Diane, Author at The Bart Ehrman Blog - Page 5 of 8

About Diane

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So far Diane has created 153 blog entries.

Want to Watch Our Tár Movie Review With Maestra Gisele Ben-Dor?

A while ago we had an unusually intriguing Movie Club event on the blog as a fundraiser. The movie Tár with an absolutely stellar performance by Cate Blanchett was nominated for six academy awards; as you probably know, it was about the downfall of a brilliant woman who is an orchestra conductor. As it turns out, an active member of the blog is an internationally known orchestra conductor, Gisele Ben-Dor (see: Gisele Ben-Dor Conductor – A champion of Latin American music ), and we asked her if she would lead a discussion on the movie from her vast experience. It was terrifically interesting! We recorded it and are now offering it for those who make a donation to the blog. What about it? The donations are tax deductible and you'll find it a great experience! To give it a shot: First, go to the Blog Home page and scroll to the bottom to find the donation buttons. Then, grab your invoice number from the email the blog just sent you, and head to the Tár [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:54-04:00August 3rd, 2023|Public Forum|

Time to Vote for Your Favorite Platinum Post

Dear Platinum members, That time again — an opportunity for you to vote on one of our Platinum guest posts, to see which one will be posted on the blog at large. Take a look — they’re all terrific. To vote, just send a quick note to Diane at [email protected] Your deadline: this Saturday, June 18, midnight your time. And remember — you’re always welcome to submit a post yourself. Anything connected to the blog that strikes your fancy that you’d like others to read about? Any ideas/thoughts you’d like to have disseminated and discussed? Here’s your chance. Just zap Diane a note at [email protected]. May 22, 2023 Was Jesus Literate or Illiterate? Omar Robb May 26, 2023 Did Jesus Believe The End Would Come Within His Lifetime? Rizwan Ahmed May 29, 2023 Was Jesus a Simplistic Person or an Extraordinary One? Omar Robb June 2, 2023 The 3rd Rail - A Critique of Jesus. Steve Clark

Diane2025-09-10T13:04:11-04:00August 2nd, 2023|Public Forum|

My Interview With Glenn Siepert

I recently did an interview with Glenn Siepert for his program "The What If Project," on my book Armageddon, What the Bible Really Says about the End. His new book, "Emerging From the Rubble: Thirty Stories About Grief, Broken Dreams, Shattered Relationships, and Finding the Courage to Keep Going," just came out, as well. Glenn asks very good questions, and we got into some unusually interesting topics. I hope you enjoy it! *****************************

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:53-04:00August 1st, 2023|Public Forum, Revelation of John|

Jesus the Half-Nabataean Prince, a Platinum Post by Serene

Serene has been an active member of the Platinum Corp, and here has written her first Guest Post; it's informative and, I bet, controversial! Let Serene and the rest of us know what you think (and why)! ****************************** Hi fellow Platies! Today, I present the case for Jesus as the son of a handmaiden and an Abrahamic divine king. https://www.britannica.com/topic/sacred-kingship/The-divine-or-semidivine-king This would be under the right codified in the Babylonian Talmud that gives foreign officials access to engaged Jewish virgins: https://www.sefaria.org/Ketubot.3b.1?lang=bi&with=all "Rabba said: The baraita is referring to a period where the government said that a virgin who is married on Wednesday will submit to intercourse with the prefect [hegmon] first." And also in accordance with an Arab tradition attested to in the 7th C, and likely existing earlier, of royalty freeing a handmaid after first birth to marry. The Why To reboot Jewish lineage. Lineage Nabataean-Edomite King Herod the Great had eliminated all of his lineage-Jewish children heirs by 4 BCE. Civil unrest ensued because as the saying goes, “representation matters”. [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:55-04:00July 31st, 2023|Public Forum|

New Insights into the New Testament: An Event You DON’T Want to Miss!

