Public Forum Archives - Page 26 of 89 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

My New Online Course on Paul and Jesus!
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My New Online Course on Paul and Jesus!

Public Forum

My New Online Course on Paul and Jesus!

In case you haven't heard, I will be doing a live, eight-lecture online course comparing the theology of Paul and Jesus on May 27-28. The course is not connected with the blog -- it is part of my separate venture for a series I'm publishing called How Scholars Read the Bible. But I mention here because some of you may be interested. Even if you can't make the live sessions and Q&A, you can purchase the course to watch at your leisure. You can learn about it here: BartEhrman.com The course will consist of four lectures and one Q&A each day. The lectures will be 30 - 40 minutes each. This course addresses one of the most controversial issues of early Christianity: Did Paul and Jesus have the same religion? Should they be considered the “co-founders” of Christianity? Or were the teachings of Paul at odds with the proclamations of Jesus, making Paul himself the founder of the new faith? Few questions can be more significant for understanding the origin of the Christian faith, and the [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:56-04:00May 23rd, 2023|Public Forum|

Didn’t the Disciples Memorize Jesus’ Teachings and Accounts of His Life?
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Didn’t the Disciples Memorize Jesus’ Teachings and Accounts of His Life?

Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, History of Biblical Scholarship, Memory Studies, Public Forum

Didn’t the Disciples Memorize Jesus’ Teachings and Accounts of His Life?

I've been talking about how scholars began to realize in the early 20th century that the stories of Jesus in the Gospels were based on oral traditions that the Gospel writers inherited decades earlier. But is that really a problem? Here's how I discuss the issue in my book Jesus Before the Gospels (HarperOne, 2016). ****************************** Many people, when they first consider the reality that the traditions in our Gospels must have circulated orally for decades before being written down, come up with a commonsensical response. Surely the sayings of Jesus, and the accounts of his life, were actually memorized by his followers, so that they would be preserved accurately. Aren’t oral cultures known for being able to preserve their traditions spotlessly? After all, since they didn’t have written records to keep their memories alive, people in such cultures must have worked with special diligence to remember what they learned and to pass their stories along seamlessly from one person and one generation to the next. Right? Unfortunately, decades of intense research have shown that this [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:38-04:00May 23rd, 2023|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, History of Biblical Scholarship, Memory Studies, Public Forum|

Was Jesus Literate or Illiterate? A Platinum Post by Omar Abur-Robb

For Platinum members, from Platinum member Omar Abur-Robb: ****************************** Was Jesus literate or Illiterate omr-mhmd.yolasite.com Scholars are in difference regarding whether Jesus was literate or not, and I would like to explore this subject. Most of the people who lives in Galilee at the time of Jesus were peasants, and most of the peasants were poor, and most of the poor peasants were illiterate. Therefore, we can conclude that Jesus was illiterate. But the above conclusion was based on a “null hypothesis”. “Null hypotheses” are statements of probability. So ... Let Sam be one of the people who lived in Galilee at that time. We know nothing about Sam except that he lived in Galilee. Therefore, the probability of Sam being a poor illiterate peasant is very high, and the probability otherwise is very low. Therefore, the “null hypothesis” (that is the “initial assumption”) about anyone living in Galilee is that they were poor illiterate peasants. However, there is no evidence that every single peasant in Galilee was poor illiterate. In the contrary, you [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:37-04:00May 22nd, 2023|Public Forum|

Was Levi of Alphaeus the “the Beloved Disciple”? Platinum Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller, MATS

****************************** Was Levi of Alphaeus the "the Beloved Disciple"? A Redaction Critical Approach Since the discovery of the Gospel of Peter, scholars have speculated about the missing words after the mention of "Levi of Alphaeus" in the final sentence, which breaks off. The sentence reads, "But I, Simon Peter, and my brother Andrew, having taken our nets, went off to the sea. And there was with us Levi of Alphaeus whom the Lord [blank]," (Tr. Raymond Brown). How should we fill in the blank? Could it be "whom the Lord [loved],"? Many scholars have wondered whether this mention of Levi of Alphaeus in the Gospel of Peter might solve the mystery of the identity of "the other disciple" in the Gospel of John, "the one whom Jesus loved". I have discovered literary clues to support this suspicion. "Levi son of Alphaeus", a major character in Mark's gospel, becomes utterly obscure in Matthew's redaction of Mark's story. My hypothesis is that the identity of John's "other disciple" borrows from Matthew's peculiar literary penchant [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:37-04:00May 19th, 2023|Public Forum|

Did Early Christians “Invent” Memories of Jesus?

