Reader’s Questions Archives - Page 5 of 30 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

Ancient Numerical Interpretations of the Bible

I have recently received this question about a very interesting and little known phenomenon in the New Testament. QUESTION: What is the use of the concept of Gematria? And was it used in the NT? RESPONSE: Ah, the question is a bit tricky but pretty fascinating. Gematria was an ancient Jewish way of interpreting texts that relied on the fact that in ancient writing systems (Greek, Hebrew, etc.) the letters of the alphabet also designated numbers. It doesn’t work that way for us, since we use the Latin alphabet (A B C D E….) but Arabic numerals (1 2 3 4 5….). But in ancient languages, the letters were also the numerals. So, in Greek, the language of the New Testament, the first letter alpha was 1; beta was 2; gamma was 3; etc. Once you hit iota it was 10, and after that it went by tens, so that the next letter kappa was 20, lambda was 30, and so on. Once you hit a hundred it went by hundreds. Greek in the [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:51:03-04:00November 4th, 2020|Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE), Reader’s Questions|

Where Did the Idea of a “Suffering Messiah” Come From?

This now is a seventh favorite post from years past. As you know, I frequently simply write posts on questions readers have raised. For understanding Christianity, here is one of the most important of all. Christians maintain that the messiah had to suffer and die for the sins of the world. Jews do not understand the messiah this way. But Christians started off as Jews. So where did their understanding of the messiah come from? QUESTION: Where did the idea of a Jewish messiah dying for the sins of mankind originate from? OT? Did Jews prior to Jesus’ existence believe this notion of the Messiah dying for other’s sins? RESPONSE: I deal with this issue in a couple of my books. Here is one of my fuller discussions from Did Jesus Exist?, where I talk about the issue in connection with the question of why Paul originally opposed Christians before converting to the faith. ********************************* Why, as a highly religious Jew, did Paul originally persecute the Christians before he himself joined their ranks? It appears [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:51:04-04:00October 30th, 2020|Early Judaism, Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|

How Were the Gnostic Gospels Discovered?

This now is the fourth of FIVE FAVORITES with which I'm beginning the new launch of our blog site, one from our fourth year of operation 2015. I am trying to pick different kinds of posts and even though I am not saying these are my all-time favorites of all, they certainly are posts (from five from sequential years) that for one reason or another I very much like. I need to give a more extensive introduction to this one. It is actually one of a series of posts connected with the discovery of the "Nag Hammadi Library" -- known more popularly as "the Gnostic Gospels." These "heretical" books were discovered by accident in 1945, not by archaeologists looking for ancient books but by Egyptian fellahin in a wilderness area near the village of Nag Hammadi Egypt. Scholars have long told the story of their discovery -- I have done so roughly 4000 times; but my friend and colleague in NT studies at Duke, Mark Goodacre, has argued that the story itself is an unsubstantiated [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:51:03-04:00October 26th, 2020|Heresy and Orthodoxy, History of Christianity (100-300CE), Reader’s Questions|

Who Would Die for a Lie?
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Who Would Die for a Lie?

Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions

Who Would Die for a Lie?

OK, here's another weird blog coincidence that happened 94 seconds ago. A few days ago I posted on the issue of why someone would invent a story of women finding the empty tomb (since women were "seen as unreliable": if you invented a story, wouldn't it be *men* who found it?). I got a lot of responses, including several that more or less openly mocked me for thinking the disciples made up the story of the resurrection. The typical line I got was something like "Yeah, right Ehrman: all those disciples died for a *lie*. Gee, you're smart...." So, OK, leaving smarts out of the equation, I thought today I would repost a post that I had done long ago that dealt with this question. Then I thought, Nah, don't bother. Do something else. But then I decided to look through old posts just for the heck of it and decided to look up the one that I had done on precisely this date, October 12, the first year of the blog, 2012. It was [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:51:03-04:00October 12th, 2020|Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|

What Happens When Your Beliefs Contradict What You Have To Teach? Readers’ Mailbag

I’ve received an intriguing question about professors of religious studies and the relationship between what we teach and personal religious beliefs. QUESTION: Dr. Ehrman, do your colleagues who have strong religious beliefs sometimes get conflicted when teaching some aspects of early Christianity? RESPONSE: Now that’s a very interesting question, and to unpack it, and give a response, I need to provide a bit of background of what (I assume) lies behind it. I’ll start with my personal situation then broaden out from there. Neither of my two teaching positions has been in a religious or denominational school; Rutgers and now UNC Chapel Hill are, of course, research universities. Both institutions are not only secular but also state-supported. Because of the constitutional separation of church and state, people in my position are not allowed to proselytize or promote one particular religion or religious view over another. And yet we are teaching religion. How is that supposed to work? In the very simplest terms, the way it works is that professors in my position teach [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:51:03-04:00October 11th, 2020|Public Forum, Reader’s Questions, Reflections and Ruminations|

