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The Q Source Used by Matthew and Luke

By |February 11th, 2025|Canonical Gospels|0 Comments

If Mark was the first Gospel written, as  I tried to explain in my previous post, and it was used by both Matthew and Luke, how do we explain that there are many places in Matthew and Luke that agree with each but are not in Mark.? They didn’t get these passages from Mark, but if they agree word for word in places, there must be copying.  What are they copying?  Welcome to the world of Q! Q is the hypothetical source that scholars believe was used by Matthew and Luke to supplement the materials they got from Mark (“hypothetical” [...]

Materialism, Personal Identity, and Resurrection: Part 2 – Platinum Post by Dennis J. Folds, Ph.D.

By |February 10th, 2025|Public Forum|1 Comment

Materialism, Personal Identity, and Resurrection: Part 2 In part 1 of this post, I explored the link between a specific individual and the idea of the resurrection of that individual.  I contrasted the Hebrew notion of the resurrection of the body and the Greek notion of the immortal soul. I found both to be rooted in the cosmology of the ancient world, almost impossible to express in modern terms. In this second part, I’ll see what I can do to relate the notion of resurrection to modern thought. Modern Science and Resurrection: Modern science – biology and psychology – are [...]

Was Mark Really Written First? The Arguments for “Markan Priority”

By |February 9th, 2025|Public Forum|4 Comments

I've begun blogging on the "Synoptic Problem," the problem of why Matthew, Mark, and Luke are so similar in so many ways (many of the exact same stories, often told in the same sequence, and even in the very same words), and yet so different (often in wording, sometimes in sequence, etc.).  The solution virtually everyone accepts is that there is some kind of copying going on. The first step is to see if one of them was copied in part by the others, and based on long examinations of all the evidence, the vast majority of scholars have come [...]

Gospel Problems: Does Matthew Ever “Correct” Mark?

By |February 8th, 2025|Canonical Gospels|16 Comments

In my previous post I indicated that one of the reasons for thinking that Matthew copied Mark instead of the other way around is that there are passages in Mark that can be read in ways (or maybe even were meant in ways) that could be seen as problematic -- they might be worded in an awkward way, for example, or they might say something that cold be seen as confusing or just wrong -- but that in Matthew are worded differently so that there is no longer a problem. That would make sense if Matthew was copying Mark and [...]

Materialism, Personal Identity, and Resurrection: Part 1 – Platinum Post by Dennis J. Folds, Ph.D.

By |February 7th, 2025|Public Forum|5 Comments

In this two-part post I’ll explore the link between a biological reality (the human body), the identity of a specific individual, and what resurrection of that person might mean. In Part 1, I explore the link between personal identity and resurrection. In Part 2, I attempt to relate the notion of resurrection to modern thought, and offer my personal reflections. Sometimes when we think we are being clever, we consider the rhetorical question: In the resurrection, will I come back as myself in my prime? Surely I won’t be a newborn baby, or a toddler, or an adolescent, or a [...]

Why Assume the Synoptic Gospels Were COPYING One Another (and Other Sources)?

By |February 6th, 2025|Canonical Gospels|43 Comments

Why couldn't Matthew, Mark, and Luke just have the same stories?  Why do we have to assume someone was copying someone else's? In yesterday’s post,  I simply stated that copying must have been going on to explain the literary relationship among Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the Synoptic Gospels, since they have so many similarities: they tell many of the same stories, often in the same sequence, and sometimes – lots of times – in the very same words.  That is to say, someone must be copying someone else, or they are all using the same written sources. But some of [...]

The Synoptic Problem: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Who’s Zoomin Who?

By |February 5th, 2025|Canonical Gospels, Public Forum|21 Comments

Why are Matthew, Mark, and Luke are so similar to each other and yet have so many differences, lots of them minor but some of them significant? In my previous posts I’ve given “Nutshell” explanations of each of these Gospels.  Before moving on to John – which is remarkably different in many ways from these three, both individually and as  group – I want to devote a series of posts to their relationship to one another. How could they be so alike – often word for word the same – without some copying going on?  And how do we account [...]

Bart Ehrman and Kevin Grant – The Apocalypse: Literal or Metaphor?

By |February 4th, 2025|Public Forum|12 Comments

A while back blog member Kevin Grant and I did a recorded interview on the teachings of Jesus about the coming apocalypse.  Did he really mean it?  Are we supposed to take it literally?  How can readers understand the dire predictions?   Here is the video! Kevin is the author of What the Hell is Hell?  A Non-religious Look at the Facts and the Love that Shows You How to Soar, available  on Amazon.com.

Is the Gospel of Luke Anti-Jewish?

