Historical Jesus Archives - Page 8 of 35 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

The Other Virgin Births in Antiquity

On December 14 I will be giving a one-off remote lecture, with Q&A, called "The Other Virgin Births in Antiquity." This will not be connected with the blog per se, but with my other venture in which I produce online courses and lectures (BEPS: Bart Ehrman Professional Services). You can learn about the lecture here: https://www.bartehrman.com/other-virgin-births-in-antiquity/ Jesus is decidedly conceived by a virgin in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. This is better called a "virginal conception" -- and in my course I'll explain the difference between the ideas of virginal conception; virgin birth; perpetual virginity; and immaculate conception. All very different ideas! BUT, for the sake of convenience, I'll simply refer to Jesus' conception and birth as "the virgin birth." Since, oh, I don't know, the 19th century I guess, there have been people who have claimed that virgin births were common in the ancient world. You find that claim widely today still among those who call themselves "mythicists" -- those who think Jesus didn't exist but was just a myth. One of the most common [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:00:19-04:00December 7th, 2022|Greco-Roman Religions and Culture, Historical Jesus|

How Can “Group Hallucinations” Possibly Happen?

When I lecture or debate on whether it is possible to "prove" the resurrection of Jesus on historical grounds, I talk about how -- whether you believe in the resurrection or not -- almost certainly the reason the disciples originally *believed* Jesus had been raised is that one or more of them had a vision of him after he died. (Believers would say their "vision" was something they actually saw; non-believers would say they were mistaken for one reason or another, or they imagined it, etc -- that it was a hallucination of some kind). But it is often noted that in the New Testament, after his death Jesus appears not only to individuals (Peter, Paul, and Mary, for example) (!) but to groups (the "twelve," the "apostles" and "500 people" at one time, according to 1 Cor. 15:5-8). But how could *that* be possible? One person might mistake something she saw for a person, or dream they saw someone, or whatever. But *groups* of people? How can historians possibly explain "group visions" of a [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:00:04-04:00November 13th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Public Forum, Reader’s Questions|

Is it Possible Jesus Didn’t Teach the Golden Rule?

Did Jesus actually teach the Golden Rule? Or was it foisted on his lips after his death by later followers? I have already written a couple of posts on the Golden Rule in the two places it occurs in the New Testament, Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31 (see: Little-Known Aspects of The Golden Rule as Found in the Sermon on the Mount and Did Jesus Give the Sermon on the Mount? ). Normally the rule is phrased like this: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I noted, though, in the Greek clauses are reversed. A literal translation of Matthew’s version would be “Everything you want other people to do for you, you likewise do for them,” to which Matthew, importantly, adds “for this is the Law and the Prophets” (meaning that if you follow this rule, you will be following the entire will of God as revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures; Matthew 7:12); Luke is quite similar “Just as you wish people to do for you, do likewise for them” (Luke [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:00:04-04:00October 30th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Why Do Historians Treat Jesus Differently from Every Other Historical Figure?

I’m starting to think there must be a better way to explain to laypeople – and even to scholars – the best way we can show what the historical Jesus himself said and did. Since I was a graduate student I have done what every other budding New Testament scholar was doing: name the “criteria” that are used to show which elements of the Gospels are legendary and which are historical, explain their logic, justify them, and then use them. Now I’m starting to think that just ain’t the way to go. In case you don’t know, scholars use a set of criteria to decide what is authentic to the life of Jesus. The reason we need to do that is that we don’t have any audio or video recordings of his life, or stenographic accounts of his teachings, or highly reliable, fully documented, authoritative records of his activities. What we have are accounts written decades later (30-65 years later, at best), by people who did not know him, living in different parts of the [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:48-04:00October 19th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

When Did Jesus Die? Dating Jesus’ Death by the Earthquake

Finally, a scientific dating of Jesus' death. I was trolling through old posts and came across this one. Whoa! Really? ****************************** Geologists claim now that they have established the date of Jesus’ death. It was April 3, 33 CE. Here was the headline: Jesus 'died on Friday, April 3, 33AD', claim researchers, who tie earthquake data with the gospels to find the date http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2149750/Jesus-died-Friday-April-3-33AD-claim-researchers-tie-earthquake-data-gospels-date.html For those who don’t know, the date of Jesus’ death has long been in dispute. The reality is, we are not sure when Jesus was executed (i.e., what year). It almost certainly happened during a Passover feast during the reign of Pontius Pilate as the Prefect of Judea. His rule lasted between 26-36 CE. All of our early Gospel accounts agree that the crucifixion happened on a Friday. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this Friday was the day after the Passover meal was eaten and so, technically, it was still “Passover Day (see Mark 14:12). According to John the Friday was the day before it was eaten – on the day [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:47-04:00October 9th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Religion in the News|

Would I Be Personally Upset if the Mythicists Were Right (That Jesus Never Existed)?
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Would I Be Personally Upset if the Mythicists Were Right (That Jesus Never Existed)?