How I Do My Research

I often get asked how I go about doing my research for a book I'm writing, especially the scholarly ones. One question people ask on occasion: do I take notes on what I read? If so, how? I dealt with the question on this date six years ago, in answer to a specific question. I still follow the same system today. Here is the question and my response! QUESTION: You’ve told us about reading book after book after book before you even begin writing a book. I’d appreciate your sharing a little info on how you take notes during all of this reading. And how do you decide what to make notes on and what not to put into notes? RESPONSE: Right – this is a very big issue for scholars in the Humanities, since what we do, for the most part, is read books and write books. So knowing how to read books is very important. In particular it is important because there are so *many* books to read (not to mention articles [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:50:26-04:00September 3rd, 2020|Bart’s Biography, Reader’s Questions|

At Last. Jesus and the Son of Man.

Two weeks ago I started addressing a question I got asked on the blog. At first I was just going to reply to the question as a comment; as my response started getting a bit long I decided I better devote an entire post to it. When I started working on a post on in, I decided it needed to be a thread. As I pointed out, that was two weeks ago. And I still haven’t answered the question. I’ll answer it here rather briefly, based on the information I’ve given. The answer should make sense on its own terms, but if you want to see the reasoning behind it, read the posts over the past couple of weeks that have been about “the Son of Man.” QUESTION: In Mark 8:27-28 Jesus asks his disciples “Who do people say that I am?” and they reply that different people think he is “John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets” Jesus then follows up with the key question: “But who do you say that [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:50:25-04:00August 23rd, 2020|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|

Who Is the Son of Man? From the Blog Readers’ Mailbag

I have received a rather difficult question from a blog member, involving how the Gospels understand and portray Christ in relationship to one another. Here is the question – or series of tightly interrelated questions – followed by the beginnings of an answer. This one's gonna take several posts. QUESTION: In Mark 8:27-28 Jesus asks his disciples “Who do people say that I am?” and they reply that different people think he is “John the Baptist, Elijah, or one of the prophets” Jesus then follows up with the key question: “But who do you say that I am?” and Peter replies: “You are the Christ.” When Luke tells the story Luke keeps the verbal back and forth almost the same, although when Peter replies he is a bit more specific: “The Christ of God.” (Was there another kind of Christ?!) Matthew’s version is a bit different though. Jesus ask, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The disciples reply in much the same way (although in addition to John the Baptist and [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:50:25-04:00August 9th, 2020|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|

Why Do Are So Many Textual Critics Evangelicals? Readers’ Mailbag.

Here’s a good question about why so many New Testament textual critics (those who study the manuscripts of the New Testament) are evangelical Christians. QUESTION: Bart, is it fair to say that many textual critics chose their field of expertise out of a passion to find out just what did God really say? I’ve no axe to grind here, just wondering what you’ve observed working with so many in the discipline. It’s definitely something I considered ever since a street preacher pointed out my shiny new NIV had relegated Acts 8:37 to a footnote. RESPONSE: I need to begin by explaining what the questioner means by “textual critic,” so we are all on the same page. Many people – including scholars in non-literary fields – think of “textual criticism” in very broad terms as the “detailed study of texts” – that is, the systematic attempt to interpret a literary text from a scholarly point of view, or to compare texts with one another to see their similarities or differences, or to point out [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:50:04-04:00July 26th, 2020|New Testament Manuscripts, Reader’s Questions|

Why Would An Atheist Teach the Bible? Readers’ Mailbag

I often get asked why I would be interested in teaching biblical studies if I’m an atheist; sometimes the question is a bit hostile, along the lines of “What would *you* know? You don’t even believe in it”! Or “Why should anyone listen to you if you’re just trying to disprove the Bible?” At other times the questions seem fairly genuine. Recently, for example, I’ve gotten these two: QUESTIONS: Why do you bother continuing to teach any aspects of Biblical studies since you have decided that you are an atheist-agnostic? In short, what is the point? Can you explain something to me? Why should I send my son to study in your department when you don't believe the book which your program is built on? RESPONSES: At first I thought these were hostile, but I corresponded with both of the people and I don’t think they were. Let me answer them separately. The first one is easier, though I get it a lot. It seems a puzzle to so many people that anyone [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:50:04-04:00July 19th, 2020|Public Forum, Reader’s Questions, Teaching Christianity|