By |February 2nd, 2025|Canonical Gospels|23 Comments

If Luke is the most "gentile" Gospel, is it also "anti-Jewish"? In my earlier post on "The Gospel of Luke in a Nutshell," I argued that Luke, more than the other Gospels, went out of its way to portray Jesus as a great prophet (like Samuel, like Elijah, etc.).  In part, in Luke’s understanding, that is why Jesus had to die.  The Jewish people, in his view, always reject their own prophets sent from God.  Jesus was the last of the great prophets.  He too had to be rejected and killed at the hands of the Jewish people (see Luke [...]

The Gospel of Luke: For Further Reading

By |February 1st, 2025|Canonical Gospels|2 Comments

Now that I’ve devoted two posts to the major sine qua non of Luke's Gospel – one that lays out its major themes and emphases, the other that deals with who wrote it, when, and why, I can provide some suggestions for further reading, important works written by scholars for non-scholars.   I have given brief annotations for each book a mention, to give you a sense of what it’s about and so help you decide which, if any, might be worth your while. I have divided the list into three sections: Books that provide important discussion of Luke in general [...]

Gold Q&A for February!

By |January 30th, 2025|Public Forum|4 Comments

Dear Gold & Platinum Members, It's time for another monthly Gold Q&A.  You ask the questions, Bart answers them.  Have any questions you've been itching to get answered? Submit them to: [email protected] (Don't ask them in the comments of this post – they won't be included!) Remember, short, to-the-point questions will be given preference. We have limited time for Q&A, so do what you can to keep things concise. The February Q&A will take place on Sunday February 16th at 2pm EDT. If you can't make the live recording, the session will be recorded as usual. We will send a [...]

The Gospel of Luke: Who Wrote It? When? And Why?

By |January 30th, 2025|Canonical Gospels|72 Comments

Everyone says that the Gospel of Luke was written by … Luke!  Do we know if that’s true?  Whether Luke or not, do we know when he wrote it?  And why did he want/need to do so?  Now that I’ve summarized the major themes and emphases of the Gospel we can delve into these equally interesting and important historical questions. For as long as anyone has named an author of this Gospel, it has been Luke, a gentile traveling companion of Paul thought to be a medical doctor.  I’ll continue calling him “Luke” for the sake of convenience, even though [...]

The Gospel of Luke in a Nutshell

By |January 29th, 2025|Canonical Gospels|18 Comments

If you already have Matthew and Mark, why would you need Luke?  Aren't they all the same? Nope. Next question:  do you know these Gospels very well?  If not, AOK:  Keep reading!  If so – see if you can summarize the themes and emphases of Luke in one sentence (say, 50 words) in a way that both highlights what it’s about and shows what is distinctive about its portrayal of Jesus. How’d that go for you? Here’s what I would come up with as a first go (I’ve never tried this before!) The Gospel of Luke portrays Jesus both as [...]

Mark’s Messianic Secret

By |January 28th, 2025|Canonical Gospels|54 Comments

In my previous posts I have pointed out that the Gospel of Mark  (unlike the other Gospels) portrays Jesus as trying to keep his messiahship a secret.  He doesn’t allow the demons to identify him when he casts them out; when he heals people he strictly instructs them not to tell anyone; he teaches his disciples the “secret of the Kingdom” privately when no one else is around; he teaches the crowds only using parables precisely (Mark indicates) so no one can understand what he means.  And he never publicly teaches about his own identity. This last point should be [...]

The Gospel of Mark: For Further Reading

By |January 26th, 2025|Public Forum|16 Comments

Now that I’ve devoted two posts to the major sine qua non of the Gospel of Mark – one that lays out its major themes and emphases, the other that deals with who wrote it, when, and why, I can provide a bibliography of important works, written by scholars for non-scholars. You may find one or more of these useful if you choose to dig more deeply into the the Gospel. For each of the books in this this list I provide brief annotations to give you a sense of what it’s about and so help you decide which, if [...]

The Gospel of Mark: Who, When, and Why

By |January 25th, 2025|Public Forum|44 Comments

Who actually wrote the Gospel of Mark?  When?  And Why? In my previous post I laid out the major themes and emphases of Mark’s Gospel, and now I want to turn to some of the key historical issues about it.  I begin with the author. The two most important things to note are (1) every surviving manuscript that preserves a title ascribes the book to Mark, either calling it “The Gospel according to Mark” or “The Holy Gospel according to Mark,” or just “According to Mark” and (2) these manuscripts were produced over three centuries after the book was placed [...]

The Gospel of Mark in a Nutshell

By |January 23rd, 2025|Public Forum|52 Comments

How could Jesus be the messiah?  Wasn’t the messiah to be a powerful figure sent from God to overthrow the enemies of the Jews and establish a new kingdom on earth?  How could a person publicly humiliated and tortured to death by his enemies be considered the Mighty One to Come?  That is the question Mark sets out to address in his narrative, the first of our surviving Gospels. My goal in this entire thread on the books of the New Testament is to provide four major posts on each of the books, one summarizing its major themes; another dealing [...]

