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 Sunday May 31 at 4:00 pm.  It will last for an hour and fifteen minutes. The topic of the seminar will be “How We Got the New Testament.”  Among the topics to be covered will be: Who decided which books would be included in the New Testament?  Who gave them the authority to decide?  How did they decide?  What were their criteria?  When were their decisions finally made?  What do we know about the books that were left out?  And why didn’t these other books “make it”? I will say at the outset, here, that the answers are not what most people seem to suppose. In the webinar I will deliver a talk for about 40-45 minutes; the rest [...]

Some bad news, I'm afraid.  Yesterday I went to review and post the comments that had come in the previous day (April 6, between noon and midnight).  There was only one.  Normally there are 40-50.   Yup, something was wrong. Complicated story, but because of a weird technical difficulty involving the back-up system, the comments were sent into the stratosphere.  There were 42 of them.  If you made a comment then and saved it, please resubmit.  If you want to compose it again from scratch, do that.  If you don't want to bother, I'm so sorry.  In fact, I'm so sorry all around. This has obviously never happened before in our history.  We are working to make sure it will not happen again.  Apologies!!

We have a lot of new members joining us, some of them (new) paying members (Thank you very much!) and others who are taking advantage of our free two-month offer (welcome!!). We’re delighted to have you, and hope you enjoy the blog. Please spread the word! For newcomers, some information about a couple of additional features of the blog that you may not know about (and a reminder about these for everyone else); and then a couple of notes about protocol on the blog, including a couple of changes we are implementing.   IMPORTANT FEATURES First and foremost, I want to highlight the Bart Ehrman Blog Podcast. This is an amazing production – so amazing that I wish I had something to do with it. But it wasn’t my idea, it’s not something I do, and it is absolutely fantastic. An unusually energetic blog member came up with the idea: John P. Mueller. John dreamt up the podcast, designed it, implemented it, narrates it, produces it, and administers it. Check it out: https://ehrmanpodcast.libsyn.com/ Every week, [...]

As I indicated in my previous post, we had our eighth anniversary as a blog two days ago, on April 3.   How things have changed since started this little venture in 2012.   As I have said before, at the time I had no idea how the blog would work or go.   A friend had suggested the idea of a blog over drinks, and I thought it was crazy.  Who has time to do a regular blog?  Lots of people, I guess, since there are millions out there.  But I said: No Way.  So he suggested I do it for money.  I said, Money for a BLOG???   Plus, I told him, I was doing just fine, thank you very much.  But then he said, You could do it for charity.  BINGO. I thought about it.  Steven Ray contacted me out of the blue to see if I needed any website help.  I conferred with him about the blog idea, but it off for months and months, and finally toward the end of 2011 I thought I [...]

FREE MEMBERSHIPS TO THE BART EHRMAN BLOG! Today is the 8th anniversary of the Bart Ehrman Blog!   A day to celebrate.  But also to commiserate.  Who, on April 3, 2012, would have expected that eight years later we would be in the midst of the most serious world-wide crisis in our lifetime? I will celebrate the past eight Blog years in my next post.   Today I want to announce the Blog’s response to our crisis. We all know a major part of the current tragedy: many millions of people suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed.   Blog members among them.   And wannabe blog members.   The vast majority of these millions suddenly have limited or no income.  Disaster. Most of them also have extra time on their hands with little to do.  Let’s give them something.  Why not read a helpful blog instead of ..  doing something less helpful?  Engage the mind.  Learn.  Think.  Reflect. The combination of economic disaster and unwanted free time prompts an obvious Blog Offer. Anyone who is not already a blog member can join [...]

Just got this email, as my book has now appeared today.  Ha! Prof. Ehrman,       I thought you'd get a kick out of this) So here I am, working in the home office like a lot of people today, when my wife comes downstairs and informs me that our Amazon device just announced that Heaven and Hell were coming today. !!!!! You can imagine the surprise one might get when this thing just announces out of nowhere that the apocalypse is today. Hilarious!!!

Some people – maybe a lot of people – don’t think it’s the right time for a good sense of humor.  I have the opposite view.  I think very hard times are the best times.  But I’ll never be as good at it as my dad. When he was on his death bed in 1989, cancer metastasized flippin’ everywhere, he could barely get out of bed.  I was with him in the hospital.  He needed to use the toilet and insisted on going to it (instead of taking the obvious hospital option).  It took him about 10 minutes to sit up and get his feet on the floor (I remember it as 20 minutes but think now my mind must have exaggerated it).  The nurse was beside the bed, helping him with every incremental movement.  When after much moaning and groaning he finally got to his feet, facing her, he collapsed onto her shoulders with his arms outstretched. And said: “I’ve been waiting all day for this.” Ha!  She laughed and said, I love you [...]

These are trying times.  But here is a bit of good news, especially for those having a tough go of it.  Thanks to the incredible ongoing generosity of members of the blog, there are still a limited number of free one-year memberships available.   These have been donated for a single purpose: to allow those who cannot afford the annual membership fee to participate on the blog for a year.   I will assign these memberships strictly on the honor system: if you truly cannot afford the membership fee, but very much want to have full access to the blog, then please contact me. Do NOT reply here, on the blog, as a comment.   Send me a separate email, privately, at [email protected].   In your email, please provide the following points of information. An indication of why you need a free membership (as opposed to a paid one): just a few words about your circumstances. Your Name Preferred Email Preferred Username Preferred Password Country Of Residence (we need to supply this because of our tax-exempt status) The donors [...]

Pre-order your Heaven and Hell!  So to speak. Despite the current crisis, my new book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife will still be available on March 31 -- less than two weeks! Want a great deal on it?  Have more time on your hands than you anticipated?  If you pre-order the book you can (still) get an unusually substantial discount on any of my courses from The Great Courses. This would be a very good time indeed for all of us to stock up on Great Courses courses.  As you may know, I have done eight courses with them over the past 20 years (starting back when they were called The Teaching Company!).   If you pre-order the book (or have already done so), you can receive an 80% discount on any of them.   That's a pretty rippin' serious discount. Just click on this address. https://simonandschusterpublishing.com/heavenandhell The Great Courses I've done over the years. The New Testament The Historical Jesus Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication From Jesus to Constantine: [...]

Many thanks to everyone who volunteered to help out with the transition to the new blog site.  The response was overwhelming.   I now have more than I need and have contacted them about further instructions.  But there will almost certainly be more needs down the line, as we try to grow this thing and develop more outreach.  When that happens, I will let you know about other opportunities to help out. Speaking of outreach: if you know anyone who is interested in the sorts of things the blog has to offer, do let them know about it!    We grow mainly by word of mouth -- or, luckily in these problematic days of actual contact, by word of texting, email, twitter, and other social media.   But do let family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and complete strangers know about the blog, so we can reach all who might be interested.

As some/many/all? of you know, we are getting ready to relaunch the blog with a completely new rebuild that Steven Ray, my able and talented assistant for all these years, has designed -- after he had come up with the original one eight years ago.  He has been keeping the old one going with bailing wire and duct tape.  The new one looks *great*.  We hope to roll it out soon.   And I'll explain it all to you even sooner, before it happens.  I think you're going to agree, it is terrific. Before we can do it, I have to have some of my old posts reclassified into a few of the new categories that I have devised (to supplement the old ones).   I need a volunteer to do it.  It will take some hours.  No clue how many.  If I have several volunteers, even better.  I won't go into all the details here: simple story, it will involve looking at an old post, seeing what it's about (you wouldn't need to read the entire [...]