BDEhrman, Author at The Bart Ehrman Blog - Page 97 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.

More Buddhist Questions on the Bible

I continue now with the interview I did with the Buddhist editors of the Korean magazine: The Monthly YangWoo Magazine 3/2020. They had some interesting questions, as outsiders to Christianity but who see Christian churches, pastors, and believers in their environment, and they wanted my opinion as someone who knows the Christian world but is not longer committed to it. This will be the second of three posts. Q5. We feel that some of the paragraphs in the Bible are correct and some of them are not. Moreover, we feel priests and/or pastors, who know and don't know the facts mentioned above, provide incorrect and non-reasonable opinions and sermons about the Bible to Christians and others. And the reason they do so is only to pursue their own profits by blinding their followers' eyes and ears. For example, Martin Luther who is famously known as a religion reformer said “Reason is the greatest enemy that faith has. Reason should be destroyed in all Christians. Reason is the Devil's greatest whore.” What do you think [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:19-04:00February 20th, 2020|Reader’s Questions|

Great Deal on My New Book!!

Are you interested in pre-ordering my new book: Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife? Here's a fantastic deal. As you may know, I have done eight courses over the years with the Great Courses (starting back when they were called The Teaching Company!). If you pre-order the book (or have already done so), you can receive an 80% discount on any of them. That's a pretty rippin' serious discount. Just click on this address. https://simonandschusterpublishing.com/heavenandhell The Great Courses I've done over the years. The New Testament The Historical Jesus Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity The History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers The Greatest Controversies in Early Christianity How Jesus Became God For full descriptions of each of these courses, go here: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/bart-d-ehrman/?pid=150 Are you familiar with the Great Courses? They really are great -- not mine necessarily, but in general. I've watched a ton of them, on [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:19-04:00February 19th, 2020|Public Forum|

Interview with Buddhists on the New Testament

I was recently asked to do an interview with a magazine in South Korea, produced by (and for, I assume) Buddhists interested in other religious traditions. As you may know, Christianity also has a significant footprint in Korea; even back in the late 70s I had Korean classmates studying for ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary. The editor asked me a range of questions, and I provided relatively short answers, on a range of interesting and important topics. The interview was published last week and the publisher has graciously given me permission to post them here, on the assumption that most of you will not be reading South Korean magazines! But if you do, you can catch the questions (in Korean) and my answers (in English): The Monthly YangWoo Magazine 3/2020. This will take two posts. To see this interview, join the blog! It's easy to do and costs very little -- less than a burger at Five Guys a *month*. And so much better for you. The little you pay does a lot of good, [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:19-04:00February 18th, 2020|Reader’s Questions|

How Ancient is the Idea of Christ’s “Incarnation”?

Last week I was asked about the famous passage often known (among scholars) as the "Christ Hymn" of Philippians, 2:6-11. For a very long time (mid 20th c?) scholars have argued that it is a passage Paul did not write himself, but one that he is actually *quoting*. The passage seems to affirm the idea that Christ existed *before* he came into the world. That may not seem weird to modern Christians, but in fact the only place where the idea is (otherwise) explicitly stated is in the Gospel of John. In Mark's Gospel there is not a word about Jesus existing before his birth, or, remarkably in Matthew or Luke either! In those Gospels Jesus is born of a virgin. But *nothing* suggests that he existed before then. When God made Mary pregnant through the spirit, that is when the Son of God came into being -- for those Gospels. Only with John is Jesus said to be a pre-existent being: and in John there is not a word about Jesus' mother being a [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:18-04:00February 17th, 2020|Canonical Gospels, Paul and His Letters|

How Do I Get To Know What Is In the Bible?

There are a lot of people, billions, actually, who are interested in the Bible -- either because of their personal beliefs or because they they realize its historical and cultural importance -- but don’t actually know what it’s about. The broader interest makes a good deal of sense, and not just for committed Jews and Christians. After all, a good deal of the history of the West is tied closely to the Christian tradition rooted in the Bible. And how can one understand Western culture without it? Think about the history of art, music, and literature, for example. Still, most people really don’t know the Bible. By that I don’t mean they don’t know what scholars have come to learn about the Bible (that virtually goes without saying!); I just mean they don’t know what’s actually in the Bible. One reason, of course, is that most people don’t read the Bible. But an even more important one is that those who do read the Bible do not do so in order to learn what it’s [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 14th, 2020|Reflections and Ruminations, Teaching Christianity|

Heaven and Hell: Press Release!!

