I was recently asked if I'd be willing to do a lecture on whether the Gospels are anti-Semitic.  I've dealt with the issue on the blog before, but thought it might be useful to return to a particularly interesting feature of the Gospels that can contribute to an answer. I should say at the outset that I do not think that the Gospel writers, or anyone else in their time, was “anti-Semitic.”   The idea and reality of anti-Semitism are modern, and are based on modern sense of “race” as these were developed by the anthropologists of the 19th century.  The idea that there was a Semitic “race” has been used for all sorts of hateful purposes in the modern period.  As just one example, throughout the Middle Ages – before the modern period -- and on into the nineteenth century, “Jews” were understood to be people who subscribed to and followed the Jewish religion – but not that they had racial characteristics.  There were indeed persecutions of Jews, since the conversion of the Roman Empire [...]

A number of you have signed up to come to our Blog Movie Club discussion this Sunday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 EST, to discuss my favorite Jesus Movie of all time, "Jesus of Montreal."   Some of you who have not yet signed up may be interested in coming once your learn what the movie is about. Below is a note we sent to all those who have already signed up, where I describe the movie and suggest how to watch it. If you decide you want to come to the event after all, there is still time!  Here is the link:  Register here And this is the link to my post describing the event more fully:  My All-Time Favorite Jesus Movie. Wanna Discuss It With Me? - The Bart Ehrman Blog   Watching Notes for “Jesus of Montreal” Blog Movie Club, 2023   I’m glad you’ll be joining me on Jan 22 for a discussion of Jesus of Montreal --- my all-time favorite Jesus movie.   Some of you have seen it already, other not.  No matter, [...]

Do public debates on controversial topics do anything other than entertain, stir up the blood, and make people more entrenched in their views?  It there any sense of speaking of a “winner” in a debate in which virtually all listeners already have opinions?  Is there any substantive reason to have these events, other than to provide a bit of public spectacle? I’m in London for the holidays, spending most of the time visiting family on Sarah’s side.  But we did have a chance to get to a play on the West End, called “The Best of Enemies.”  I hadn’t heard of it before, but it’s made a big splash, probably because of its obvious ongoing political and social relevance, even though it is about a series of events from 55 years ago. The play is a dramatization of the debates held on ABC between William F. Buckley, famous and outspoken conservative intellectual, and Gore Vidal, famous and outspoken liberal intellectual, during the 1968 Presidential National Conventions.  Some of you will remember these characters well, others [...]

Here's a reminder about a first-time-ever blog event, coming soon.  Interested?  Here's the original announcement. ************************* People often ask me what my favorite “Jesus Movie” is, and they  almost never expect my answer.  For me it’s hands down.  A clear forerunner.  A movie most people have never heard of, but in my opinion, the best of all time: “Jesus of Montreal.”   This is not just my favorite Jesus movie of all time but one of my very favorite movies of any kind of all time. Want to watch it and then have a discussion about it with me? This will be our first ever Blog Movie Club event (BMC)! The main event, the discussion with me, will be on Sunday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 pm EST. The Movie Club viewing will not be that day, but before; and you have two (well three!) massively convenient options.  You can: Watch it on your own at your leisure. Join other blog members in watching it simultaneously in silence, with a brief introduction and discussion afterward (without me) led [...]

People often ask me what my favorite “Jesus Movie” is, and they  almost never expect my answer.  For me it’s hands down.  A clear forerunner.  A movie most people have never heard of, but in my opinion, the best of all time: “Jesus of Montreal.”   This is not just my favorite Jesus movie of all time but one of my very favorite movies of any kind of all time. Want to watch it and then have a discussion about it with me? This will be our first ever Blog Movie Club event (BMC)! The main event, the discussion with me, will be on Sunday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 pm EST. The Movie Club viewing will not be that day, but before; and you have two (well three!) massively convenient options.  You can: Watch it on your own at your leisure. Join other blog members in watching it simultaneously in silence, with a brief introduction and discussion afterward (without me) led by movie club organizer and blog member Lance Boyer, on January 14, 8:00 pm; Join other [...]

We are five days from Christmas and twelve days from the New Year.  At about this time for nearly every December of the blog's existence I have opened up a holiday giving option that can help out people who really want to be on the blog but cannot afford the membership fees. In most years we we have been able to give out something like 70-80 gift memberships.  To qualify to receive one, a person had to send me their contact information and to tell me a bit about their circumstances, why they could not afford membership fees (I don't pry: I just want a general idea).  I provided gift memberships only to people who really needed them.  Some of the stories have been heart-breaking.  Luckily, virtually everyone who contacted me has been able to be given a gift membership. I will post on my social media (Facebook and Twitter) as well as on a public post here, the availability of memberships.  I will give out as many as we have.  Would you like to [...]

Is there an I in me? For several years now, I have been increasingly fascinated by the brain as an organ, and by consciousness as a phenomenon.  These are not topics you can figure out simply by taking some time to muse about them – although I strongly advocate taking time to muse about them and putting some effort into musing about them seriously.  There are, of course, incredibly smart people out there with massive expertise who know and understand things beyond the ken of us mere mortals.  But even they haven’t figured out the brain (or even close; but whoa do they know a lot about it).  Or consciousness: even though, in this case, a number of people – usually philosophers – certainly claim they have, or at least that they *basically* have. It is worth reading what these folk have to say when they write simplified versions of their views in trade books designed for the rest of us who ain’t on their level.   And these versions can indeed get us to think [...]