Historical Jesus, Mythicism, Reader’s Questions

Would I Be Personally Upset if the Mythicists Were Right (That Jesus Never Existed)?

Ever since I wrote my book Did Jesus Exist (where I argue that, well, yeah--whatever else you say about him, however much legend you think is in the Gospels, there certainly was a historical figure, Jesus), I have had people ask me if I have an axe to grind on this one or if it would be personally painful or professional ruinous to admit that the "mythicists" -- those who claim that Jesus is a *complete* myth (never existed) were right. I don’t address this in the book, and I think it is a terrific question! The reason I do is this. I think every historian of religion who makes a case for one thing or another needs to be queried: what is at stake for you in the matter? Did Jesus Exist, Historically? For example, I have participated a number of public debates with conservative evangelical Christian scholars who have wanted to insist that they can PROVE, historically, that Jesus was raised from the dead. Now I should state with vigor and emphasis – [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:47-04:00October 8th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Mythicism, Reader’s Questions|

Why I Want to Write a Book on Christian Love

Over the past couple of weeks I have been explaining how I have reimagined my next trade book, written not for scholars but for general readers. As I've pointed out, my initial idea that I floated before readers of the blog was to have a book devoted to how Christianity revolutionized how people in the Roman world understood wealth and what to do with it. My argument was that as a Jew Jesus insisted that those with resources help those who were in need – a virtually unheard-of ethical principle in Greek and Roman antiquity. His followers were Jews as well, for whom this was a familiar message, but as they converted non-Jews to become Jesus’ followers, they convinced them as well. So this became the standard Christian view, leading to the invention of the public hospital, the orphanage, the use of governmental assistance for those in need, private charities, and so on. My previous posts have explained how I have now expanded the vision of the book, to show that these new views of [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:34-04:00September 18th, 2022|Book Discussions, Historical Jesus, History of Christianity (100-300CE)|

Is It Even Possible to Follow Jesus’ Teaching to “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”

In my previous posts I've been talking about Jesus' "love commandment," arguing that it revolutionized ancient thinking about how people are to behave toward one another. ("Love thy neighbor as thyself"). Now I ask whether that revolution actually involved changing people's behavior in radical ways. Or not. Obviously, on the practical level, Jesus’ insistence on complete self-sacrifice did not come to dominate the world of late antiquity. People continued to live much as they had before. Conquerors still conquered. The first Christian emperor, Constantine, was one of the most bloodthirsty of them all; many of his ardent Christian successors (including his sons) were at least as bad. Slavery continued and was never questioned. The rich dominated the poor. Men dominated women. The rich kept getting richer. Most notably, Christian churches themselves began getting very much richer. Eventually the church was by far the wealthiest institution in the west, and stayed that way for well over a millennium. Christian Ethics in the Roman Empire Even so, the ethical discourse of society did change with the Christianization [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:34-04:00September 17th, 2022|Historical Jesus, History of Christianity (100-300CE)|

Jesus’ Teachings on Love and Salvation

In my previous posts I have been explaining in brief terms how people thought about “ethics” in the ancient Greek and Roman worlds, that is, how they decided what kinds of human activities were best for themselves and for their society, how they were to interact with one another, what values and virtues they should hold and what values and vices they should reject. Part of my thesis – which I hope to spell out in my next book – is that Christianity changed how people understood virtuous activity and the good life, how they urged people to behave, and why they did so. My argument will be the what we think of as the driving force of most ethics today is not at all what people in the world at large in antiquity thought. At all. So far in these posts I’ve tried to show how pagans were particularly concerned with “well-being” or “happiness” as a guide for how to live. Jesus, however, rigorously adopted a Jewish view that the main criterion for behavior [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:34-04:00September 15th, 2022|Afterlife, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture, Historical Jesus|

Is There Anything “Religious” about “Ethics”?
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Is There Anything “Religious” about “Ethics”?

Early Judaism, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture, Historical Jesus

Is There Anything “Religious” about “Ethics”?

