Public Forum Archives - Page 49 of 88 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

Why Would I Call Myself Both an Agnostic and an Atheist? A Blast from the Past

My personal beliefs came up in my debate with Dinesh D’Souza that I posted last week, and I received several questions about how I classify myself: agnostic or atheist? I’ve talked about that on the blog a couple of times, but as I am constantly reminded, many of the people who are on the blog now were not on it a year or two ago, as there is turnover and our numbers continue to grow. And certainly no one (well, almost no one) goes back and reads everything from, say five years ago! So I thought it would be fine to repost my earlier comments. It was in response to a question I received back then, very similar to the questions I’ve received over the past week. ****************************************************** QUESTION: If you don't think God exists, why do you refer to yourself as an agnostic? If this is your perspective, why not refer to yourself as an atheist? Could it be that you don't believe the Christian God exists, but are open to the possibility [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:41:24-04:00June 10th, 2018|Public Forum, Reader’s Questions, Reflections and Ruminations|

We Do NOT Have a First-Century Copy of the Gospel of Mark

As most of us have suspected for years now, there is in fact no first-century copy of the Gospel of Mark. If fortune smiles upon us, maybe one will eventually be discovered. But it hasn’t been yet. Dan Wallace, our lone public source for the existence of such a thing (announced with some flair at a public debate I had with him in 2012) has finally provided the necessary information: his claim that such a copy existed was based on bad information. He lays it all out here. https://danielbwallace.com/2018/05/23/first-century-mark-fragment-update/ . I’ve copied the post here, below. He is gracious to apologize to me, and I understand about non-disclosure agreements. But at the same time, I have lots of questions about the entire affair. You may have some too. If so, let me know. I’ll answer the ones I can and ask the ones I can’t. Daniel Wallace's most popular books are Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament and Reinventing Jesus. Here is Dan's Post: ************************************************************************************************** First-Century Mark Fragment Update ON 23 MAY 2018 BY DANIEL B. WALLACEIN CONTEMPORARY [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:41:07-04:00May 24th, 2018|Bart's Debates, New Testament Manuscripts, Public Forum|

Back in Business!

Many apologies to all for the hiatus on the blog. I wish I had a sob-story to tell to justify it (well, not really), but as I indicated yesterday, it was rather a bit of good fortune with a downside. Every year for nineteen years now my wife Sarah and I have come to the beach with our friend Dale Martin, the New Testament scholar who introduced us just six years before that (he taught at the time at Duke; he moved on to Yale; he just retired this past year). We are very boring at the beach. We rent the same house (right on the beach; we often see dolphins from the deck). We all bring our books and work all day (I get up at 6:30 and have at it!), then take a five mile walk on the beach; come home to do drinks and dinner; go to bed, and repeat every day for two weeks. For us it's fantastic. We all get tons done. No distractions. No departmental or student obligations or [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:41:07-04:00May 16th, 2018|Public Forum|

Technology Challenge at the Beach

Dear Blog Members, Many apologies for taking a few days off from posting on the blog. It’s not been intentional! I’ve been at the beach for a few days (poor soul....) and the Internet is down. I can get email, but no access to the web. So even though I’ve been writing posts, I can’t get them up to the blog. I hope to have the problem resolved soon — hopefully today! - Bart

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:41:07-04:00May 15th, 2018|Public Forum|

My Life! An Interview with Frank Statio on “The State of Things”

On March 5 I had a radio interview at the local NPR station with Frank Stasio, host of "The State of Things." Most of the interview had to do with my religious journey from Christian fundamentalist to atheist; by the end we got to the ostensible reason for my being there, my then new book "The Triumph of Christianity: How A Forbidden Religion Swept the World." Frank is one of the very best interviewers anywhere, extremely good, as you'll hear. He really knows how to get to the heart of an issue and to keep it interesting. Enjoy! Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition:

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:41:06-04:00May 13th, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Video Media|

Seeing Capernaum and the “Jesus Boat”: A Blast From the Past

I will be going to Israel with a tour group in October, and browsing through the blog I see that I made a number of posts from Israel last time I was there. Here's an interesting one from five years ago today about the town of Capernaum and an intriguing archaeological discovery made there in relatively recent times. *************************************************************************************** I am typing just now on the third floor of the Scots Hotel in Tiberias, in a room with a glorious view of the Sea of Galilee. In the distance, across are the sea, are clearly visible the Golan Heights, where we spent a day or so, having lunch yesterday just 40 miles from Damascus. All may not be quiet on the Western Front (well, in this case, the Eastern Front) but we are safe and sound, and feel more secure than typically we do even in New York City (!). Yesterday there were two highlights to our trip, for me. Capernaum has always been one of my favorite spots in Israel. It is [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:41:06-04:00May 6th, 2018|Historical Jesus, Public Forum|

Fresh Air – Christianity’s Path From ‘Forbidden’ To A ‘Triumph’

