As we are all so painfully aware, almost all travel holidays this past year were canceled.  But now many tour companies are optimistic that by late spring or early summer, with widespread vaccination internationally, travel will resume.  We will know eventually! I have been asked to do a special tour to Rome and Southern Italy, June 4-14, 2021, (THIS June!) to give lectures on the relationship of Christianity and traditional Roman religions and cultures in the early centuries CE:  “Christians and Pagans.”   I’ve agreed to do it, and will go ahead with it, of course, only if it is completely safe. The tour company, Thalassa, is terrific; it will be a small and intimate group and we will have tons of time to talk, discuss, and hang out together.   They are now accepting registrations for the trip.  Below is a poster for it, with a link for more information.  Here is part of what I say about my lectures. When Christianity arrived on the world stage in the first century AD, Rome and the [...]

This Sunday I will again be giving two live Zoom lectures on the Gospels to anyone who wants to come. They will be recorded for my undergraduate course on the New Testament.  There will be a 30-minute Q & A to follow the second one. There is no charge per se, but I would like to ask for a donation to the blog in exchange, if you can see your way clear to do it.  If not, that’s fine – we all have our circumstances!  But one of the main reasons I’m doing these lectures is to raise money for the Food Bank of North Carolina; as with all food banks right now, it is in desperate need.  Your donation is completely tax deductible. Here is the info you need: Time: Sunday, Feb. 21.  1:00 pm first lecture; 2:15 second (EST) Lectures will each last about 50 minutes. First Lecture:  The Alternative Perspectives of the Gospel of Luke. This lecture will show how Luke differs in significant ways from both Mark and Matthew, and will [...]

This Wednesday (2/17/21) 7:00-8:15 pm I will be holding a live ABA (“Ask Bart Anything”).  It will be over Zoom and will be open to anyone on the planet who wants to come. The format: I will take live questions both orally and through chats.  The questions can be on ANY topic that anyone is interested in.  If it is something I don’t know anything about (quantum physics or the Ming Dynasty) or that I would rather not talk about (that little incident when I was 16….) I’ll just say so.  I will get through as many questions as I can, answering easy ones briefly and taking as long as I need to deal with more complicated ones.  My only request will be that questions are direct questions, not lectures, sermons, admonitions, condemnations, expositions of one’s favorite views, or statements of one’s opinions so the rest of the world can hear and convert. Interested?   There is no need to register, no obligation of any kind.   And not cost.  Free to all.  BUT: If you you [...]

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I am now getting in the habit of doing Zoom lectures on the New Testament on Sunday afternoons; these are being recorded for my undergraduate course on the New Testament.  But all of you are invited to come this week, but because of UNC’s schedule, it will be one lecture instead of two, with Q & A to follow. There is no charge per se, but I would like to ask for a donation to the blog in exchange, if you can see your way clear to do it.  If not, that’s fine – we all have our circumstances!  But one of the main reasons I’m doing these lectures is to raise money for the Food Bank of North Carolina; as with all food banks right now, it is in desperate need.  Your donation is completely tax deductible. Here is the info you need: Time: Sunday, Feb. 14.  1:00 pm EST. Lecture will last about 50 minutes, followed by the 30 minutes of Q&A. Topic: Jesus the Jewish Messiah: Understanding the Gospel of Matthew. This [...]

A number of people have suggested that it might be interesting for me to hold a live “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session.  I’ve been told that the term “AMA” is copyrighted (?!) and not open for public use.   So we are going to call this an ABA (“Ask Bart Anything”).  It will be over Zoom and will be open to anyone on the planet who wants to come. The format: I will take live questions both orally and through chats.  The questions can be on ANY topic that anyone is interested in.  If it is something I don’t know anything about (quantum physics or the Ming Dynasty) or that I would rather not talk about (that little incident when I was 16….) I’ll just say so.  I will get through as many questions as I can, answering easy ones briefly and taking as long as I need to deal with more complicated ones.  My only request will be that questions are direct questions, not lectures, sermons, admonitions, condemnations, expositions of one’s favorite views, or statements [...]

