BDEhrman, Author at The Bart Ehrman Blog - Page 62 of 208

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 Plausibility of the Fourth Gospel: The Chronology of Jesus’s Ministry. Platinum Guest Post by Dennis Folds

I'm pleased to publish this guest post by Dennis Folds, dealing with one of the most important issues in the study of the Gospels: how do we know which (if any) is the most, and the least, accurate? Usually it is argued that John is the latest, most theological, and least reliable account. But is it? Dennis takes on the question. See what you think! Then let him know! He'll be dealing with comments. And remember: you too can submit a post. It does NOT have to be highly academic and "expert" -- at all. Why not post something just saying what you think about a topic? Let me know! ****************************** The fourth gospel – John – is quite different than the other three in its narration of the events of Jesus’s ministry, and in its rendering of what Jesus taught. The other three tell the same basic story; that’s why they are called the Synoptic Gospels. The differences between the Synoptics and John are so stark that since antiquity John has been thought to [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:58:06-04:00April 29th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Richard Carrier: A Fuller Reply to His Criticisms, Beliefs, and Claims about Jesus
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Richard Carrier: A Fuller Reply to His Criticisms, Beliefs, and Claims about Jesus

Bart's Critics, Book Discussions, Historical Jesus, Mythicism, Public Forum

Richard Carrier: A Fuller Reply to His Criticisms, Beliefs, and Claims about Jesus

Richard Carrier - My Response to His Criticisms Richard Carrier is one of the new breeds of mythicists. He is trained in ancient history and classics, with a PhD from Columbia University – an impressive credential. In my book Did Jesus Exist I speak of him as a smart scholar with bona fide credentials. I do, of course, heartily disagree with him on issues relating to the historical Jesus, but I have tried to take his views seriously and give him the respect he deserves. Richard Carrier, as many of you know, has written a scathing review of Did Jesus Exist on his Freethought Blog. He indicates that my book is “full of errors,” that it “misinforms more than it informs” that it provides “false information” that it is “worse than bad” and that “it officially sucks.” The attacks are sustained throughout his lengthy post, and they often become personal. He indicates that “Ehrman doesn’t actually know what he is talking about,” he claims that I speak with “absurd” hyperbole, that my argument “makes [me] [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:17:00-04:00April 25th, 2022|Bart's Critics, Book Discussions, Historical Jesus, Mythicism, Public Forum|

Was Paul the Founder of Christianity? Or Was it Mary, Peter…or Jesus?
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Was Paul the Founder of Christianity? Or Was it Mary, Peter…or Jesus?

Historical Jesus, Paul and His Letters, Public Forum

Was Paul the Founder of Christianity? Or Was it Mary, Peter…or Jesus?

Who is the founder of Christianity? It is often claimed that the Founder of Christianity was the apostle Paul – or at least that he was the co-Founder, along with Jesus. The idea behind this claim is that Christianity is not really about the historical Jesus. Yes, his words are hugely important, and yes it is also important to know that he did all those miraculous deeds. But his public ministry is not the core of Christian belief. Instead, the core of Christianity is the belief in his death and resurrection. And this is what Paul preached, not what Jesus preached. So that even if Jesus’ life and teachings are important, they are not really what Christianity is about. Christianity is about believing in his death and resurrection for salvation. And since, in this view, it was Paul who first formulated that belief, he is the founder of the Christianity religion (or co-founder). Paul vs. Jesus: Who is the Christianity Creator? I have never found this line of argument convincing, for two reasons. The first [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:33:23-04:00April 24th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Paul and His Letters, Public Forum|

Reminder! A Free Webinar on Saturday on “The Bible and Homosexuality”!

Just a reminder in case you missed it the first time! Come one, come all! In celebration of our TENTH anniversary for the blog, I'm happy to announce a FREE webinar for anyone who is interested. No need to register, no need to pay, no need to donate, no need to do nada. Just come. It will be this coming Saturday, April 23, 5:00 EST. And GOOD news. If you can't come, it will be recorded and I will make it available to the entire known universe. The topic. An unusually important one. "Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?" Well, does it? The lecture will deal with the issues of sex, gender, and same-sex relations in both Old and New Testaments. I will give a 50 minute lecture and then take questions for 25-30 minutes. Interested in coming? Below is the link. Just come to it. Want the recording? I'll be posting it on the blog so no need even to inquire. Thanks so much for being part of the blog. I hope you [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:55-04:00April 20th, 2022|Public Forum|

Why Was Jesus Crucified: Bart Ehrman Crucifixion Thoughts
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Why Was Jesus Crucified: Bart Ehrman Crucifixion Thoughts

