I need a volunteer!! As you know, we produce audio versions of every post that appears on the blog, available to members who subscribe at the Gold and Platinum tiers. We have two volunteers who take turns, on alternating weeks, to read the posts: John Paul Middleworth has been reading away, post after post; since we began this audio venture; over the past few months, his colleague-volunteer has been Sam Devis.  I’m very sorry to report that Sam needs to move on to other things.  He will be sorely missed.  And now we need a replacement. The task obviously requires the ability to read clearly and well and the time to do it – five posts every other week.   It does not require much technological skill or expertise.  Ben Porter, our expert in all things technical is already doing that. (In case you wondered, these audios do not compete with those recorded by our other stalwart audio volunteer,  John Mueller, who since 2017 has produced the weekly Bart Ehrman Podcast.  If you don’t know about [...]

    By far Paul's fullest discussion of the Spirit in the life of the Christian community comes to us in 1 Corinthians 12-14.  To make sense of that discussion, I need to say something about the letter of 1 Corinthians in general, and the community to which it is addressed. Here is the introduction to the letter I give in my textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (Oxford University Press): **************************** Corinth was a large and prosperous city south of Thessalonica, in the Roman province of Achaia, of which it was the capital. Located on the isthmus dividing the northern and southern parts of modern-day Greece, it was a major center of trade and communication, served by two major ports within walking distance. The city was destroyed in 146 b.c.e. by the Romans but was refounded a century later as a Roman colony. In Paul’s time, it was a cosmopolitan place, the home of a wide range of religious and philosophical movements. Corinth is perhaps best remembered today [...]

      You may already know New Testament scholar and blog member James McGrath.  James is the Clarence L. Goodwin Chair in New Testament Language and Literature at Butler University, with many academic interests similar to mine.  Six years ago we were both at a conference at York University (Toronto) that was dealing with ancient Christian apocrypha.  I gave a talk on pseudepigraphy in the antiquity, in which I argued that it was not an acceptable practice to write a text claiming to be a famous person (when you were someone else).  In the modern world we call that a "forgery"; I argued that in the ancient world they also used negative terms for it and consistently disparaged the practice (contrary to what you often hear).      After my talk, James happened to be sitting across from me, and he suggested that one could write a (Paul Simon imitation) song "Fifty Ways to Forge a Gospel."  I laughed and didn't think he was serious.  He was.  And he did.  And now he's not [...]

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I've said something about Marcion's canon of Scripture in the past couple of posts, and last time I did that -- many years ago -- some people got confused.  The issue has to do with what at first seems a different issue.  Did the apostle Paul  (during his ministry) know about the Gospels?  My answer to that is no, he probably did not.  Especially since, well, he was writing before they were written!  And he shows no knowledge of any written Gospel (even of ones we don't have.) But then when I say elsewhere that Marcion promoted only Paul's "gospel."  Uh...? Here's the original question and my response. Question: You wrote: “The apostle Paul – well-connected and well-traveled and familiar with lots of churches – shows no knowledge that such a thing as Gospels exist.” I should have asked you about this earlier. I was surprised when, back in a post on Marcion, you said the other “gospel” Paul talked about was “a version of our Gospel of Luke.” Would you explain? RESPONSE: OK, so [...]

Yesterday I mentioned Marcion as one of the prime early Christian thinkers who argued that Jesus was so much divine he was not at all human.  I have decided that I need to provide more background to make sense of the particular way he appears to have come to that conclusion, by discussing in a bit greater depth his overall theological views, so far as we can know them. I did that before on the blog many years ago.  Here I do it again! Marcion was active in the 130s and 140s; he came to Rome to become part of the Christian community there in 139; he apparently was booted out about five years later when the church leaders found his forcefully-proclaimed views unacceptable.  He then went around Asia Minor (whence he originally came, from Sinope on the southern coast of the Black Sea) establishing churches.  He held popular views that attracted lots of followers. Marcion and his followers believed that Jesus -- whom they considered their Lord and Savior -- was not connected with [...]

This Sunday, March 21, I will be giving TWO live Zoom lectures for anyone who wants to come.  They will be recorded for my undergraduate course on the New Testament and 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. To make a donation now, go to the blog home page and scroll to the bottom to find the blue "One-time Donation" button. Here is the info you need: Time: Sunday, March 14, 2:00 pm  and 3:15 pm (EST) The Lectures will last about 50 minutes, with Q&A to follow the second. First [...]

This Sunday, March 14,  I will be giving TWO live Zoom lectures (not one) for anyone who wants to come.  They will be recorded for my undergraduate course on the New Testament and there will be a 30-minute Q & A to follow the second one.  Please NOTE the time; the first is at 2:00 p.m., second at 3:15 p.m. EST.   When I say "lectures" with one of the two I'm using the term loosely, as you'll see below. 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, March 14, 2:00 pm  and 3:15 (EST) The Lectures [...]

APOLOGIES for the earlier post.  It was mistaken.  Can you imagine?  Here is the true, infallible, inerrant information!  At last, you may say.... This Sunday, March 7,  I will be giving  TWO live Zoom lectures (not one) for anyone who wants to come.  They will be recorded for my undergraduate course on the New Testament and there will be a 30-minute Q & A to follow the second one.  Please NOTE the time; the first is at 2:00 p.m., second at 3:15 p.m. EST 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, March 7, 2:00 pm  [...]

Many apologies to Silver, Gold, and Platinum members.  We are having a technical difficulty with comments on posts.  Ugh.  But we're on it and will soon get it resolved.

As many of you know, a few months ago I invited my long time friend and erstwhile fellow-student at Moody Bible Institute, Robin Jones, to write a some posts for the blog.  Robin continues to be an evangelical Christian and is deeply committed to important social issues that I think just about all of us are also concerned about: hunger, homelessness, suffering, and justice. Here now is her third  and final post.  I hope you find it both interesting and inspiring: ************************   Who doesn’t love a good story? Stories embody our humanity in a way few other things do. Some of you may be familiar with the radio commentator Paul Harvey who was famous for telling how an unknown twist of fate catapulted someone into a totally different life story or created a completely unexpected conclusion. After giving the surprise ending, he would famously conclude with “and that’s the rest of the story.” While Paul Harvey was indeed a great storyteller, I propose that the master at that craft was Jesus. He told stories [...]