I've been talking about how we remember things -- or misremember things, or make up memories of things -- as a way of getting to the question of how, in our heads, we think about what Jesus said and did. This is all part of my larger project that came incarnated (inletterated?) in my book Jesus Before the Gospels. As I point out early in the book, we remember most things just fine, but we also often get things either partially or completely wrong. Memories can be frail, faulty, and false. And not just our individual memories, but also the “memories” we have as a society. In previous posts I illustrated the point by talking about social memories of Abraham Lincoln and Christopher Columbus. But what about faulty memories of Jesus (see my last post if it doesn't make sense to talk about "remembering" someone we never knew!). To get to this question, in my book, I talk about some of the modern representations of Jesus by current-day scholars and popular authors – for example, Jesus [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:37-04:00May 17th, 2023|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, History of Biblical Scholarship, Public Forum|

Jesus’ Resurrection: A Challenging Hypothetical. Guest Post by Ryan Fleming

And now *here* is an interesting way to think about whether someone was raised from the dead! This is a Platinum Guest Post by Ryan Fleming. It is begging for responses. What do you think? ****************************** A short story: Suppose you are a French-resistance fighter in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II. One of your countrymen, Jacques, is unbeknownst to you, a Nazi spy. He openly supports passivism towards Nazi authority, keeps the peace, and even promotes paying taxes to the Nazis. Periodically you see Jacques in the company of a Nazi officer. You and your fellow countrymen become suspicious, even fearful. Is he subverting the mental drive to undermine resistance, or at worst, is he giving away secrets, risking the lives of resistance fighters? You and your countrymen conspire to present a charge to Nazi authority that Jacques has raped a woman to see what they will do. You demand Jacques is guilty, present the woman as a witness who emphatically exclaims Jacques raped her, and demands Jacques must be executed. Eventually, Nazi authority, [...]

admin2025-07-16T17:42:12-04:00May 16th, 2023|Public Forum|

The Father and the Son. A Platinum Post by Omar Abur-Robb

A Platinum post for fellow Platinum members from Omar Abur-Robb: ****************************** The Father and the Son omr-mhmd.yolasite.com When and how the people of the Christian faith started to refer to God as “The Father”? Jews today refer to God as Adonai, Hashem, or Elohim. Karaite Jews do refer to God as Yahweh, but the Rabbinic Jews don’t use this name as they regard it sacred. But (to my understanding) there are no Jews (Karaite or Rabbinic) who refer to God as “The Father”. Also (to my understanding) there are no Jews in history who have referred to God as “The Father”. Therefore, I can establish the following null-hypothesis that Jews at the time of Jesus didn’t refer to God as “The Father”. Now ... if someone managed to extract a paragraph from an ancient Jewish manuscript (for example: one of the books of Philo, Josephus, or the dead sea scrolls, etc.) that demonstrate that Jews at the time of Jesus did refer to God as “The Father” then the previous hypothesis will fall [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:37-04:00May 15th, 2023|Public Forum|

Dr. Bart D. Ehrman, Apostle to the Atheists. A Platinum Post by Robert Droney

Here is a Platinum guest post by Robert Droney where he objects (rather vigorously) to my self-identification as a "Christian atheist." As always, he has a reasoned set of arguments! I won't be replying here, but, well, what to *you* think? And remember, you too can write a Platinum guest post for other Platinum members, with the possibility of it being posted to the entire blog. If you have one, or just an idea of one, let us know; zap an email to [email protected] ********************************* I think that most people and are familiar with Saul’s conversion story. Saul was a “Jew’s, Jew.”[1] A well-educated and zealous Pharisee who persecuted early Christians for their heretical belief that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah.[2] However, on the road to Damascus, Jesus appears to Saul to reprimand him for his persecution of Christians.[3] Because of this experience, resulting blindness, and receipt of the Holy Spirit, Saul mends his ways, ceases persecuting Christians and becomes a fervent advocate for the belief in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.[4] Personally, I find [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:36-04:00May 12th, 2023|Public Forum|

Blog Announcement: Comments!

Just so you know! Tomorrow I'm heading to the Galapagos and will not have reliable wifi for about a week. That WON'T affect the blog posts -- I've got them all lined up and ready to roll. BUT, I won't be able to respond to comments. But feel free to make them at will. I will get to them when I return from the land of Darwin to the land of AI. And maybe I should start using AI to respond to comments, for the sake of all involved! (But never fear: it ain't gonna happen.)

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:56-04:00May 12th, 2023|Public Forum|

May Gold Q&A: Submit your questions!

Dear Goldies, Our monthly Gold Q&A is coming upon us. DEADLINE for your question(s): this coming Friday, May 19, 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 will probably 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

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:38-04:00May 10th, 2023|Public Forum|

Was Matthew Attacking Paul?