I am happy to say as that we move toward publication of my book, my publisher has just issued a press release to announce that it's coming soon. The release includes several endorsements by experts, which are always gratifying to see, and brief comments taken from the early reviews done by journals that announce and evaluate forthcoming books to booksellers, bookstores, and publishers. It's a a nice release, I think. Here 'tis. News from Simon & Schuster 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 Publicity Contact: Cat Boyd (212) 698-7183 / [email protected] From the New York Times Bestselling Author of Misquoting Jesus and The Triumph of Christianity HEAVEN AND HELL A History of the Afterlife Bart D. Ehrman Simon & Schuster | March 31, 2020 | $28 | Hardcover | 9781501136733 “Ehrman’s twin strengths are deep knowledge and an accessible style. This displays both in spades.” — Booklist “Ehrman’s eloquent understanding of how death is viewed through many spiritual traditions is scintillating, fresh, and will appeal to scholars and lay readers alike.” [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 12th, 2020|Book Discussions|

Jesus Kissing Mary Magdalene: A Bizarre Scene in the Gospel of Philip

A number of readers responded to my post about whether Jesus and Mary Magdalene were intimate by pointing out that the non-canonical Gospel of Philip sure does seem to *say* they were! So, what do I have to say about that? I've dealt with the issue on the blog before, but a lot of you were just a twinkle in our eye at the time, so here I'll deal with it again. I have a reasonably full discussion of the relevant issues in my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene. In the book I put the discussion in the context of – yes, you guessed it -- Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, the one source many people turn to for the Gospel of Philip (!). Few people who talk about the relevant passage have actually read the book. It strikes many readers today as unusually strange. But in any event, this is what I say about the book and the Kissing Passage there. ************************************************************** Some of the historical claims about the non-canonical Gospels in the [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 11th, 2020|Christian Apocrypha, Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions, Women in Early Christianity|

What About Accurately Preserved Oral Traditions?

Yesterday I talked about arguments Muslims and Christians sometimes make about their written texts – that the only way to explain the preservation of the “originals” is that it was a divine miracle, with the corollary argument that for that reason, these writings really do contain the truth. It is a very, very bad argument, for reasons I explained. A number of religious traditions also boast of the unbelievable accuracy of the oral traditions of their religion. In this case, the claim is usually not made in order to prove that the tradition must have a divine origin, but to show that what is said in sacred texts found in writing today is exactly what was said back *before* there were any written texts, that the religion hasn’t changed an iota over all these centuries. I am always entirely skeptical of these claims. Then again, historians are always skeptical of claims and ask for evidence. If there’s good evidence, then there’s no reason to be skeptical on principle. But if historians simply accepted what “everyone [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 10th, 2020|Reader’s Questions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Sacramento Lecture: Cancelled

Several people have asked me about my scheduled lecture in Sacramento at the Slavic Pastors apologetics conference. I'm sorry to say that the sponsors of the event have cancelled my talk (without, well, notifying me!). They assure me that it is not because of my views, but because of their financial restraints. I'm not hugely sorry, as it would have been a bit of a lark and not my normal kind of thing: it was a long trip over three days to tell a group of conservative evangelical pastors that Jesus really did exist. (!)

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 9th, 2020|Public Forum|

Raffle Winners!

I am pleased to announce that the raffle for galleys of my book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife has been concluded. We have three winners of the autographed copies, and I have notified them. If you participated and I did not notify you, I'm so sorry. But be of good cheer! The book will be available on March 31. Many thanks to all who participated!

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 9th, 2020|Public Forum|

Why Do Smart People Make Stupid Arguments?