It is true that ancient ethics did enjoin beneficent acts on family, friends, and acquaintances of one’s own status when they were in need. But normally such benefices were expected to produce gratitude and respect (elevating one’s status and social capital) and to bring a return; just as important, they were expected to be reciprocated if misfortune should strike the giver. That is, they were not acts of pure altruism, or arguably altruistic at all. Moreover, when social ethics entered into the picture – as they often did – they centered on matters of justice and piety (meaning something like “doing one’s duty” to family, city, and empire) so as to promote the welfare of the collective. But the collective did not mean “all” the collective. For the elites who wrote and read this ethical discourse, it meant the ruling elite and/or the social class to which they themselves belonged. That would, of course, make life better for themselves as well. But there was virtually no concern to help those in lower social classes -- [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:21-04:00September 11th, 2022|Early Judaism, Greco-Roman Religions and Culture, Historical Jesus|

Did the Romans Stage Jesus’ Crucifixion? Platinum Guest Post by Ryan Fleming

Here is now the third platinum guest post by Ryan Fleming. As you might expect, it does not get any less controversial! Do you have a reaction? Let's hear it! ****************************** This third in a series of three posts proposes a theory that Christianity was born from Roman manipulation of the religious heart of Jewish resistance to their authority in Judea. It discusses Jesus’ trial, Pilate’s open public defense to a Jewish mob, and the spread of Christianity to Rome. Before the crucifixion, the Jewish court condemned Jesus to death for blasphemy and brought Jesus before Pilate with a fabricated Roman charge of sedition. Pontius Pilate changed the charge to “King of the Jews”. The Jewish elders asked Pilate to alter the inscription to, “This man claims to be King of the Jews.” Why did Pilate demand the charge “King of the Jews” for a Jewish peasant brought before him? Was it out of sarcasm to mock the demands of the Jewish court or was it per his own desire and design that Jesus be [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:21-04:00August 29th, 2022|Historical Jesus|

Did Jesus Believe in Armed Resistance to the Romans?

Here's a post from long ago that deals with an issue that has come up among some blog members recently. Was Jesus in favor of armed resistance? Were he and his disciples armed? Was he killed for insurrection because he actually *was* an insurrectionist? Here is the question in one of the forms I have received it, and my response. QUESTION: What is the scholarly view on this subject: did Jesus himself, his movement and then early Christians walk around with weapons (swords, e.g.) to protect themselves, despite preaching the love for enemies? Do we have any historical evidence of how things looked in this matter? RESPONSE: This is a hugely important question. I dealt with it in my book Jesus Before the Gospels, and don't think I'm able to say it any better by putting it in other words. So here is what I said there: ****************************** In all four Gospels, at least one of Jesus’ followers is armed when he is arrested. In the Synoptics, this unnamed follower draws his sword [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:20-04:00August 28th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|

Did Jesus Collaborate with the Romans to Produce His Movement? Platinum Guest Post by Ryan Fleming

Here now is the second of Ryan Fleming's posts arguing that the Jesus movement emerged from a collaboration with the Romans. It is for you Platinum members only. Are you interested in coming up with a post? It can be on any topic related to the blog. It does not have to be scholarly. It can be your own reflections. You can get some good feed back from others. Go for it! For now, here is Ryan going for it. ********************* This second in a series of three posts proposes a theory that Christianity was born from Roman manipulation of the religious heart of Jewish resistance to their authority in Judea. It discusses Jesus’ ministries, how they were conducive to Roman rule, and the role of “miracles”. Jesus offered teachings very different from Judaism. Jesus was consistently critical of the Jewish religious order; the keepers of the Mosaic Law (Luke 11:45-47 11:52), the scribes (Matt 15:1-7 23:2-3 23:13-29, Mark 12:38-40, Luke 20:46), the chief priests (Matt 21:23 21:31), the Pharisees (Matt 15:1-7 16:6 16:11-12 [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:21-04:00August 26th, 2022|Historical Jesus|

Did the Romans Help Create the Jesus’ Movement? Platinum Guest Post by Ryan Fleming

Platinum member Ryan Fleming has come up with three posts that may strike you as highly controversial. Very interesting ideas. What do you think? Ryan will be able to engage your questions and comments. This is the first of three posts; the others will be posted -- just for you Platinum members -- over the course of the next eight days. ******************* This series of three posts proposes a theory that Christianity was born from Roman manipulation of the religious heart of Jewish resistance to their authority in Judea. Jesus’ ministries were a collaboration with local Roman authority to change the culture of the Jewish people to be more conducive to Roman rule, collection of taxes, acceptance of gentiles, submissiveness, etc. The miracles attributed to Jesus were staged with clandestine support from Rome to enhance the popularity of the movement. The Jewish people saw through Jesus’ teachings as not being divine from their god, saw his teachings as blasphemous, and as such, rejected him and called for his execution. The Roman Prefect, Pontius Pilate, did [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:59:21-04:00August 22nd, 2022|Historical Jesus|

The Birth of (the Messiah?) John the Baptist? Anniversary Guest Post by James F. McGrath

I continue now with a post that was produced for us by a fellow scholar in celebration of the ten-year anniversary of the blog. James McGrath has made several intriguing posts for us, and this one is particularly interesting. Is it possible that stories about Jesus -- especially in the birth narratives were *originally* told about the future messiah, John the Baptist?? That the followers of Jesus took accounts originally told of John and edited them so that they now refer to Jesus? Very intriguing! Here's James's post. ******************* The Birth of John the Baptist: Detecting a Source from John’s Followers Behind Three Early Christian Gospels James F. McGrath, Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature, Butler University, Indianapolis Anyone who has read my previous guest posts here, or who has read academic publications by Bart and myself, will know we share a great many interests in common: the historical Jesus, the development of Christology, extracanonical texts, and many more. As I have begun to turn my attention to my next major [...]

