(7 votes, average: 4.43 out of 5)
Loading...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 wrote them down. Pretty important stuff!
- “What Are the Gospels Really? How Scholars View the Earliest Accounts of Jesus.” Are the Gospels historically accurate biographies? Fairy Tales? Something in between? Says who? And why? Even those who think they know the answers won’t know a lot of what’s in this lecture.
So, are you interested? Feel free to join us. My suggested donation is a minimum $10 to listen to one of them and $15 to listen to both (there is no maximum donation ?). After the second lecture I will take questions from three attendees for 30 minutes (which will not be included on the recording I send to the students). Which three? The three largest donors for the lecture(s) over $100. Everyone else, of course, is free to listen in. (To make things fair: if you bid a larger amount and are disappointed about not being one of the three, you are under no obligation: make your donation any amount you choose!)
All the donations will go directly to the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina.
In case you wondered, I have no plans to make these lectures generally available. The recordings will be for my class only.
If you want to attend, all you need do is respond by clicking this link!
https://forms.gle/BtZN6o9kBsCniMMg9
Everyone who responds by 11:00 am on Sunday morning will received a Zoom link by noon.
If you have any questions about how it will work, let me know.
Are you really having it on Feb. 31st as you state?
Ha! I guess that would be hard to do, even in a leap year. No, it’s Jan 31. Hope you can come.
Bart, I think you mean this Sunday, Jan 31st not Feb 31st. Thanks
Yes, I guess it would be difficult to meet on Feb. 31 ! Thanks.
More difficult than a camel to go through the eye of a needle.
Hey, I got the subscription to ask you a question. When you wrote in the comment section that one of the motivations for forgery was to promote a “correct” teaching but the intention was to get the reader to believe the lie. What do you mean by “correct” teaching ? You don’t mean correct like in the Holy Spirit led the forger to that conclusion, right ? Or You meant correct as in the forgers personal opinion . Sorry I have scrupulosity so I just have to be sure what you meant. I really look up to your beliefs . Thanks
Tommy
Ah! No I don’t mean that at all. I mean the view that the author believed was correct, that he wanted others to agree with.
I’m there! Last lectures were fun, looking forward to these as well
Hi Dr. Ehrman. A quick ‘n random question about the Greek text of the Epistle of Barnabas. I am in discussion with someone about the Epistle’s date of composition. This person thinks it is somehow equally likely to have been composed in a pre-70CE context than the usual dating of a post-70CE context. I am aware that the Epistle refers to the destruction of the Temple (16:3-4), which to me is a giveaway of a post-70CE dating, however this person is adamant that it could be a reference to the destruction way back in 586BCE (!). So my question is: Is there any other way to determine the Epistle as being datable to a post-70CE period? Any specific Greek words/phrases that give it away?
The text assumes that the temple was still in ruins and was soon to be rebuilt (16.3-4). So that would not fit a setting in a period before 70. The dating cannot be made on teh basis of words used. Someone could well read an article written on, say, Jews and Christians in 2010 and on the basis of the vocabulary itself not know if it had been written in 1950. The vocabulary *might* give it away as a later book, but it would be difficult to prove it was earier on the basis of word choice alone. If it mentioned the importance of the ongoing Cold War with the Soviet Union, though, it would be a give away.
Would you consider making them available as a pod cast or some such? The time was bad for me.
Sorry — the recordings are only for my class. BUt I’ll be doing two more this week!