On my podcast this past week (Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman) someone asked me if I thought any of the Gospels of the NT were influenced by Paul. It's an interesting question that I should post on (my view: Mark, maybe; Luke, unexpectedly and oddly not; John, I doubt it; Matthew?) Ah, Matthew. As it turns out, I think Matthew shows a rather obvious and ironic connection with Paul. Did he know Paul's writings? I have no idea. Did he know about Paul? Same, no idea. Did he oppose a major feature of Paul's gospel message? Sure looks like it!! (I'm trying to say that he could be opposed to Paul's views without necessarily knowing Paul's writings; the views may have been more widely spread than just by Paul. In fact, they almost certainly were. Here's how I've discussed the matter once when I was reflecting at greater length in the issue: Paul certainly had opponents in his lifetime: "Judaizers," as scholars call them -- that is, Christian teachers who maintained that followers of Jesus [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:23-04:00May 9th, 2023|Canonical Gospels, Paul and His Letters, Public Forum|

The Road From the “Duo of Philo” to the “Trinity of Nicaea” A Platinum Post by Omar Abur-Robb

I am happy to post this guest post to Platinum members by fellow Platinum member Omar Abdur-Robb. The trinity is a complicated issue in early Christianity, closely related to Greek philosophical thought (it's not just some idea someone came up with once....). Here Omar explores a key aspect of how it may have happened. Remember: you too can post a platinum guest post! Simply send your submission to [email protected] ****************************** The road from the "Duo of Philo" to the "Trinity of Nicaea" Omar Abur-Robb omr-mhmd.yolasite.com There is a clear relationship between the early Greek Christianity and the Greek metaphysical philosophy, and we will explore this here. But let us first show the genius of the Greek thinking process: Let us take an object. This object can be divided into two objects. Then each one can be divided into two objects, and so forth. But this process of division cannot continue forever; otherwise all objects are just a combination of zeros. Therefore, there need to be an elementary object that cannot be divided. The Greek [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:37-04:00May 8th, 2023|Public Forum|

Remembering Columbus, Remembering Christ

In my previous post on Abraham Lincoln I discussed how the collective "memory" of important persons from the past can be distorted. We as a society "remember" things in certain ways -- e.g., Vietnam; Civil Rights Movement; Elvis; 9/11), -- different groups differently and not always accurately . Here I give another example, not to be a definitive demonstration of my point so much as to help us think about the issue. What about our memories of Christopher Columbus? And, well, how about the early Christians' memory of Jesus? Again, this comes from the early part of my book Jesus Before the Gospels (HarperOne, 2016). ****************************** Remembering Columbus Much the same can be said about most of the historical figures that we revere, from Caesar Augustus to Joan of Arc to Christopher Columbus. Columbus is an interesting example. He is not always remembered today in the same glowing terms that we remembered him when I was a child growing up in the 50s and 60s. In those days, we remembered Columbus as one of the great [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:23-04:00May 7th, 2023|Memory Studies, Public Forum|

How Do We “Remember” Lincoln?

In my last post, I mentioned a phenomenon known as “collective” memory. It's how groups of people "remember" something in the past. This isn't quite the same as how you remember what you did on your last vacation. It's more like how past events or figures are constructed in the broader "memory" of a society. Sociologists have long studied this problem, and their findings can help us think differently about how later Christian societies (groups of people) "remembered" Jesus. Here's an example I cite in my book Jesus Before the Gospels (HarperOne, 2016). ****************************** Remembering Lincoln In 2014 a poll was taken of 162 members of the American Political Science Association, asking them to rank all the past presidents of the United States, from best to worst.[1] Probably to no one’s great surprise, the top-ranked president was Abraham Lincoln. Most of us – though certainly not all of us – remember Lincoln as a truly great and noble man who did remarkable things for his country. But he was not always thought of in that [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:23-04:00May 6th, 2023|Memory Studies, Public Forum|

Did The Twelve Become Only Three? Platinum post by Douglas Wadeson MD

Early Christianity had many stories about the adventures of the Twelve Apostles after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Thomas is tricked into becoming a missionary to India.1 John travels about evangelizing while demonstrating control of bedbugs!2 Andrew was said to travel to the area now known as Ukraine to evangelize there – I’ve been there several times and a statue of Andrew is seen outside their parliament building and elsewhere.3 The vast majority of these stories are so fanciful and written so late that scholars do not take them as factual, but they have worked their way into Christian traditions. What did the Apostles do after Jesus? Did they even remain faithful, let alone evangelize? All four Gospels hint at doubts among the Apostles, even after Jesus’ reported resurrection appearances. Mark, our earliest gospel, portrays the Twelve as mostly clueless throughout Jesus’ ministry. At Jesus’ arrest “His disciples all left Him and fled” (Mark 14:50). In the original ending, at 16:8, the women flee the tomb and do NOT tell the other [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:03:16-04:00May 3rd, 2023|Public Forum|