I’m always puzzled about why smart people make (and believe) such stupid arguments. We see this all the time, of course, in political discourse and family disagreements, not to mention department meetings, but since my field is religious studies I hear it the most in connection with the great religions of the world. Actually, I guess I find it less puzzling than aggravating. A lot of conservative Christians get upset with me when I push them for evidence for their views, and so I thought I should devote this post to give equal share time to other religions whose self-appointed representatives send me proofs of the superiority of their views, based on hard “evidence.” It is really difficult to believe that someone can actually be persuaded by these claims. Let me stress, I am NOT (repeat NOT) saying anything negative about any of these religions – in this case Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. I’m decidedly not. I’m saying something negative about very bad arguments used to “prove” their inherent superiority to one another. I will [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 9th, 2020|Bart's Critics, Reader’s Questions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Jesus as Single: An Actual Argument!

So far I have pointed out that it is flat-out wrong to say that every Jewish man in the first century was married and was expected to be married. It is not only demographically impossible (there were not enough women to go around) but we know of Jewish men from the time of Jesus who were not married and were proud of it. Strikingly, they, like him, were apocalyptically minded Jews – such as the Essenes and the apostle Paul. I have also argued that whatever Mary Magdalene was to Jesus, she was not his lover and spouse, to the great disappointment of us all….. But is there an actual argument that Jesus was not married other than the silences? I think there is. And this is what it is. A good deal of Jesus’ teaching, of course, was ethical in nature, about how people ought to live and conduct themselves. Many people think of Jesus as one of the great moral teachers of all time, and I have no quarrel with that. But I [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 7th, 2020|Historical Jesus, Sex and Sexuality in the Bible|

Demons and Christians in Antiquity! Guest Post By Travis Proctor

Some readers have suggested that I have guest posts from my former PhD students describing their dissertations. Great idea! This is our first shot at it. One of my most recent PhDs was Travis Proctor, who is now an Assistant Professor of Religion at Wittenberg College in Springfield Ohio. Travis wrote a terrifically interesting dissertation on demons in early Christianity. It turns out, it's not only a really intriguing topic, but unexpectedly complicated. The dissertation was called "Rulers of the Air: Demonic Bodies and the Making of the Ancient Christian Cosmos," completed in 2017. And just recently it has won Travis a major international award from University of Heidelberg, German. See: https://religion.unc.edu/travis-proctor-phd-2017-manfred-lautenschlaeger-award-for-theological-promise/ I asked Travis to summarize the dissertation for us, and here is what he has to say! (I will be happy to post your comments on this; Travis will not be able to respond directly.) ********************************************************************************* Clement of Alexandria, one of the most famous philosophers and ethical teachers of early Christianity, was no fan of eating meat. But Clement’s rationale for avoiding [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 5th, 2020|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Was Jesus Intimate with Mary Magdalene?

I pointed out in my last post that most people simply assume that Jesus was not married because there is no mention of his wife in any of our sources, or any mention that he ever had a wife. And so it is assumed that he did not have one. As scholars often, and rightly, argue, that is an argument from silence, and on it's own it is not a very strong one – since, among other things, none of these sources indicates, either, that he was not married. And so it is not evidence in one direction or another. It’s a good point, but my own view is that the silence in this case is telling – though not for the reason people sometimes say. It is sometimes wrongly asserted – by no less an inimitable authority than Dan Brown, in the Da Vinci Code – that if there was no claim that Jesus was not married that must mean that he was married, since Jewish men were “always” married. In my last [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 4th, 2020|Historical Jesus, Sex and Sexuality in the Bible, Women in Early Christianity|

So… WAS Jesus Married?

As a follow-up to my previous post, I'll now re-post a couple of reflections on this question that has obsessed modern people: was Jesus probably married? I should say that what obsesses most folk is not what obsesses scholars, as a rule; in my roughly 89 million discussions with New Testament scholars over the past 44 years, I don't recall ever having a detailed back-and-forth about it, except in public settings in front of a crowd of non-scholars. It's kind-a like Shakespeare. I know this is disappointing, but the major Shakespeare scholars in universities in England and America do NOT have discussions about whether Shakespeare really wrote the plays. It's just not the issue.... Anyway, I did have to deal with the question of Jesus possible marriage, with a couple of other scholars, in front of a crowd five years ago. I posted on it afterward. Here's what I said. ***************************************************************** I am en route just now, back from Las Vegas, where I participated in a discussion with two other scholars at the Black Mountain [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:02-04:00February 3rd, 2020|Historical Jesus, Sex and Sexuality in the Bible|

A “Newly Discovered” “Gospel”: Was Jesus Married with Children?