Historical Jesus

Why Was Jesus Crucified: Bart Ehrman Crucifixion Thoughts

Why was Jesus Crucified? All the questions I get from members of the blog are good and interesting and deserve lengthy posts. Every now and then I get one that is absolutely fundamental to understanding Jesus, the New Testament, and the history of early Christianity. Here is one of them, from many years ago, with an issue that everyone interested in these topics really needs to have a reasoned view about. Here's the question, and my view Why Was Jesus Crucified? QUESTION: I don’t see the rationale for the Romans to crucify Jesus. It doesn’t appear that he verbalized any anti-Roman propaganda nor was anything anti-Roman alluded to in Josephus’s couple of lines on Jesus. Pilate probably didn’t even know who Jesus was (possibly the bouncing back and forth between Herod was legend). RESPONSE: Yes, it’s a great question and completely central to the story of Jesus: why was he crucified? First off, I agree the Herod story is almost certainly not historical. It’s found only in Luke and is part of Luke’s attempt to [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:46:48-04:00April 18th, 2022|Historical Jesus|

Free Webinar!!! Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?

In celebration of our TENTH anniversary for the blog, I'm happy to announce a FREE webinar for anyone who is interested. No need to register, no need to pay, no need to donate, no need to do nada. Just come. It will be this coming Saturday, April 23, 5:00 EST. And GOOD news. If you can't come, it will be recorded and I will make it available to the entire known universe. The topic. An unusually important one. "Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?" Well, does it? The lecture will deal with the issues of sex, gender, and same-sex relations in both Old and New Testaments. I will give a 50 minute lecture and then take questions for 25-30 minutes. Interested in coming? Below is the link. Just come to it. Want the recording? I'll be posting it on the blog so no need even to inquire. Thanks so much for being part of the blog. I hope you enjoy the event! Here's the link: ******************** Topic: Blogaversary Webinar! Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality? Time: [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:55-04:00April 18th, 2022|Public Forum|

More on Nazareth (Or: Why Non-Archaeologists Should Definitely Not Claim to Be Experts)

In my post yesterday I began to explain why René Salm’s claim that Nazareth did not exist in the days of Jesus is dead wrong and is rejected by every recognized authority – whether archaeologist, textual scholar, or historian; whether Jewish, Christian, agnostic, or other. Here is my second and final post on the subject, again, from my treatment in Did Jesus Exist? ****************************** Salm also claims that the pottery found on the site that is dated to the time of Jesus is not really from this period, even though he is not an expert on pottery. Two archaeologists who reply to Salm’s protestations say the following: “Salm’s personal evaluation of the pottery … reveals his lack of expertise in the area as well as his lack of serious research in the sources.” They go on to state: “By ignoring or dismissing solid ceramic, numismatic [that is, coins], and literary evidence for Nazareth’s existence during the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman period, it would appear that the analysis which René Salm includes in his review, [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 17th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Mythicism|

Did Nazareth Even Exist in the Days of Jesus? The Weird Claims of Rene Salm

Some people who claim that Jesus did not even exist argue that there never was a town of Nazareth. So hey, how could he be from there? It didn't exist and he didn't either. It's all a myth. Really. They base this claim on a book written by a fellow named Rene Salm. I was asked about Salm's book a couple of weeks ago, and remembered I had posted on the issue, and Salm's book, in 2012 (!). Here's the (current) question and my (previous) answer. QUESTION: Rene Salm’s 2008 book “The Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus (Scholar’s Edition)” makes an archaeological argument that Nazareth was not settled until after the First Jewish War, c. 70CE. It goes into great detail and appears to be quite scholarly, but I don’t know what to make of it. Bart, are you aware of this book or its author? ANSWER When I dealt with Salm's book in 2012, it was because he presented a paper at the Society of Biblical Literature meeting and [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 16th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Mythicism|

The Book of Genesis, the White Jesus, and Debating the Resurrection: Interview with Seth Andrews

I've been doing a lot of interviews and podcasts over the past couple of months, and for my money this is absolutely one of the best, with Seth Andrews the Host of "The Thinking Atheist." He's a terrific interviewer: intelligent, knowledgable, and gifted at directing a conversation. We talked about all sorts of things from my views of the book of Genesis, to the white Jesus, to debating whether Jesus was raised from the dead, and on and on. Check it out!

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 14th, 2022|Reflections and Ruminations, Video Media|

Reminder: You can enter the Blogiversary Lottery!

Hey Fellow Bloggers, Here is a reminder that we have a lottery going on with prizes! Entry deadline is in FIVE days. Interested? Here is the original announcement, with all the details. ****************************** I am very pleased to announce that the Blog’s ten-year anniversary is on April 18! We have been going at it this whole time, ten years, non-stop! HA! Tempus is fugiting…. We are celebrating the upcoming date in a variety of ways. There will be at least one celebratory event, special announcements, reposting of favorite posts from years gone by, and a couple of fundraisers. Today I announce the first fundraiser. A LOTTERY with prizes, with all proceeds going to disaster relief in Ukraine. As to the Lottery: Each ticket is $10 and you can buy as many as you like. So if you want to have a shot (see prizes below), buy one! If you want to increase the odds, buy more. The limit to the number you can buy is …. well, it is limitless. Tickets can be purchased UNTIL [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:55-04:00April 13th, 2022|Public Forum|

Gold Members Q&A for April!

