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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, [...]

As you know, you have several choices for your membership on the blog – from the most popular Bronze level, where you can read all my posts with archives going back to 2012; to Silver, where you can do all that plus make and read members’ comments and questions, and my responses; to Gold, where you can do all that plus get audio versions of the posts; and up to Platinum.  The Platinum has some unusual benefits; I thought it might be helpful for me to spell them out, just in case you might be interested. Here is how I described it recently in an email to those who have already taken the plunge.  . ****************************** Hello Platinum Blog Members! Now that the dust has settled a bit on the launch of the new blog site, we are able to start moving ahead with some of our new initiatives – including the Platinum Premiums. Here is the summary provided on the JOIN pages, with which you are no doubt familiar.  In this note I will [...]

I have decided to hold a small and intimate webinar in order to raise money for the Bart Ehrman Blog.  Every penny that the webinar brings in will go directly to two of the blog’s charities, The Food Bank of Central/Eastern North Carolina and Doctors without Borders, split equally between them.  It will be held on Tuesday December 15 at 7:00 pm EST.  It will last for an hour and fifteen minutes. The topic of the seminar will be “What Can We Really Know about the Birth of Jesus?”  Among the topics to be covered will be: What do the Gospels say about Jesus' birth?  Can they be right?  Why do two of the Gospels not say anything about it?  Why is Jesus' birth not mentioned anywhere else in the New Testament?  Are the accounts we have consistent with one another?  Are they consistent with what we know from ancient Jewish and Roman history?  Can we decide when Jesus was actually born -- year and day?  Or where?  How do we explain the idea of [...]

This is a good time for some feedback from you, the members of the blog! We are very pleased with the roll-out of the new blog site, and hope you are as well.   The user experience appears to be much improved (or so it seems to us, and that is what we are hearing from you as well).  And yet it is still the same approach and format, with posts on a wide range of topics dealing with the New Testament and Early Christianity appearing five times a week, and readers (at the silver level and above) able to make comments and receive replies.  On Jan. 1 we will move from our crisis-inspired-trial offer of giving all bronze memberships privileges of silver.  At whatever level you are now, when your current subscription ends, you can choose to move to whichever level most suits you and your needs. We received excellent feedback at the outset of the launch and have been able to tweak lots of things as a result.  There are still things we are [...]

As the blog has developed and grown, administrative needs have increased, and we are all very fortunate indeed that there is a devoted group of Volunteers pitching in to make this a success.  We simply could not be doing this without them. Now with the launch of the new site, more opportunities and needs are presenting themselves, and I will be soliciting more volunteers for more tasks.  Just now there are two areas that are most pressing. SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR:  I need an assistant who can use their skills on social media to promote the blog.  This would be someone who is deeply conversant with, comfortable with, skilled with, and connected with that universe, or rather that multiverse.  If that is you, and you would you be interested in hearing more, please simply send me an email indicating your interest, and we can talk about what it all might entail:  [email protected] TECHNOLOGY ADVISORY BOARD: As we expand we continue to find numerous challenges and opportunities that involve technology.  Steven has brilliantly set up the blog [...]

I’ve been getting very good feedback from users of the new blog site, and am naturally very pleased.  There are also a lot of new users now, reading, listening, and making comments.  Fantastic!  If you have any problems with the blog, please be sure to contact us.  Click the HELP button and you will see a list of FAQs and responses, and information about how to get Support. Since we have so many new folk participating, I want to say a separate word about Blog etiquette.  It’s a bit different from typical Internet etiquette, for which most of us, well I, at least, am thankful. When I started the blog, from the outset I decided that I wanted it to be completely welcoming to all people, no matter what their religious convictions (or non-religious convictions), national background, race, gender, sexual identity, background knowledge, native intelligence, good looks, or … anything at all.  And to be welcoming requires all of us to be polite, courteous, and respectful. It’s hard to do.  At least sometimes it is [...]