When James Tabor graciously made two guest posts a couple of weeks ago, he raised a lot of intriguing questions for our blog readers. I was asked by one of them to address James's view that Jesus may well have been married. I was pretty sure I had dealt with this at one point on the blog, and just now I've checked, and it was almost exactly five years ago, well before most of you were on the blog, and probably before some of you were born. A series of posts. On a lively and interesting topic. Was in fact Jesus married? The series started with a news report that a Gospel had been newly discovered that provided evidence that in fact he probably was. I'll start by reposting that one, and then get into the issue of how we can weigh the evidence one way or the other. It's an issue that continues to intrigue! But rarely does anyone actually discuss the actual *evidence*. It's much easier to make bold claims. I'm not talking [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:01-04:00February 2nd, 2020|Book Discussions, Historical Jesus, Public Forum|

A Raffle!! Would You Like a Pre-publication Copy of My Book on Heaven and Hell?
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A Raffle!! Would You Like a Pre-publication Copy of My Book on Heaven and Hell?

Book Discussions, Public Forum

A Raffle!! Would You Like a Pre-publication Copy of My Book on Heaven and Hell?

Would you like to read my forthcoming book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife prior to publication (it will be released two months from now!)? I have three galley proofs that I would like to give away – not to the highest bidder (as in the last fund-raising venture) but to three randomly-chosen winners based on tickets sold at a very affordable price. These are complete, pre-publication copies of the book, in paperback, less expensively produced, but exactly as it will appear in print, except for a few typos here and there that came to be corrected later. This is the form of the book as it was sent off to review journals, book sellers, and book stores – all of whom want, naturally, to know if the book is any good before they purchase stocks or recommend others to do so. My publisher has given me permission to release these three to the public as a fund-raiser for the blog. I will personally sign it to each of the winners and then [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:01-04:00January 31st, 2020|Book Discussions, Public Forum|

Want A Korean Version of My Last Book?

OK, this will not be a high demand item. But I have five copies of my book Triumph of Christianity in Korean translation. I don't read Korean. Does any of you? Want one? I'm happy to mail one to you, but only if you're willing to help cover the cost of mailing by making a donation to the blog. Make the donation as large as you'd like! Hey, what are we worth? But for domestic mailing, let's say a minimum of $10; international, $25. If you're interested, don't reply here, but zap me a message at [email protected]. If you don't read Korean, there's no time like the present!

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:01-04:00January 31st, 2020|Public Forum|

Rapid Fire Questions and Answers on Biblical Manuscripts

I recently responded to a request from a European journalist writing an article about how we got the Bible and what we can say about the collection and illicit sale of manuscripts. When I get these requests, I'm usually tempted to send back a list of books and tell them to do some homework. But, well, they have deadlines and it ain't gonna happen. So I went ahead and gave some brief answers to some rather important questions. I thought blog readers might enjoy this kind of very condensed (but very simple) exchange. Here are it is, questions in black, responses in red. ******************************************************************************** -Why do you think that some apocryphal books were not included in the Bible? What was the selection criteria? Do you know when the Bible like we know today were completed? Church father debated for centuries which books to include. The side that “won” the debate applied several criteria: The rest of this post is available to all blog members. You too could be among the chosen few, and growing. [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:01-04:00January 29th, 2020|New Testament Manuscripts, Reader’s Questions|

Other Interesting Features of the Graphic Introduction to the New Testament

Here is the final portion of my proposal for the Graphic Textbook of the New Testament. The earlier part described the sections on the Gospels. Here I map out the basic coverage of the historical Jesus. The book will be extremely brief in comparison with my full-blown NT textbook, which comes in at 572 pages. This one is projected to be 150 pages, and most of it art work. Yikes! The challenge is kinda obvious…. But hey, if you can summarize the NT in one sentence (and you can) (in fact a very very short sentence: It’s about the life and teachings of Jesus and his followers….), you can surely do it in 150 pages! At the end of the prospectus I include a couple of things that always go into this kind of proposal: marketing ideas; what other books it will be competing with; and when I plan (well, hope) to have it finished. ******************************************************** The Historical Jesus (8 pages) I will shift gears in the final chapter, away from explaining how Jesus is [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:01-04:00January 28th, 2020|Book Discussions, Teaching Christianity|

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