Dear Gold Members, It's that time again. Time for the Gold Q&A for April -- a perk of your membership! Do you have any questions you'd like to ask, on anything related to the blog? Ask away, and I'll do my best to answer. To get your question on the list: zap a note to Diane at [email protected] DEADLINE for your question. Midnight (your time) on Thursday April 21. I will record the Q&A that weekend, and it will be available, if all goes to plan, on Thursday, April 28. I’m looking forward to it! Bart

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:55-04:00April 13th, 2022|Public Forum|

Jesus and Sexual Immorality
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Jesus and Sexual Immorality

Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Sex and Sexuality in the Bible

Jesus and Sexual Immorality

Jesus and sexual immorality. I began to discuss yesterday the interesting case that NT scholar Scot McKnight advances for thinking that maybe Jesus *does* speak of same-sex relations in the Gospels. The last (group) of his three references are the ones he thinks are the most likely instances: Matthew 5:32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. The Greek word for “sexual immorality” here is porneia. It is a broad term that probably does mean something like “sexual immorality.” Scot argues that any Jew in the first century who wanted to know what sexual immorality was would automatically think and turn to Leviticus 18, the passage I referred to in an earlier post, a passage that considers sex with certain others is not just inappropriate but an “abomination.” Included in the list is “men with men.” Jesus, therefore, [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:47:06-04:00April 13th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Sex and Sexuality in the Bible|

Did Heretics’ Texts Describe Their Incestuous Rituals?

In my previous post I talked about the church Father Epiphanius's attack on a heretical group of Gnostics called the Phibionites. They allegedly based their practices on a now-no-longer-surviving book the Greater Questions of Mary (Magdalene). Epiphanius indicates he knows the book. Did he? Did it actually exist. Here I conclude the discussion, from my book Forgery and Counterforgery. ****************************** The prior question is whether Epiphanius’s description of the activities of the group is at all plausible. Historians have long treated Epiphanius in general with a healthy dose of skepticism.[1] No Patristic source is filled with more invective and distortion; Epiphanius frequently makes connections between historical events that we otherwise know are unrelated, and he expressly claims to write horrific accounts precisely in order to repulse his readers from the heresies he describes (Pan. Proem. I. 2). His description of the Phibionites and their sex rituals, nonetheless, has been taken as historically grounded by a dismaying number of competent scholars. For Stephen Gero, the fact that other heresiological sources down into the Middle Ages mention [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 13th, 2022|Fourth-Century Christianity, Heresy and Orthodoxy|

How Can Paul Say that Jesus Appeared to The Twelve?
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How Can Paul Say that Jesus Appeared to The Twelve?

Paul and His Letters, Public Forum, Reader’s Questions

How Can Paul Say that Jesus Appeared to The Twelve?

Why did Paul say Jesus appeared to the twelve? Here is an interesting question from my Readers’ Mailbag connected to the tradition that Judas Iscariot killed himself soon after Jesus’ death, leaving only eleven disciples. Did Paul know about this tradition? Why does he seem to think there were still twelve disciples after the resurrection? QUESTION: What do you think about Paul saying that Jesus appeared to the "twelve" (Apostles) after his resurrection? (1 Cor. 15:5) I find this to be a big mistake; given the multiple gospel stories about Judas's betrayal and subsequent suicide. Wouldn't Paul have known that there were only eleven Apostles at that time? How Can Paul Say that Jesus Appeared to The Twelve? RESPONSE: Ah, an interesting question, and answering it involves a number of rather unexpected complexities. The basic question: does Paul know that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus and afterward committed suicide? The first issue to address: who among the authors of the New Testament does know about the suicide of Judas? Here’s an interesting point. It is not [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:37:27-04:00April 12th, 2022|Paul and His Letters, Public Forum, Reader’s Questions|

Fabrication, Forgery, and Accusations of (Heretical) Christian Licentious Rituals!

