Public Forum Archives - Page 50 of 88 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

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|

Ehrman & Licona: Are the Gospels Historically Reliable? Part 1

A month ago, on February 21 I had a public debate with Mike Licona at the Bailey Performance Center at Kennesaw State University on the topic: Are the Gospels Historically Reliable? Ratio Christi and KSU History Club hosted the event. Moderator was Dr. Brian Swain, a historian of Mediterranean antiquity on the faculty there. You can probably guess the two sides we took in the debate. The crowd was largely on his side, which made for a very interesting evening. As I think you'll see, even though Mike and I disagree on most things, we have a good, friendly relationship. It was a long evening -- lots of back and forth, with a Q & A with the audience to follow. At times it got, well, animated. Here is part 1. I'll post the second part next week. Part 1: 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.

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:20-04:00March 18th, 2018|Bart's Debates, History of Christianity (100-300CE), Public Forum, Video Media|

My Upcoming Writing Plans: The Afterlife and the Afterlife

As some of you know, I sometimes try to work on two books at once. I’ve actually tried *writing* two books at once, but doesn’t work too well. (Writing part of one one day and part of the other another. Yuk!) But I can be doing research and planning two books at once, if they are on a related topic – one a popular book for a general audience and the other a scholarly book for academics. That’s what I did about ten years ago now for my books Forged (trade book for general readers) and Forgery and Counterforgery (hard-hitting scholarship decidedly not for general readers). Last summer I mentioned on the blog that I was thinking about doing that again, and now it’s for real – I’m doing it. I wasn’t sure if I would because I needed to get a sabbatical from teaching to pull it off. But I have now learned that I’ve been given a fellowship for all of next year at the National Humanities Center and so I will be [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:20-04:00March 8th, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum|

Reading The Triumph of Christianity at Quail Ridge Books

On Tuesday February 13, 2018 at 7:00pm, I had a book reading based on my new book "The Triumph of Christianity: How A Forbidden Religion Swept the World" at Quail Ridge Books located in Raleigh, North Carolina. I read excerpts for about 30 minutes, then took questions. Here it is, for your viewing pleasure or amusement! Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition: To see all my posts, 5-6 times a week, join the blog! It doesn't cost much, gives a lot, and raises money for charity. So why not?

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:20-04:00March 4th, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Spread of Christianity, Video Media|

My Interview with Michael Shermer

On Sunday, February 18, 2018, I did a podcast interview with Michael B. Shermer, a well known author on issues related to science and religion (the one I most recently read: The Science of Good and Evil), based on my new book: The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World. The interview is part of the Science Salon series, number eighteen. Dialogues are hosted by Michael Shermer and presented by The Skeptics Society, in California. Dr. Michael B. Shermer holds a graduate degree in experimental psychology. He is a historian of science, founder of The Skeptics Society, and editor-in-chief of its magazine Skeptic, which is largely devoted to investigating pseudoscientific and supernatural claims. Shermer engages in debates on topics pertaining to pseudoscience and religion in which he emphasizes scientific skepticism Among other things in this interview we discuss the modern atheism movement, religion and politics, the intractable problem of evil, the early understandings of Jesus (how could he be both man and God?), the beliefs of ancient pagans about the gods and [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:19-04:00February 23rd, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Spread of Christianity, Video Media|

Beginning the Triumph of Christianity

I’m in Washington D.C., where I just now gave my first “book talk,” a reading from part of my new book The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, at the wonderful bookstore, “Politics and Prose.” The book is officially published on Tuesday! And for those interested, this is how I begin the Preface, on a personal note before getting to the matter at hand. *************************************************** In my junior year of college I took a course in English literature that made me understand for the first time how painful it can be to question your faith. The course introduced me to poets of the nineteenth century who were struggling with religion. Even though I was a deeply committed Christian at the time, I became obsessed with the work of the great Victorian poet of doubt, Matthew Arnold. Nowhere is Arnold’s struggle expressed more succinctly and movingly than in that most famous of nineteenth-century poems, Dover Beach. The poem recalls a brief moment from Arnold’s honeymoon in 1851. While standing by an open [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:01-04:00February 11th, 2018|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Spread of Christianity|

What Is My Best Book for a General Audience?