Diane2025-09-10T12:58:36-04:00August 18th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Did Jesus Insist on Voluntary Poverty?

I am returning now to my discussion of understandings of wealth and charity in the early Christian tradition, as I think through how I want to draft my prospectus on a book on that topic for my publisher. If you want to see the earlier posts on views of wealth and giving in the Roman world (which stand in stark contrast with what arose in Christianity), just do a word search for “wealth” on the blog and you’ll see all the recent articles. Now I move to the views of the historical Jesus and his followers; after that, in subsequent posts, I’ll talk about how these views changed significantly over (Christian) time, and consider the real life practical effects they had in understanding the importance of helping the poor in the Western world. ************************ The later Christian discourse appealed to such traditions as found in the Hebrew Bible, but it found yet greater impetus in the recorded teachings of Jesus. For the purposes of my analysis, it is important to remember that historical scholars can [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:58:36-04:00July 10th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Another Historical Scholar’s Understanding of the Resurrection

I am reposting the ten blog posts made on April 18 (or thereabouts) in celebration of our tenth anniversary of the blog. Here now is a particularly important one from 2017; at the time I was working on my book How Jesus Became God and thinking hard about how to understand the early Christian claims that Jesus had been raised from the dead. ****************************** One of the first books that I have re-read in thinking about how it is the man Jesus came to be thought of as God is Gerd Lüdemann’s, The Resurrection of Christ: A Historical Inquiry (2004). Lüdemann is an important and interesting scholar. He was professor of New Testament at Göttingen in Germany, and for a number of years split his time between there and Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. He is a major figure in scholarship, and is noteworthy for not being a Christian. He does not believe Jesus was literally, physically, raised from the dead, and he thinks that apart from belief in Jesus’ physical resurrection, it is not [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:58:21-04:00June 14th, 2022|Book Discussions, Historical Jesus|

Lazarus and the Rich Man: What To Do with Wealth

I’ve been thinking a good bit about the problem of wealth in the teachings of Jesus. Among the passages that are obviously relevant is the famous parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man. I talked about the story in my book Heaven and Hell (Simon and Schuster, 2020). The following is a revised version of what I say there. The story appears in Luke 16:19-31 in the context of a number of parables and other sayings of Jesus. In the parable Jesus contrasts the life and afterlife of an anonymous rich man and a destitute beggar named Lazarus. The wealthy many is dressed in fine clothes and enjoys sumptuous meals every day. Lazarus lies outside his gate, starving, desperate even to get the scraps off the rich man’s table. The scene is pathetic: dogs come up and lick Lazarus’s wounds. Both men die at about the same time. Lazarus is Members of the blog get five posts a week in exchange for a small membership fee -- every penny of which goes to charity. So [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:58:20-04:00June 5th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Concerns for the Poor in the Jewish Tradition

I have begun to contrast the Christian views of wealth and the need for the rich to help the poor with typical pagan views that placed almost no emphasis on helping those in need. It is impossible to understand the Christian emphasis on almsgiving without situating it in its originating context – the Jewish tradition, going all the way back in the oldest Scriptures of Israel. Unlike the pagan tradition, the Hebrew Bible consistently pronounces God’s concern for the poor and repeatedly instructs those who have means to assist them. Thus in the Torah itself: “Give liberally and be ungrudging […], for on this account the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’” (Deut. 15:9-11). Many of the most emphatic passages occur, as one might expect, in the prophets: Blog members get beefy posts five times a [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:58:20-04:00May 28th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Historical Jesus|

The Plausibility of the Fourth Gospel: The Sayings of Jesus. Guest Post by Dennis Folds

Here is the second of a two-part Platinum-guest-post by Dennis Folds, who makes the controversial argument that *John* is the more accurate Gospel and that it is *Mark* who has changed the historical facts. This time he focuses on the teachings of Jesus and, relatedly, the reasons for his condemnation to execution. Interesting stuff. Let us know what you think! And feel free to write a post or two in response! Or write a post on anything else related to what we do on the blog. Your input is welcome! ****************************** In Part 1 of this two-part post, I described the vast differences between the gospels of John and Mark in the chronology of events of Jesus’s ministry. Matthew and Luke follow Mark’s chronology, and these three (the Synoptic Gospels) are thought to be more accurate. I argued that the narrative in John is more credible, as it spread the action over two-plus years, had Jesus going back and forth to Jerusalem for major religious festivals, and had a growing conflict with the religious authorities. [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:58:06-04:00May 6th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

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