Two weeks ago I was asked to lead a PhD seminar on the use of literary forgery in early Christianity for the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures in the Department of Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Cultures, at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Thank God for Zoom. In preparation I reread parts of my book Forgery and Counterforgery and came across a section that I thought might be of interest to (some) members of the blog, dealing with Christian authors who fabricate stories and forge books to attack their heretical opponents. This will take two posts. TRIGGER WARNING: it involves rather scandalous sex acts (and worse) by an early Christian group. Or so our source tells us. And he indicates he has first-hand knowledge of it. Whoa. Here’s part one. ****************************** As a further example of a forger who perpetrated a fraud, we might consider the work of the doughty defender of the apostolic faith, Epiphanius of Salamis (late fourth century). Throughout his major work, the Panarion, an eighty-chapter refutation of all [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 12th, 2022|Fourth-Century Christianity, Heresy and Orthodoxy|

Teeth Will Be Provided
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Teeth Will Be Provided

New Testament Manuscripts, Public Forum

Teeth Will Be Provided

Teeth will be provided seems like a strange title right? Well, we will get to that soon. I have had a long thread of fairly heavy-hitting posts for over a week now, dealing with whether Matthew and his audience, were Jewish. I still have a few things to say about related issues (such as whether, at the end of the day, Matthew and the apostle Paul would have been able to see eye-to-eye, and whether rather than being Jewish Matthew should be considered *anti*-Jewish). But I think it’s time for a break from the hard-hitting discussions for something a bit different and humorous. And so I have an anecdote to tell about a passage that I quoted in one of my earlier posts from Matthew, where Jesus says: “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown into [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:21:54-04:00April 11th, 2022|New Testament Manuscripts, Public Forum|

Does Paul Know That Judas Iscariot Betrayed Jesus?

I sometimes get asked about Paul and Judas Iscariot: did Paul know Jesus was betrayed? I was asked it again a couple of weeks ago and have decided to repost an answer from some years ago. SO: QUESTION: Do you think that Paul, without naming him, is referring to Judas in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24? (The verse in the NRSV: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”) RESPONSE: Ah, it’s a great question. Paul never explicitly mentions Judas Iscariot or indicates that Jesus was betrayed by one of his own disciples. But couldn’t this verse contain a reference to Judas? It refers to the night on which Jesus was betrayed! One reason the question matters is that Paul says almost *NOTHING* about the events of Jesus’ lifetime. That seems weird to [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:34-04:00April 10th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Paul and His Letters, Reader’s Questions|

Christian Pastors Who Have Lost Their Faith
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Christian Pastors Who Have Lost Their Faith

Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations

Christian Pastors Who Have Lost Their Faith

Are you curious about Christian Pastors who have lost their faith? You may not know this, but if you’re in a Christian church – whether it’s a traditional Roman Catholic church, Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, Independent-Bible-Thumping-Fire-and Brimstone-Fundamentalist – your priest/pastor may be losing his/her faith, or already lost it. And yet still be in the pulpit. There are some times when you might suspect something was up. Other times, you’d have no clue. I’ve been there, on both sides of that equation. I won’t talk about the loss of faith on the part of pastors who were preaching in front of me every week. But I can say something about myself, in the pulpit, desperately trying to hold on to my faith, and seeing it ooze away from me while preaching every week on the radio. It’s not a pleasant feeling and can lead to massive confusion, self-doubt, self-condemnation, and uncertainty about what to do and where to turn. My Journey I was never a permanent ordained minister in any denomination. I was *trained* to be [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:46:49-04:00April 9th, 2022|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

The Apocalypse of John and the Gospel of Jesus: My Final Thoughts

Here now is the conclusion to my lecture on the ideology of domination in the book of Revelation. ****************************** I conclude with several more focused reflections on whether the Revelation of John represents the Gospel of Jesus. To sum up what I have been emphasizing: there is not a single word in all of Revelation about God loving others and no instruction to the followers of Christ to do so either. Instead, they are called to be “conquerors” – and once they overwhelm the rest of the earth with divine military might, they become its rulers, kings who control “the nations with a rod of iron.” Whether John meant this literally is beside the point. This is how he sees God, Christ, his followers, and the rest of the human race: powerful rulers and abject subjects. Is this what Jesus meant when he told his followers to abandon all desire for greatness? To live lives of service to others? To become slaves? In the book of Revelation Christ’s followers are slaves, but only to God. [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:34-04:00April 9th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Revelation of John|

The Criterion of Dissimilarity
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The Criterion of Dissimilarity

Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus

The Criterion of Dissimilarity

The criterion of dissimilarity. Over the past couple of class periods, I have introduced my undergraduate students to the problems that confront critical scholars who try to reconstruct what Jesus really said and did. These problems are created by the nature of our materials especially the New Testament Gospels. This is why I begin my course, which focuses on the historical approach to the New Testament, in something other than the chronological order of events or writings. Irony! But an irony with pretty compelling logic. If we began with a chronological order of writings, of course, we would begin the course with the writings of Paul, since these are the first surviving writings from any early Christian. Earlier by 15-30 years than the Gospels. But it doesn’t make sense to start with Paul (in my opinion) if you don’t know something about Jesus. And you can’t begin with Jesus unless you know something about our sources for Jesus, our Gospels. And so for a historical approach to the New Testament, we go out of chronological [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:38:56-04:00April 8th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

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