A Plea for Humility in the Face of the Universe

In this week’s Readers’ Mailbag we move away from the academic study of the New Testament to much broader and more important questions of relevance to us all, involving how we relate to others and live in the world. The question is about attitudes and responses to suffering. The question came in a comment about an earlier post I had done. QUESTION: You said ‘My ultimate view is that even if suffering may lead us away from a belief in God, as it did for me, it should at the same time lead us toward humility in the face of the universe and toward a more caring, loving attitude toward those who suffer.’ I guess I didn’t see in your article a clear explanation for why suffering should lead towards the things you mention. I do not think you are wrong, but it would be good to have it rationed out, as I think this is the only place you make a claim without any evidence. RESPONSE: Ah, I can see how my [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:49:47-04:00June 19th, 2020|Reader’s Questions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Did the Gospel Writers Invent Barabbas? Readers’ Mailbag

One of the familiar stories from the end of the Gospels -- it's in all the Jesus movies! -- comes at Jesus' trial. Pontius Pilate is trying to avoid executing Jesus. As it turns out, he has an custom during the annual Passover feast (when the crowds of pilgrims in Jerusalem were enormous) of releasing one Jewish prisoner as a way to appease the crowds and keep himself in their good graces. And so when the Jewish leaders insist on Jesus' death, Pilate makes a last ditch effort, offering Jesus up as the one who could possibly be released. The crowd is given the choice: either Jesus or an insurrectionist who has committed murder, named Barabbas (why these are the only two choices is not clear: there were two others crucified with Jesus, so presumably they could have been on offer as well?). The crowd chooses Barabbas, and Jesus is then taken off to be crucified. Did this happen? Or was Barabbas "made up"? Could he be some kind of symbolic figure? I get the [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:49:27-04:00June 12th, 2020|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|

Are Bible Translators Consistent? Readers’ Mailbag

In today’s Reader’s Mailbag I deal with a question that involves both the differences in the manuscripts of the New Testament AND the issue of English Bible translations. As many of you know, almost all scholars agree that passages such as the “Woman Taken in Adultery,” in John 7:53-8:11 and the last twelve verses of Mark (Jesus’ appearances to his disciples after the resurrection) were not original to the New Testament. (If you’re not familiar with this issue, see my book Misquoting Jesus and/or do word searches to find discussions on the blog). And yet most modern Bibles continue to include them, even if they put them in brackets with a footnote saying that they are missing from the best manuscripts we have. But why aren’t translators consistent in applying this rule: keeping verses they know are not original with footnotes? Why in other, analogous cases, do they more often remove the passages completely and put them in the notes? It’s a great question: here is how the reader phrased it, with very helpful examples. [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:49:26-04:00June 5th, 2020|History of Biblical Scholarship, Reader’s Questions|

Would It Matter If It HAD BEEN a First-century Copy of Mark? A Surprising Answer in the Readers’ Mailbag
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Would It Matter If It HAD BEEN a First-century Copy of Mark? A Surprising Answer in the Readers’ Mailbag

New Testament Manuscripts, Reader’s Questions

Would It Matter If It HAD BEEN a First-century Copy of Mark? A Surprising Answer in the Readers’ Mailbag

I received a lot of comments on my post about the academic fraud connected with an Oxford manuscript scholar, the Museum of the Bible, and certain enthusiastic evangelical Christians who are ironically willing to lie or distort the truth in order to prove their understanding of the truth. One question I received several times: suppose the manuscript that started the whole thing off, the alleged "first-century copy of Mark" -- which turns out to be a tiny scrap that is NOT from the first century -- suppose it *had* been a manuscript of the first century. Would that have revolutionized our understanding of Mark's Gospel, the New Testament as whole, the historical accuracy of the Bible, or our views of the historical Jesus? TERRIFIC question. Here is how one reader asked it: QUESTION: For the sake of arguments let’s pretend for a moment that the fragment really existed and was precisely what it was claimed to be. That would surely be a stunning, miraculous find that all scholars would applaud. (And we can certainly [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:49:26-04:00May 29th, 2020|New Testament Manuscripts, Reader’s Questions|

Did Judas Really Betray Jesus? Readers’ Mailbag

My post a few days ago about whether Paul knew that Jesus had been betrayed by Judas Iscariot -- in which I concluded there really was no solid evidence one way or the other -- generated several follow-up questions. Many of them simply asked: well, did it really happen? Here is an example, and my response. QUESTION: I may be showing my ignorance here but could it be that Paul doesn’t know/write about Judas’ betrayal because it never happened? Yes, it is in all four gospels but as you’ve pointed out the four gospels do not agree on who showed up at the empty tomb, what they saw, and what they did next so…. If they get that wrong could it be that the Judas betrayal is also a fabrication/legend? RESPONSE: It's a great question, and I'm completely sympathetic to it. But I have to say that I think Jesus really was betrayed by one of his own, Judas Iscariot. In my judgment, that's just where the evidence points. As many of you know [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:49:10-04:00May 22nd, 2020|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|