I am very pleased to announce an upcoming event that surely *anyone* connected to the blog will be deeply interested in: a two-day remote Bible conference for non-scholars, called "New Insights into the New Testament," consisting of ten lectures, on the canonical Gospels, delivered by some of the most highly recognized New Testament scholars in the country, in terms accessible to layfolk. There's never been anything like this. (But there will be again, since we're planning on making it an annual event!) The conference is not connected with the Blog per se, apart from the facts that the issues are all directly related to what we do here and that I'm the one organizing and moderating the event. Check out this video description (and look at the site: New Insights into the New Testament: A Biblical Conference for Non-Scholars (bartehrman.com) *****

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:54-04:00July 29th, 2023|Public Forum|

A Proposition That the First Greek Converts to Jesus Were a Few Ascetic Pythagorean Philosophers. A Platinum Post From Omar Robb

Another deep dive into an interesting question with a new suggestion, with Platinum member Omar Robb! ****************************** In this article we will propose a solution to the following puzzle: How did Jesus teaching pass and flourish from its local limited domain (the Jewish community in Palestine) to a foreign domain (the Greek-Roman world) in less than 20 years? But we need first to discuss the Pythagorean Movement: Pythagoreanism originated in Greece from about the 6th century BC. However, I am going to argue here that Pythagoreanism didn’t really have much influence on the communities. They did have a huge influence on knowledge and wisdom through history, and the current human knowledge and wisdom can be related back to the first Pythagorean Philosophers (including Socrates and Plato), but my argument here is about the influence of these philosophers on the daily life of the masses at ancient times, and my assumption here is that they had little influence over the life of the ordinary people at that time. Now ... I don’t have a solid proof [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:16-04:00July 28th, 2023|Public Forum|

Reminder: Why I’m Not a Christian — tomorrow!

In case you missed this -- I'll be doing a FREE four-lecture course tomorrow (with long Q&A) on "Why I Am Not A Christian." In it I will talk about my faith journey not for the sake of autobiography per se, but to explain one story of a person who came no longer to believe and decided to leave the faith. The course will include discussions of my scholarly endeavors but also of my wider struggles with the question of the existence of God and with the fears when I started wondering if I could continue to believe, the difficulties associated with leaving the faith, and, most important, the ways I and others have found meaning and purpose in a world without God. I hope you can come! The first 3000 get in! But the course will later be available to anyone (with the lectures, q&a, questions for reflection, etc.) See the promo below; for more information and registration, go to https://www.bartehrman.com/courses/

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:54-04:00July 22nd, 2023|Public Forum|

An Important Difference in John–a Platinum Post by Ryan Fleming

How different is John from the Synoptics? You may you think you know the answer, but this thoughtful post by platinum blog member Ryan Fleming should surely make you think. And it all leads to a rather startling question at the end. So what do you think? ****************************** The partial narrative in the Gospel of John has a few important differences compared to the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke). The Synoptic Gospels are not identical, but in general they have reasonable agreement regarding the chronology of events in Jesus’ ministries. If one carefully tracks the chronology in the first three gospels, and then attempts to compare them with the Gospel of John, one quickly notices the differences. However, there are several other important differences worth noting. With each difference, a list of possible explanations follow: As discussed above, a different chronology – a timeline of too many events to list here. A long period of time from the writing of the other three (several decades?) with the word-of-mouth sequence of stories naturally [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:38-04:00July 17th, 2023|Public Forum|

Vespasian Miracles. A Platinum Post by Ryan Fleming

I'm pleased to post this discussion of the miracles attributed to the emperor Vespasian, by Platinum blog member Ryan Fleming. These miracles are not widely known outside the realm of antiquity nerds, and rarely are they much analyzed even there. But they are significant and interesting, and here Ryan provides an intriguing assessment of them. Enjoy! **************************** Roman historians Tacitus (56 CE to 120 CE) in The Histories, Book IV, Section 81, and Suetonius (69 CE to 122 CE) in The Lives of the Twelve Caesars wrote of miracles Vespasian performed in the temple of Serapis in Alexandria Egypt. In one case he healed a blind man by anointing his eyes with his spit, and in another he healed a paralyzed man (withered hand or leg) by touching the hand or leg. It is tempting practice to compare these miracles with nearly identical acts attributed to Jesus in the Canonical Gospels and debate which came first, the Jesus stories or Vespasian stories: Curing blindness with spit: Mark 8:23-25, John 9:6-7 Curing blindness: Matthew 9:29-30, [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:38-04:00July 10th, 2023|Public Forum|

June 2023 Gold Q&A (video)

Hello, Gold & Platinum friends! Here's a video of me recording the June Gold Q&A in ancient Rome--or, maybe...?