And Here’s My Final Exam on The Birth of Christianity

Yesterday I posted an old final exam for my course Introduction to the New Testament. And for your amusement, here is an exam for my course that I taught this semester, called the Birth of Christianity, which covered the developments within Christianity after the New Testament up through the conversion of Constantine. See how you do! And again, I wish I could grade your answers, but, alas.... The Birth of Christianity, Reli 208 Final Exam This is exam is in three sections; you have three hours to complete it. We suggest you spend no more than an hour on each section. Section One: Short Identification. Write short answers up to 50 words on ten (and no more than ten) of the following. Make your answers as detailed and informative as you can. Ebionites The Gospel of Peter Arius Apologists Theodosius I Tertullian The Great Persecution Thecla Donatism Asceticism Incarnation Christology Infancy Gospel of Thomas Section Two: First Essay. Write an essay on the following topic. Make it as detailed [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:23-04:00May 2nd, 2023|Public Forum|

Was Jesus a False Prophet?

As many of you know, I started a podcast awhile back, called Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. It's not connected with the blog, but it deals with stuff most blog members would be interested in. (And hey, it's free! Available both as a podcast on all the main podcast servers and on Youtube.) A new episode comes out every Tuesday, and it occurred to me that you might be interested in knowing what's happening on it. So, I've decided to make weekly announcements here, in case you're interested in going there! This past Tuesday, the topic I discussed with my host Megan Lewis, was "Was Jesus a False Prophet." Here's the description, in case you'd like to check it out. Historical scholars for over a century have maintained that Jesus predicted that the end of history as we know it was to come in his own generation. Conservative Christians -- laypeople and scholars alike -- have insisted that this is a complete misportrayal of Jesus. And many people -- possibly most? -- believe that [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:24-04:00May 1st, 2023|Public Forum|

Wanna Take My Final Exam In New Testament?

I was browsing through some old posts from years ago and came across this one, a copy of my final exam for my undergraduate course, Introduction to the New Testament. Check it out. How would you do? The students have some idea of what the exam will entail in advance. For the identifications, anything they've read or heard during the semester is fair game. I don't give them a list of terms ahead of time to study. They have to know every term covered in the reading and that I've given in class. For the essays: two weeks ahead of time I gave them fourteen possible essay questions for the exam, and told them I would choose two of the fourteen for the final. I decided to give them some choice, as you'll see, so they could have some leeway about which essay to write. I won't be able to correct your wrong answers or even to tell you the right ones, since each identification could take up to 50 words, and the essays took [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T13:02:23-04:00April 30th, 2023|Public Forum|

Good Friday or Easter? CNN OpEd

On Easter Sunday CNN published an OpEd that I wrote to discuss how so many Christians (most I've ever known) are not overly compelled by Good Friday but are passionate about Easter. Just, well, check out the church attendance on both days. In the OpEd I argued that it's because as a rule most Christians prefer the glory to the pain, and in some ways that preference is written into the canon of the New Testament, where the teachings of Jesus of the need to serve others even if it means suffering comes first and then Revelation where the saints are given domination of the earth and a city of gold from which they rule the earth with a rod of iron comes last. The reality is that most Christians prefer the conquering Christ of Revelation to the suffering Jesus of the Gospels -- at least when it comes to what they want to see in their own lives. CNN has a policy that does not allow me to reproduce the entire OpEd, just the [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:02:22-04:00April 29th, 2023|Public Forum|

Vote for your favorite Platinum Guest Post!

We've had a string of interesting Platinum guest posts since our last vote. Which of these is your favorite? Send in your vote to Diane at [email protected] -- and I'll post the winner on the full blog. Remember: you too can write a guest post for Platinums. Is there anything you want to discuss? Wanna an idea out there, let the world know what's what? It could be anything connected to the blog. Give it a shot! And in the meantime, vote for one of these. February 13, 2023 Jesus’ Resurrection: A Challenging Hypothetical. Ryan Fleming February 17, 2023 Analyzing the Prophecies in Daniel 7, 2 and 9 Omar Robb March 31, 2023 What Does God Think of Surrogacy? Imran M. Usmani April 7, 2023 Yahweh and Moses Omar Abur-Robb

admin2025-07-16T17:42:04-04:00April 26th, 2023|Public Forum|

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