Getting a PhD in New Testament Studies

I was breezing through ancient blog posts this morning and came across this one from exactly eight years ago. It involves a question I get a lot (got it last week!), from people interested in doing graduate work in the field of New Testament or early Christianity. What is it like and what does it take? Here is what I said back then, which is pretty much what I would still say today! **************************************** I sometimes get asked what it takes to become a professional scholar in the field of New Testament/early Christian studies. The answer, in short, is the same as for any academic discipline. It takes years of intense training. My own training in the field of New Testament studies was nothing at all unusual, but rather was fairly typical for someone in the field. What is unusual is that I knew that I wanted to pursue this kind of study already when I was in college. I started taking courses in New Testament as a 17-year old. For my foreign language requirement [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:49:09-04:00May 13th, 2020|Bart’s Biography, Reader’s Questions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Readers Mailbag: Does Isaiah 53 Predict the Death and Resurrection of Jesus?

I would like to get back into the practice of devoting one post a week to answering questions raised by blog members. I have a fairly long list of good questions I haven’t been able to get to, so why not just go through them week by week? If you have any pressing questions that are particularly intriguing or perplexing for you about the NT or early Christianity or any related topic, let me know as a comment on a post (any post will do, whether relevant or not). If it’s not something I can address or that I can answer in a line or two, I’ll let you know. Otherwise, I can add it to the list! At the top of my current list is the following. QUESTION: I wonder if you could talk about Isaiah 53 which I think is also a later insert by the scribes trying to justify what they had done to Jesus. RESPONSE: Ah, now *this* is a passage that students bring up every time I teach [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:49:08-04:00May 8th, 2020|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Historical Jesus, Reader’s Questions|

How Manuscripts Matter for Knowing What an Author Wrote

In this thread I am addressing the question several readers have asked me about: if I think that the Christ poem of Philippians 2:6-10 is not something Paul himself wrote (as I have argued; see for example https://ehrmanblog.org/how-ancient-is-the-idea-of-christs-incarnation/), but has been quoted by him from some other text, why not just think a scribe inserted it into Philippians? That is, maybe it wasn't in the letter in the first place; why not thing a scribe stuck it in after the letter was placed in circulation? It's an extremely important issue. If the passage (or any other passage) was not originally in the letter, then we don't know if it represents what Paul himself thought; moreover, we can't know when the ideas of the inserted passage originally appeared -- an important issue when trying to figure out how quickly Christians developed their theological views. Did Christians think of Jesus as a pre-existent divine being already in the 50s CE? Or was it not until 100 CE or so? Etc. I have differentiated between "textual variants" and [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:20-04:00March 9th, 2020|New Testament Manuscripts, Reader’s Questions|

Intimate Relationships: Nonbelievers and Believers

Over the past couple of months I’ve received maybe seven or eight emails from readers – some on the blog and others not – about marriage (two in the past 24 hours). Not about what the New Testament says about marriage, but about what these emailers should do with *their* marriage. Each of these was married to someone who was a faithful, committed, religiously conservative Christian of one kind or another (evangelical, Catholic, Mormon), but the emailer had, a while back, moved away from their earlier faith commitments, and now considered themselves agnostic or atheist or both, and weren’t sure how to handle it the marriage situation. In some cases the question was: should I tell my spouse? In others it was: how can this work? In others it was: how can I convince them that their views are full of problems and help them see the truth? I am not a marriage counsellor, as some of you may have noticed. But I do have a lot of experience with questions like this, and have [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:20-04:00March 8th, 2020|Public Forum, Reader’s Questions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Buddhist Interview Questions on Suffering

Here is the final bit of my interview with the South Korean Buddhist editors The Monthly YangWoo Magazine 3/2020. Not surprisingly they were particularly interested in my views of why there is suffering in the world. As you know, that is a central component of Buddhist thought. I know many people who find Buddhist approaches highly satisfying; many others who simply do not think that way. My own writings about suffering – especially my book God’s Problem -- have all been connected in one way or another with the western tradition, rooted in both Judaism and Christianity, especially as these are seen in the Bible itself. I make no qualms about the fact that these are the traditions I resonate with. I do not think that is either good or bad, in part because I do not believe it is *possible* to have a neutral position on important questions – any important question (arguably any question at all!). Even if you try. And even if you claim you do have a neutral position. And so [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:48:19-04:00February 21st, 2020|Reader’s Questions|

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