On March 20, 2018 I had an interview with Terry Gross for her NPR radio program Fresh Air, about my book The Triumph of Christianity: How A Forbidden Religion Swept the World. I believe this is the seventh time I've done her program (the first one was for my book Lost Christianities, maybe fifteen years ago). I thought way back then, and I still think now, that she's the best interviewer on the planet. The show runs for about 45 minutes, but we talked for twice that long . On the upside, that means her editors leave out some of the more idiotic things I say. Enjoy! Transcript of this program: https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=595161200 Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition:

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:36-04:00April 26th, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Spread of Christianity|

What It Takes to be a Graduate Student

I often get questions from people who have been in a career for a while who want to know if it is feasible for them to go back to school and get a PhD in my field of New Testament/Early Christianity. In most cases it is not feasible at all, simply because it is way too complicated and involved -- and takes way more time than one would think. Here is what I said about what being a graduate student working toward a PhD involves, from my perspective as one who teaches these students. *********************************************************************************** I teach one undergraduate and one graduate course a semester. Teaching undergraduates is a passion of mine. I love doing it. These are nineteen year olds who are inquisitive, interested, and interesting. I enjoy lecturing to a crowd like that, figuring out what can make complicated material intriguing and compelling, keeping them attentive, helping them understand such important topics Some of my colleagues find teaching undergraduates a real chore; others find it very difficult. I find it to be a [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:51-04:00April 25th, 2018|Public Forum, Teaching Christianity|

Additional Free Memberships Available

Thanks to the incredible ongoing generosity of members of the blog, I am happy to announce that 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, let me know your situation (why you would like to take advantage of this offer) and provide me with the following information: 1) Your first and last name. 2) Your preferred personal email. 3) Your preferred user name (no spaces). 4) Your preferred password (should be 8 or more characters, no spaces). The donors will remain anonymous, but here let me publicly extend my heartfelt [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:51-04:00April 20th, 2018|Public Forum|

Q&A with Bart on The Heretic Happy Hour

I joined the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast as a call in guest for twenty-five minutes on March 6th, 2018. I was asked a lot of questions on a range of issues (including, but not at all limited to, my book "The Triumph of Christianity: How A Forbidden Religion Swept the World"). It's an interesting podcast in general, and this was a fun one to do. The full program can be heard here: https://heretichappyhour.podbean.com/e/016-is-jesus-god-hotw-bart-ehrman/ Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition:

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:50-04:00April 16th, 2018|Public Forum, Video Media|

Blog Lunch in Houston Thursday April 19?

I will be in Houston next week to give a couple of lectures at Rice University, and have discovered that I'll be free for lunch on Thursday April 19. Is anyone interested in joining me? The invitation is open to all blog members. All you would need to do is show up, hang out with us, and pay for your meal. I can accommodate anywhere from two to six blogging souls. If you're interested, please zap me an email at [email protected]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:50-04:00April 13th, 2018|Public Forum|

The Thinking Atheist Interview: The Triumph of Christianity

On March 20, 2018 I was interviewed by Seth Andrews, host of The Thinking Atheist podcast about my book "The Triumph of Christianity: How A Forbidden Religion Swept the World." Seth Andrews of The Thinking Atheist defines his media channel: "Religion often tells us that faith is a virtue. We think faith (believing something without evidence) is a poor method for determining what is true, especially in an era when science, reason and evidence continue to provide much more satisfying answers than faith ever has. This is a page that challenges the claims of religion and encourages all to reject faith, to be unfailingly curious, and to keep thinking." http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/ Here's the interview. Enjoy! Please adjust gear icon for 1080p High-Definition:

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:35-04:00April 10th, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Video Media|

The Sixth Anniversary of the Blog!

Today marks the sixth-year anniversary of the blog. It’s hard to believe, but, well, it’s been six years today. Time to look back and see how we’re doing and look forward to figure out what we can do better. So, first, to start in terms of raw numbers. In terms of posts, I’ve added them up and it turns out I have made 275 over the past year. That’s about 5.3 per week – so basically five with some extras thrown in now and then. That’s the pace that feels about right to me. It gives people a lot of bang for their buck, but it gives me a couple of days a week when I can luxuriate in knowing I don’t need to work on the blog. Good all around. Total numbers since starting six years ago: 1739 blog posts. That’s 5.6+ per week, so I’ve slowed down a bit, but I don’t plan on slowing down any more. Some of those 1739 are repeats: over the past couple of years I’ve started reposting [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:36-04:00April 4th, 2018|Public Forum|