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:38-04:00July 2nd, 2023|Public Forum|

The Road from the “Duo of Philo” to the “Trinity of Nicaea”–Guest Post by Omar Robb

As you know, blog members at the Platinum level are allowed to publish posts on any topic of their choosing (related to blog interests!) to other Platinum members. After a month or so, the other Platinums vote on which one can appear on the blog at large. If you yourself are interested in getting in on that action -- reading the posts of other Platinum members, and on occasion coming up with one of your own (it DOESN'T need to be highly scholarly or scholarly at all -- it can be your own views or questoins about something blog-related!) -- think about upping your membership to the Platinum level (Register - The Bart Ehrman Blog). The most recent vote wenbt in favor of a post by Omar Robb, which gets into the world of Greek and early Christian thinking, especially as leading to the doctrine of the Trinity. Here it is. Feel free to comment and ask Omar any questions! ****************************** The road from the "Duo of Philo" to the "Trinity of Nicaea" Omar Abur-Robb [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:37-04:00June 30th, 2023|Public Forum|

Was Abraham “Just Plain Nuts?” A Platinum Post by Douglas Wadeson MD

Here is an unusually challenging post that deals directly with one of the major religious/ethical problems of the entire Bible. The focus is Abraham, a central figure for the three major monotheistic religions of the world that are together followed by over half the humans on the planet. But is Abraham actually a commendable figure in the Scriptures. Or, not to put too fine a point on it -- is he nuts? Read the post and let Doug know your views of the matter! ****************************** One of my favorite Far Side cartoons by Gary Larson shows a man lying on the couch as the psychiatrist writes on his notepad, “Just plain nuts!” I suspect we have all encountered people that prompted such a thought to cross our minds. I realize it is difficult to make a psychiatric diagnosis on someone without a direct interview and observation, but I have a serious concern about one of the pivotal figures in the religious world. To make the situation more difficult there is no way to know how [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:16-04:00June 26th, 2023|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Public Forum|

Was Jesus an Ascetic Street Preacher or a Man With a Plan? A Platinum Post From Omar Robb

In this post Platinum guest poster Omar Robb takes on one of the key questions anyone must grapple with in studying the New Testament: how are we to understand the activities and mission of Jesus? Feel free to comment with your own views! ****************************** I am going here to generate a story (a made-up story) that you should read as a fictional imaginary one. Just go with this story to the end. After that, we will start a serious discussion. ##### The start this imaginary built-up story: Jesus, John the Baptist, and Zechariah (John’s father) were relatives, and they originated from a noble family in the capital until they lost favor in the eyes of the authority many decades before the time of Jesus, and they were forced into exile in Galilee. Zechariah formed a secret political party with the objective of liberating Palestine from the Roman rule and their puppets in the capital. When Zechariah passed away, his son followed the plan. They (Zechariah and John) managed over the years to form a culture [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:15-04:00June 23rd, 2023|Historical Jesus, Public Forum|

The Slippery Slope of Extreme DIAKRISIS (Discernment). A Platinum Post by Barry Haney

Here is a creative and imaginative Platinum guest post that explores key religious differences among various traditions in the early period of the church, through a plausible (fictional) conversation. So, in 200 CE, a pagan, a Jew, and a Christian come into a wine bar.... These are some intriguing reflections. What do you think? ****************************** I have a blog called, The Slippery Concept of Extreme Diakrisis. You might ask, what does diakrisis mean? Diakrisis is a Greek noun that occurs three times in the New Testament (Romans 14.1, 1 Corinthians 12:10, and Hebrews 5:14) and means distinction, explanation, discerning, or differentiation between good and bad. During my research of early Christianity, I imagined being a fly on the wall during an unlikely meeting between Bartholomew, a pagan, Serapion, a Christian, and Abraham, a Jew during the 2nd and third centuries CE, as they use the tool of diakrisis or discernment in their search for religious truth. My research led to me writing the following story, I will share with you. The Incredible Meeting! [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:16-04:00June 19th, 2023|Greco-Roman Religions and Culture, History of Christianity (100-300CE), Jews and Christians in Antiquity, Public Forum|