Last week I gave two Zoom lectures, recorded for my undergraduate course on the New Testament, and invited all of you to come.  It went extremely well and a good time was had by all.  Well, OK, a good time was had by *me*!   After the second lecture we had about 30 minutes of Q&A, all very lively. I'm going to do it again *this* Sunday.  Wanna to hear them?  Then come!  There would be no charge per se, but I would like to ask for a (completely voluntary) donation to the blog. This will be Sunday, Jan. 31..  I will give two lectures (different times this week!), one at 1:00 and the other at 2:15.  Each lecture will take about 40-45 minutes.  The topics this time:  "The Oral Traditions about Jesus Before the Gospels."  This is the most controversial talk my students have ever heard about Jesus. I explain how the stories about Jesus were circulated and came to be changed, and even invented, in the years before the Gospel writers heard them and [...]

Because of the crisis, I will be teaching my course, Introduction to the New Testament, remotely this semester, by recording two lectures a week, starting Sunday, for my students to listen to during the week at their convenience.  Last week for the heck of it I tried recording a lecture by myself in an empty room.  It, uh, did not go well, to say the least.  I need *someone* to talk to if I’m going to talk.   Otherwise I just stumble over my words and forget everything I’m supposed to say. I would like an audience. Which gave me an idea.  Would any of you like to hear one or more of my lectures as I record them?  There would be no charge per se, but I would like to ask for a (completely voluntary) donation to the blog. Here is what I have in mind.   We will try it out this Sunday (Jan 24) on Zoom.  I will give two lectures, one at 2:00 and the other at 3:15.  Each lecture will take about [...]

Another year has passed.  Most of us are oh so happy to say goodbye to THIS one.  An awful year, in many many ways, and we are not out of the woods.  Even those who have weathered the storm well have faced hardship, suffering, and loss.  Whatever your own situation, please accept my best wishes as we move onward.  There is a light ahead and possibly a bright future.  Whether you pray, hope, or both, this would be a good time to do so with renewed vigor! There have been silver linings and good things as well, of course, for many of as individuals, our communities, our country, and our world.  There certainly have been me, and I do try to look on the bright side even while I’m torn by the suffering all around us.  But it would be wrong, not to mention unhealthy, not to celebrate the bright spots that have sometimes shone through. For me the blog has been a bright spot.  It’s been a really good year for us.  Our NINTH!!  [...]

As I have done before, I would like to offer blog members an opportunity to read a draft of my forthcoming book in exchange for a major blog donation. Many of you know that I’ve been spent the last four years working on a scholarly monograph that will be related to, but completely different from, my recently published trade book, Heaven and Hell.  I have just finished the draft and am sending it out to experts to read for comments, before preparing the final copy for the press.  (It is to be published by Yale University Press.)   I’m not sure of the title yet, but just now I’m calling it “Journeys to Heaven and Hell in the Early Christian Tradition.” It’s a scholarly book, not directed mainly to a popular audience.  It focuses on several texts not well known to the general populace and, frankly, not even to most scholars (even NT scholars, the vast majority of whom have never read these texts, let alone studied them): The Apocalypse of Peter, the Apocalypse of Paul, [...]

Yesterday I gave Part 1 of my Newsweek article on Christmas, published in 2012.  Here is Part 2! *************************************************************** Most modern readers who are not already familiar with these stories [in the apocryphal Gospels such as the Proto-Gospel of James] tend to find them far-fetched.   That’s almost always the case with miraculous accounts that we have never heard before – they sound implausible and “obviously” made up, as legends and fabrications.   Rarely do we have the same reaction to familiar stories known from childhood that are also spectacularly miraculous, and that probably sound just as bizarre to outsiders who hear them for the first time.  Are the stories about Jesus’ birth that are in the New Testament any less far-fetched? It depends whom you ask.   This past November, Pope Benedict XVI published his third book on the life of Jesus, this one focusing on the New Testament accounts of his birth, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives.  Before his ascent to the head of the Catholic Church, Joseph Ratzinger was best known as a leading [...]

As we are all keenly aware:  ‘Tis the Season to be giving!  For many of us, in terms of giving at least, mid December is the best of times and the worst of times.   It is best because we can show our love and gratitude to those close to us by choosing things to give them during the holidays; it is the worst because the commercialism that overwhelms our world often makes it such an obligatory drudgery.  It would be so nice if we could just freely give to those we love without worrying about what and how much, and just be joyfully generous.  But, of course, we are humans and even giving a gift can be fraught with complications.  And this time of year often is. There is also a less humane and uplifting reason for giving just now, a rather cold and hard one that any of us who pays taxes knows full well.   We’re near the end of the year.  Ugh.  On the other hand, I think most of us would agree, [...]