The Flukes of Life: How I Almost Never Became a Professor

By |January 22nd, 2025|Reflections and Ruminations|41 Comments

This is now my 40th year of teaching at a university, 36 of the years at UNC Chapel Hill and 4 before that at Rutgers as a 28 year old.  It very nearly didn't happen at all.  Life is so strange. I was on the job market while I was writing my dissertation.. And even though there were job openings, I couldn’t get an interview to save my soul. Part of the problem was that my PhD was from a theological seminary, and a lot of the jobs were at secular institutions – state universities, private colleges, and the like. [...]

Was (the author of ) Matthew Really a Jew?

By |January 21st, 2025|Canonical Gospels, Public Forum|41 Comments

My previous posts were dealing with the themes and historical context of the Gospel of Matthew, along  with a list of suggested readings for those who want to go deeper. I would like to go deeper myself by returning at greater length to one of the most puzzling features of Matthew, its relationship to Judaism.  To begin with, I suggested in my post "Who, When, and Why" that the author himself was Jewish.  I want to explore that at some greater depth here. The first thing to say is that not all New Testament scholars have thought so.  Au contraire. [...]

The Gospel of Matthew: For Further Reading

By |January 19th, 2025|New Testament Manuscripts, Public Forum|5 Comments

Now that I’ve devoted two posts to the major sine qua non of Matthew’s Gospel – one that lays out its major themes and emphases, the other that deals with who wrote it, when, and why, I can provide a bibliography  of important works, written by scholars for non-scholars.  You may find one or more of these useful if you choose to to explore Matthew’s Gospel further.  I have given brief annotations for each book to give you a sense of what it’s about and so help you decide which, if any, might be worth your while. I [...]

The Gospel of Matthew: Who, When, and Why?

By |January 18th, 2025|Canonical Gospels, Public Forum|81 Comments

In my previous post we took the first step in understanding the Gospel of Matthew, grasping its major themes and emphases.  It is also important to situate the book in its own historical context.  For that we need to know something about the author, the approximate time he was writing it, and why he appears to have taken on the task.  In short:  Who, When, and Why? We start with the “who.” Our oldest full manuscripts of the Gospel call it “According to Matthew.”  These manuscripts date from around 375 CE, and so were created about three hundred years after [...]

The Gospel of Matthew in a Nutshell

By |January 16th, 2025|Canonical Gospels|20 Comments

Are you familiar with the Gospel of Matthew?  If not, read on! If so, try to summarize its distinctive portrayal of Jesus in one sentence. (of say, 50 words or so max).  If you really can’t, then again, read on!  If you give it a try, check to see that you have both described it accurately and shown how it is distinctive among the other Gospels. Here’s a sentence that I might try if I were given the assignment: Matthew portrays Jesus as the miracle-working messiah who fulfilled the predictions of Scripture, taught the correct understanding of the [...]

Rambling Meditations on What It Means to Exist…. What Do You Think?

By |January 15th, 2025|Reflections and Ruminations|104 Comments

I sometimes feel like a pestiferous terrier who goes after someone’s ankles and just won’t stop. There are some issues (among the “Big Questions”) that I repeatedly come back to and just can’t let drop.  I suppose that’s because they seem both really important and completely incapable of being figured out.  Hence my occasional return to them on the blog. I’ve mentioned before that I have a daily meditation practice, which does wonders for my stress levels and mental/emotional/psychological well-being, though it does sometimes leave me puzzled..  This morning I did one of those “go deep into your mind” sessions [...]

The New Testament Gospels in a Nutshell

By |January 14th, 2025|Public Forum|27 Comments

Before I can talk about the Gospels individually, I need to say something about them as a group. How would YOU summarize the most important things to say about the Gospels in a single sentence?  Try it.  See how you do.   There are roughly 34 million ways to put it.  Here’s one of them. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four Gospels of the New Testament, are our earliest surviving accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God sent for the salvation of the world. And now to unpack that in a single post: [...]

What Is The New Testament? Can You Actually Say?

By |January 12th, 2025|Public Forum|43 Comments

What exactly is the New Testament? If someone standing behind you in a long line in the grocery store should lean over and out of the blue ask:  “Hey, can you tell me what the New Testament is”, what would you say? (This happens to you every day, right?)  This person wants it in one sentence.  Well – come up with something.  What would you say?  (Try to formulate something before reading any further.) I’m not sure what I would say, but I would have a ton of options in my head, depending on what I thought she wanted really [...]

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