June Gold Q&A

Dear Goldies & Plats, Our monthly Gold Q&A is coming upon us. DEADLINE for your question(s): Friday, June 23, 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 may 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

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:17-04:00June 16th, 2023|Public Forum|

The Bart Ehrman Movie Club Presents: Life of Brian

Every year I teach an undergraduate course called “Jesus in Scholarship and Film.” In the class, students study about a dozen gospels (canonical and non-canonical), see what historians say about the historical Jesus, and watch/evaluate Jesus movies. The point is that every portrayal – ancient literary, modern scholarly, cinematic – has a slant and a perspective; every portrayal is different. At the beginning of the year I have students watch an interesting overview – with clips – of major portrayals of Jesus in film, called “Jesus Christ Moviestar,” which begins with the silents and goes up to the early 90s. Afterward, I ask the students which of those films (they’ve never seen any of them!) do you think would be most interesting to watch. The resounding answer, every time, is “Life of Brian.” It’s a FANTASTIC choice. Yes, it’s a Monty Python spoof. Yes, it’s meant to be (and is) very funny. Yes, it was attacked by conservative Christians as being blasphemous (the vast majority of them hadn’t actually seen it). BUT, yes, it is [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:16-04:00June 15th, 2023|Public Forum|

“You Have Heard His Blasphemy!” But Did They? A Platinum post by Daniel Kohanski

I'm pleased to present this well-researched Platinum post by Dan Kohanski, on one of the most intriguing (at least for me) questions about the Passion narrative. It's a highly controversial passage and Dan makes a highly controversial suggestion! He makes a good case! What do you think? Remember: you too can make a Platinum guest post for other Platinum members. It doesn't have to be highly learned and sophisticated -- just something you're thinking about connected with the stuff we do on the blog. If you have something, send it along to Diane at [email protected]. ****************************** “You Have Heard His Blasphemy!” Said the High Priest—But Did They? The trial of Jesus as described in the gospel of Mark, and particularly the part where the high priest charges Jesus with blasphemy, is one of the most hotly debated stories in the New Testament. Here is the heart of the passage: Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:37-04:00June 5th, 2023|Public Forum|

The 3rd Rail – A Critique of Jesus. Platinum Post by Steve Clark

A Platinum post for Platinum members from Platinum member Steve Clark: ****************************** It was a cold winter morning, the exciting music of the 1970’s was in my head. I was learning to play guitar and learning to be cool. Mostly failing at both but kept trying. What else was a young man to do in the 70’s? I was walking around Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta (my friends called it the concrete campus) and had a spring in my step as I stepped into Philosophy 101 class. In the days to come we were assigned materials to read and one of them was Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russell. Like many in the South grew up in a conservative Southern Baptist environment. And like many had never heard anyone criticize Jesus. Ever. Why would they and what would there be to criticize? The short portion of the lecture Russell pens (and pins) directly on Jesus is extremely mild. He appears borderline apologetic about it. For me though, fitting with the [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:36-04:00June 2nd, 2023|Public Forum|

May Gold Q&A Video

Folks, our May Gold Q&A ended up in two parts. Make sure you scroll down to see Part 2:

Diane2025-09-10T13:07:57-04:00May 31st, 2023|Public Forum|

Was Jesus a Simplistic Person or an Extraordinary One? A Platinum Post by Omar Abur-Robb

****************************** Was Jesus a simplistic person or an extraordinary one? Omar Abur-Robb omr-mhmd.yolasite.com Suppose you were in a hill overseeing a large lake, and suddenly you noticed a wave propagating quickly outward. You will instinctively realize that this wave has originated from its center, and you can probably pinpoint this center with ease by looking at the wave. However, your eyes will open wildly in astonishment and your scientific mind will turn upside down when you see the wave reaching the shore then jumping to the next lake and start propagating there. This is going to be a very weird phenomenon. But this exact phenomenon needs to be included in our explanatory models for the expansion of Christianity: The point of propagation for Christianity was the point of establishment at 30AD, and in less than 20 years, the teaching of Jesus managed to propagate outside its local domain to many foreign domains. This is an extraordinary phenomenon. Notice that the Greek Christians were very serious in their faith to the point that many [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:37-04:00May 29th, 2023|Public Forum|

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