

People often ask me what my favorite “Jesus Movie” is, and they almost never expect my answer. For me it’s hands down. A clear forerunner. A movie most people have never heard of, but in my opinion, the best of all time: “Jesus of Montreal.” This is not just my favorite Jesus movie of all time but one of my very favorite movies of any kind of all time. Want to watch it and then have a discussion about it with me? This will be our first ever Blog Movie Club event (BMC)! The main event, the discussion with me, will be on Sunday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 pm EST. The Movie Club viewing will not be that day, but before; and you have two (well three!) massively convenient options. You can: Watch it on your own at your leisure. Join other blog members in watching it simultaneously in silence, with a brief introduction and discussion afterward (without me) led by movie club organizer and blog member Lance Boyer, on January 14, 8:00 pm; Join other [...]

BDEhrman2023-01-03T13:48:12-05:00December 23rd, 2022|Public Forum|

Instead of “From Nazareth” was Jesus a “Nazarite”??

In my previous post I showed why Jesus almost certainly came from the small village of Nazareth. There have been some writers (OK, mythicists who don't believe there ever *was* a historical Jesus), who have argued that Jesus could not have come from Nazareth since the place did not exist. I dealt with this problem in several posts back in April of this year (check the archives for that month). Here, though, I want to address a related issue -- the claim that the early Christians who started saying Jesus was from Nazareth actually just made a *mistake*. They misunderstood that when some believers in Jesus called him a Nazirite -- someone who had taken a Nazirite vow. Nazirite vows come from the Hebrew Bible (Numbers 6): an Israelite who wanted to be particularly holy for a period of his life would take the vow, which would include not consuming grape products (think: wine!), not touching corpses (because of ritual defilement), and not cutting their hair (think Samson). Jesus was said -- according to this [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-15T10:57:12-05:00December 22nd, 2022|Historical Jesus|

Did Jesus Actually Come from Nazareth?

When you ask most anyone where Jesus came from, they will say he was born in Bethlehem. The reason is not hard to find: the only references to Jesus’ birth in the New Testament squarely place his birth in Bethlehem. There are, as many of you know, only two passages of the New Testament that narrate the events surrounding Jesus’ birth: Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2. And they both agree in placing it in Bethlehem. (Neither of the other Gospels says anything about it, nor do any of the other 23 books of the New Testament.) And yet there are compelling reasons for questioning that view, so that a large number of critical scholars – even prominent Roman Catholic scholars – think that it is more likely that Jesus was born in Nazareth. Let me explain why. The first thing to stress is that all four Gospels – including Matthew and Luke – agree that Jesus came from Nazareth. That is to say, Nazareth (not Bethlehem) was his hometown. In my view, that tradition [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-15T10:34:07-05:00December 21st, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Are You Willing To Give a Holiday Gift Membership To Someone Who Needs It??

We are five days from Christmas and twelve days from the New Year. At about this time for nearly every December of the blog's existence I have opened up a holiday giving option that can help out people who really want to be on the blog but cannot afford the membership fees. In most years we we have been able to give out something like 70-80 gift memberships. To qualify to receive one, a person had to send me their contact information and to tell me a bit about their circumstances, why they could not afford membership fees (I don't pry: I just want a general idea). I provided gift memberships only to people who really needed them. Some of the stories have been heart-breaking. Luckily, virtually everyone who contacted me has been able to be given a gift membership. I will post on my social media (Facebook and Twitter) as well as on a public post here, the availability of memberships. I will give out as many as we have. Would you like to [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-21T14:52:25-05:00December 20th, 2022|Public Forum|

Did Jesus Appear to 500 People After His Resurrection?

What do we make of Paul's claim that 500 people at one time saw Jesus after the resurrection (in 1 Corinthians 15:3-5)? I get this question every now and then -- maybe five or six times just this year. These days, among other things, I point 0ut something I hadn't thought about in most of the years of my existence, that there was almost certainly no Christian group (meaning: a group of people who believed Jesus was raised from the dead) of that size in Paul's day anywhere in the world! (I discuss the numbers of Christians at different time periods in antiquity in my book The Triumph of Christianity.) So on that level alone it seems highly implausible. But jut now looking through old posts from many years ago, I see I was asked the question and dealt with it in a different way. I'd forgotten all about it, but see now that I give a bit of analysis that tries to unpack Paul's claims. Here's the Q and the A: ****************************** QUESTION on [...]

BDEhrman2022-12-15T10:24:49-05:00December 20th, 2022|Paul and His Letters, Reader’s Questions|

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