I recently received this question for the Mailbag, dealing, roughly, with my own personal feelings about my “best” work. QUESTION: A mailbag question that I am not sure I have read your thoughts on; what do you feel is your best published work for lay people and why? Just curious! RESPONSE: Ah, this is a difficult question to answer. The books you write are kind of like your children: you love each and every one of them with every ounce of your being! And you’re not supposed to have favorites. OK, but people do. So there are three ways I look at this issue. One is, what is the book that is most useful for lay people? Another is: what is the book that most laypeople themselves have found most useful? And yet other is, what do I myself think is my very best book for lay people? I’ll try to answer all three. Before I do, I need to be clear that I’m talking now only about my trade books for a [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:40:00-04:00January 28th, 2018|Public Forum, Reader’s Questions|

Pre-order Triumph of Christianity and Get Some Serious Perks!!

Preorder Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, and get significant perks! The book will appear in book stores on February 13. But if you order it online before that, whether a member of the Bart Ehrman Blog or not, you can receive some hefty discounts. FIRST: anyone who buys the book in advance online (e.g., at Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, or wherever) who is NOT already a member of the Bart Ehrman Blog will be given a FREE one-month trial membership, with full access to the posts, past and present. SO, if you are not a member – go for it! If you are a member: tell everyone you know: a FREEBIE! SECOND: for everyone, blog member or not: if you buy the book in advance online,, by special arrangement with the Great Courses (previously called The Teaching Company), you will be able to order any of my (eight) courses for an 80% discount. 80%! These are the courses I’ve done for the Great Courses: The New Testament The Historical [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:39:46-04:00January 15th, 2018|Public Forum|

Request for Help! Your Favorite Podcasts.

One month from today -- on Feb. 13 -- my new book will be published. As many blog members know, over the years I have written (in broad terms) three kinds of books: academic books for hard hitting scholars in my fields of interest; college-level textbooks for undergraduates; and trade books for a broader audience of interested (and interesting!) people. This new book The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World will be the thirty-first book I’ve published, my fifteenth trade book. Among those fifteen books, by far the best selling one has been Misquoting Jesus. In my personal opinion, the best (in terms of overall quality) was probably How Jesus Became God. But (we all have our favorites), I think The Triumph of Christianity is even better, the most important, and the best conceived, researched, and written. But, again, that’s just me. It is very difficult for any book, no matter who wrote it or in what circumstances, to make a difference and to become a best-seller. Every author (whether they [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:39:46-04:00January 13th, 2018|Public Forum|

Accessing the Bart Ehrman Blog Podcast

I neglected in my previous post to mention how you can actually *access* the weekly podcast! If you go to iTunes and type in "Bart Ehrman" it is the top podcast to appear and individual episodes appear as well. Or, just click here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/bart-ehrmans-sunday-sermon/id1265249890

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:39:46-04:00January 12th, 2018|Public Forum|

My Greek New Testament Course

For the first time in forever I am teaching a new course -- one I've never taught before -- at UNC, a class for classics students (and others who already know Greek) on the Greek New Testament. It is obviously a very small class (6 or 7 students); to be in it students have to have already had at least a couple of years of Greek. So the class is not teaching the rudiments of Greek grammar, but it assuming knowledge of that. We are reading/translating/analyzing lots of Greek in the class; learning about "textual criticism" (how to establish the oldest wording of the text given all variations among the manuscripts); and acquiring the skills to read and analyze actual manuscripts (the hand written copies of the New Testament, as opposed to the printed editions of the Greek). For anyone interested in the details and the play-by-play, here is the syllabus I handed out yesterday: ************************************************************************************* NEW TESTAMENT GREEK Religion 409 / Greek 409 Spring 2018 Instructor: Dr. Bart D. Ehrman Course Description This [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:39:46-04:00January 12th, 2018|Public Forum, Teaching Christianity|

The Blog Podcast

As most of you may be aware, the “Bart Ehrman Blog Podcast” began six months ago. John Mueller, who has been a blog member for many years but doesn’t comment much, reached out to me last summer and offered to create the it. His idea for the podcast was simply to read some of my posts, each week. He hoped that the podcast would attract more people to the blog, which in turn would increase membership in the blog, which in turn would raise more money for the charities supported by the blog, which in turn would help eradicate poverty, hunger, and homelessness, and hence, he would feel good about himself because he did his part to help the World and the Universe as we know it. John gave me an offer he hoped I “couldn’t refuse.” He offered to set up the podcast, fund it, choose what is read each week, narrate it, publish it, keep me updated on its numbers, and scrap it at a moment’s notice if I so requested. My obligation [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:39:46-04:00January 11th, 2018|Public Forum|

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