Many of you are now thinking about your end-of-the-year giving plans.  Here’s an option I would like to ask you to consider. The Blog has received two challenge grants that between them total $25,000.  That is to say, to meet the challenge, we need to raise $25,000 ourselves.  When/if we do so: whammo – that’s $50k. The funds must come in, or be pledged, by December 31.  For us to meet the goal we will need lots of small donations (a dollar counts!), a number of good-sized donations (pick an amount), and several very sizeable donations. One of the reasons I’m *especially* keen on this opportunity is this.  As of now we have distributed $425,000 to our charities THIS YEAR.  That is by far the best we have ever done.  Last year was our record year, with a total for the year of $340,000.  But now we are close to a ratherremarkable milestone:  $500,000 in one year.   Them’s newsworthy numbers.  I’d LOVE to be able to do it.  And oh boy would our charities love [...]

I am happy to announce that I will be presenting and recording a Chrismas-season lecture "Other Virgin Births in Antiquity," on December 14, 8:00-9:30 ET.  The lecture is not connected with the blog per se, except in sofar as y'all as blog members may well be particularly interested. You can find out about it, along with other lectures and courses that are available here: Online Courses by Dr. Bart Ehrman (10% Off First Order): This is how I'm describing the lecture in my announcement of the course in other venues. *************** Other Virgin Births in Antiquity Bart D. Ehrman Jesus of Nazareth was not the only miracle-working Son of God known to the ancient world.  Others were also said to heal the sick, cast out demons, control the weather, raise the dead, and ascend to heaven. But were any of these others born of a virgin? Search the Internet and you’ll find a definitive answer: Yes.  But ask an expert who has actually studied the ancient sources and …  and what will you learn? That [...]

  I sometimes get asked to provide specifics about the charities we support on the blog.  To date, in ten and a half years, we have raised a total of $1.8 million.  Our efforts are becoming increasingly productive: on Oct. 22 this year surpassed our entire total  disbursed funds from our banner-last-year (which came in at $360,000). Where's all the money going?  Not to me (I can assure you!) or to any of our overhead.  I get not a thin dime; and the overhead is raised in its entirety through separate fund-raising efforts and foundation donations.  Every penny from your membership fee, and from regular donations, from the book club, and from other fund-raisers, go directly to charity. I talk about the specific charities on the blog site itself, under "About the Blog."  But it's good to get the information out there in even simpler form on occasion.  And so, here it is! ****************************** All the monies collected by the blog (membership fees, direct donations, specified fund raisers) go into the Bart Ehrman Foundation, and [...]

These aren't related to the blog per se, but, well, to me.  In case you're interested.... 1. As many of you know, I'm starting a podcast, Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman.  In fact, it's starting tomorrow.  We will be debuting with two episodes, the first that explain the title and a bit of why we chose it, how it relates to my life personally (my views of the Bible as they developed), and what it all means.  The second will be more specific about Christian scribes copying their texts.  My host is Megan Lewis, who is *terrific*; it includes Q&A (questions previously submitted on the topic) and a couple of other features..  You will be able to find it wherever you do your podcasts AND, if you prefer video, on my Youtube page. 2. Unrelated to that or much anything:  my editor from Yale University Press emailed me today to tell me that my recent book Journeys to Heaven and Hell has been chosen for the New Yorker's "Best Books of 2022."  An academic book??  Go figure.  [...]

Did Jesus actually say the Golden Rule as found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7; the saying is in Matt. 7:12).  I have talked about the Sermon and why it is so important for Matthew’s Gospel (in a previous post: Little-Known Aspects of the Golden Rule as Found in the Sermon on the Mount) and now it is time to say something controversial about it.  I don’t think Jesus ever gave the Sermon on the Mount. That’s not just a crazy idea I came up with one day.  It’s a widespread view among historical scholars, for reasons that would not be hard to figure out.  Just think about the logistics of the issue for a second.   The Sermon goes on for three entire chapters.  These are not concise chapters; in our Bibles today, they are 111 verses in total (48 + 34 + 29) – saying after saying after saying, one after the other, some one-liners, some extended instructions, some parabolic-like illustrations. It is an amazing collection of Jesus’ teachings, by far his [...]

Possibly the best-known teaching of Jesus is the Golden Rule, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”  Many people would consider this the very core of Jesus’ teaching, the one line that sums up his entire message about how people ought to behave and live their lives.  And so it probably seems strange that there are scholars who doubt that he actually said it. Do they have good grounds for thinking so? In a later post I’ll consider a couple of the best arguments against thinking Jesus said it and then (spoiler alert!).  I’ll explain why, in the end, I don’t find the arguments convincing.  I think Jesus probably did say it, and even if he didn’t actually say it, I think it brilliantly encapsulates his message. In this post I’ll set up the discussion by explaining the first appearance of the words in any of our sources, i.e., the Gospel of Matthew. Before getting to the Gospel of Matthew, I should acknowledge that some of you might be thinking: of [...]

I am pleased to announce that I have indeed decided to start a Podcast (NOTE: this will not be replacing the Bart Ehrman Blog Podcast; it is a completely different beast, in which I am interviewed, as opposed to the already important [!] podcast, on which volunteers read my posts to encourage listeners to join the blog).  And here, before starting, I need some assistance (see below). But first, let me give you a few of the details.  It will be a weekly podcast, called Misquoting Jesus, with Bart Ehrman.  It will cover many of the same sorts of things we do on the blog -- NT, historical Jesus, writings and life of Paul, the rest of the NT, all aspects of early Christianity such as non-canonical Gospels, the role of women, heresy and orthodoxy, Christianization of the empire, persecution and martyrdom, Jewish-Christian relations, and on and on. We will initially release several episodes (i.e. on the first day), and after that it will be one a week.  It will always appear on a Tuesday, time [...]

I will be in Denver for the annual Society of Biblical Literature Meeting, starting a week before Thanksgiving.   Anyone out that way interested in a blog dinner, Thursday November 17?    Possibly a drink t in advance.  Somewhere near the Convention Center. Are you in the vicinity?  Interested?    If we can get 3-4 (and no more than 7) people together, I'd be happy to do it. No obligations other than: Being a blog member Showing up Talking Paying for whatever you ingest.  Whatever you exgest is free. If you're interested, do NOT reply here as a comment.  Send me an email at [email protected]. Hope it happens!