Making the Bestseller List

As many of you know, I made an appearance on “Fresh Air” with Terry Gross a couple of weeks ago. I had mentioned in an earlier post that the only way it is humanly possible for a book to become a bestseller is by having some media attention paid to it – a herculean task, especially these days, over the past two years, when the national media wants to talk about nothing but That One Thing. Fresh Air has millions of listeners, though, and I was very fortunate to be on it. The results were fantastic, as I’ve indicated before. And a new indication has just appeared. Triumph of Christianity has made it on the New York Times Bestseller this week, coming in at #11 on the list of Hardback Non-Fiction. That’s a big deal for me. There are something like 600 books that get published every day. To be on this list is special. I don’t expect the book to stay on for more than a week, but still, it is a milestone. There [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:36-04:00April 3rd, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Spread of Christianity|

An Easter Reflection 2018

It is highly ironic, but relatively easy, for a historian to argue that Jesus himself did not start Christianity. Christianity, at its heart, is the belief that Jesus’ death and resurrection brought about salvation, and that believing in his death and resurrection will make a person right with God, both now and in the afterlife. Historical scholarship since the nineteenth century has marshaled massive evidence that this is not at all what Jesus himself preached. Yes, it is true that in the Gospels themselves Jesus talks about his coming death and resurrection. And in the last of the Gospels written, John, his message is all about how faith in him can bring eternal life (a message oddly missing in the three earlier Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke). These canonical accounts of Jesus’ words were written four, five, or six decades after his death by people who did not know him who were living in different countries, and who were not even speaking his own language. They themselves acquired their accounts of Jesus’ words from [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:36-04:00April 1st, 2018|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

Forgery Lecture

I will be giving a lecture at Rice University in Houston on Thursday April 19. I had originally thought that it was only for scholars connected with an antiquity seminar there, but I see now that it is open to the public. Here is the description I gave them (aimed obviously at the academics), if anyone is in the area and wants to come: 4/19/18 Bart Ehrman James A. Gray Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Literary Deceit in Its Various (Dis)Guises 4:00 pm, Humanities 119 Open to the Public, Registration Required Many scholars of early Christianity express qualms about calling a forgery a forgery – an understandable reluctance when dealing with a book in canonical scripture. An alternative such as “pseudepigraphon” may seem better – more neutral and wissenschaftlich – but it has the drawback of mystification. Who would know it refers to a book written by someone intentionally but falsely claiming to be a famous person? Or that, even in the ancient world, this was considered [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:36-04:00March 26th, 2018|Public Forum|

Ehrman & Licona: Are the Gospels Historically Reliable? Part 2

Here is Part 2 of my debate with Mike Licona on whether the Gospels are historically reliable. You won't necessarily have to have seen Part 1 to make sense of this one; a lot of it involves penetrating questions from the audience (trying to trip us up!) which one or the other of us addressed. Enjoy! Part 2: Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition: - Mike Licona is the author of The Resurrection of Jesus, Why Are There Differences in the Gospels and Evidence for God. REMEMBER: if you were a member of the blog, you would get interesting posts all related to the New Testament and the history of early Christianity, at least five times a week. So why not join??

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:20-04:00March 24th, 2018|Bart's Debates, History of Christianity (100-300CE), Public Forum, Video Media|

The Miracle of New Life

As most readers of the blog know, I do not believe in miracles. At least in literal miracles as normally understood. I suppose most people think of an actual or literal miracle as an event that cannot be explained through natural causes but requires some kind of supernatural intervention, an act of a divine being who is outside of this nexus of cause and effect, an act of God. I should stress that this does not necessarily mean that we *do* know the natural causes of everything that we do not consider miraculous – only that in principle they are discoverable. I stress that point because most of us have no clue how *most* of what happens happens. I couldn’t explain how my toaster works if my life depended upon it, let alone anything (just about *anything*) having to do with biology, chemistry, or physics, let alone the wonders of the human brain, or the expansion of the universe, or, well, as I said, most things. But that doesn’t mean that I need to appeal [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:36-04:00March 22nd, 2018|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

The Marvels of Media Attention

My first trade book – that is, book written for a general audience, instead of for fellow scholars (academic monographs) or college students (textbooks) -- was 19 years ago now, Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. I think it’s safe to say that when I wrote the book, I knew virtually *nothing* about writing a trade book. My editor at Oxford University Press urged me to write it and I reluctantly agreed. I was reluctant because I did not want to write for a general audience. At that time I wanted to spend my life writing scholarship for scholars. But I thought, well, why not – I’ll give it a shot. But it was to be a one-off, not a career. I didn’t really know the difference between trade books and scholarly monographs, except when it came to audience. I realized that I would not be writing for experts like the guy in the office next to me, but for lay folk like the guy across the street. I suppose that was pretty much [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:35-04:00March 21st, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum|

Fresh Air Interview Tuesday March 20

I have just recorded an interview with Terry Gross for Fresh Air -- scheduled to air tomorrow, Tuesday March 20. It's (mainly) on my book The Triumph of Christianity. We recorded for an hour and a half, so hopefully they'll figure out how to edit out the most boring bits!

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:35-04:00March 19th, 2018|Public Forum|

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