A key to understanding the central role of the Holy Spirit in the early Christian communities is to realize that the earliest Christians did not think there was going to be on ongoing Christian community.  I discussed that a bit in my previous post and here I can continue the thought The apostle Paul is our earliest Christian author, and it appears that on this particular point he was in agreement with his predecessors, the very first followers of Jesus who came to believe he had been raised from the dead.  They thought that the messiah’s resurrection demonstrated that the resurrection had already begun, and they expected, then, that it would be completed right away. It is clear this this is what Paul thought.  Just consider the earliest of his letters that still survives, 1 Thessalonians.  Scholars usually date the letter to 49-50 CE or so, just some 20 years after Jesus’ death.  Paul had earlier brought his missionary zeal to Thessalonica, and while there he converted a number of people.  Based on what he [...]

I am now nearly finished talking about the “Documentary Hypothesis” devised by scholars of the Hebrew Bible to account for the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.  I have already discussed the traditional view developed in the nineteenth century, especially as it was laid out by Julius Wellhausen (the JEDP hypothesis).  But that was a long time ago.  What do scholars say today?  As one might expect, the discussions have not gotten simpler but more complicated.  Here is what I say, briefly, about that in my undergraduate textbook on the Bible.  It’s about as much as most beginning students (and most people in general) need to know.   ******************************   The Scholarly View Today It is impossible to speak about a single scholarly opinion about the Documentary Hypothesis today.  Some scholars reject the idea that J and E were separate sources; some think that there were far more sources than the four; some propose radically different dates for the various sources (for example, one increasingly popular proposal is that the earliest sources [...]

Do you know about the Smithsonian Associates?  It's a great organization that, among other things, puts on lectures and day-long seminars by scholars and experts in all sorts of areas, including religion.  For years and years they were live events in Washington D.C. as part of the Smithsonian (on the Mall); for the past year or so they have been remote Zoom events.  In some ways, these Zoom events are even better: you can come without flying to D.C.! I will be doing an event this Saturday, May 1.  It's an all-day affair with four hour-long lectures and Q&A after each.   The topic is "Four Controversies in Early Christianity." Are you interested in getting a ticket?  Check it out.  Below is a description of my talks -- three of which I've never given before and a fourth that I've never given publicly before! And here is the link to the registration page, to purchase tickets and register: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/more-great-controversies-in-early-christianity-bart-ehrman-ponders-four-new-questions   Another Four Controversies in Early Christianity Bart D. Ehrman   Numerous significant issues were debated by [...]

This Sunday (5/2/21) 3:00-4:15 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 (i.e.,  most things) 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 no cost.  Free to all.  BUT: If you you are willing and [...]

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 [...]