Recent Posts

Were Peter and Cephas the Same Person?

By |August 13th, 2026|Paul and His Letters|6 Comments

In Galatians 2 Paul describes a serious blow up that he had with "Cephas" over the relationship of Jews and Gentiles in the church.  Major conflict.  Possibly never resolved.  Throughout history this event has usually been cited to show that Paul and Peter had very different views of things. But what if the Cephas Paul attacked was not Peter but someone else? A couple of weeks ago I gave a webinar on “Cephas and Peter” for members of the Biblical Studies Academy (my for-profit business that produces on-line courses, etc., not connected with the blog).  I had written an academic [...]

Problems of Suffering and Why Gospels Started Being Written: Questions from Readers

By |August 12th, 2026|Reader’s Questions|4 Comments

Here are some excellent questions I've received from readers of the blog that I'd like to share with y'all, along with my attempts at responding....   QUESTION: Do you think that the presence of mass suffering is not necessarily an argument against the existence of God, but rather an argument against the existence of a loving God? If so, what would a loving God be expected to do regarding suffering? Or at what point does the amount of suffering become incompatible with the existence of a loving God? I’m curious how you would define divine love in this context and [...]

What Did Jesus’s Violent Action in the Temple Actually Mean?

By |August 11th, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|23 Comments

Several aspects of Jesus’s actions in the temple – the so-called “Cleansing of the Temple” – have long puzzled scholars. As I indicated in the previous post, in all four Gospels – with some important differences among them – Jesus enters the temple compound, is angered by what he sees, overturns the tables of those who are changing Roman currency for temple currency to allow people to purchase sacrificial animals, drives out those who are selling (and even buying) the animals, prevents (in one account) anyone from carrying anything needed for the sacrifices though the temple, and forcefully declares that [...]

Blog Dinner in NYC, September 1. Interested?

By |August 10th, 2026|Public Forum|4 Comments

I will be in NYC on Tuesday, Sept. 1, for an extremely important academic engagement (aka, the U.S. Open....).  I'll be hosting a blog dinner for any blog members who would be interested.   Yup up for it? I’ll probably start around 6:00 pm for drinks with whomever wants both to quench thirst and cha, and then head over to dinner (with both quenchers and non-quenchers) at 7:00 or so.  Location TBD -- but somewhere relatively interesting and easy to get to. My plan (subject to  whimsical change) is to limit the table to 10.   For those who come there are [...]

Prophetic Condemnations of Jews Within Judaism Before Jesus

By |August 9th, 2026|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Historical Jesus|23 Comments

Over the past few decades scholars have become loathe to label Jesus’s actions in the Temple (Mark 11:14-17; also in the other three Gospels) with the traditional phrase “The Cleansing of the Temple.”  One reason is the hateful afterlife of this phrasing, because it makes it sound as if Judaism at its very heart was foul, dirty, unclean, and vile, and Jesus is the one who purified it.  In other words, this phrase can be/has been taken to mean that God hates Jews and their religion and sent Jesus in order to show the true path of holiness. The social [...]

Gist and Exaggeration: Jesus and the Cleansing of the Temple

By |August 8th, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|4 Comments

It is virtually impossible to disentangle religion and politics when studying ancient sources:, they were not separate entities but tightly interwoven aspects of the same entity, involving questions of authority, who wields it, how they should wield it, and how these “authorities” are “authorized.”  Kings could be gods, and vice versa.  Priests were governmental officials and vice versa.   Laws were divinely sanctioned.  Opposition to the state meant opposition to the gods who supported it and opposition to the state gods meant opposition to the state. That’s why Jesus’s “religious” views that God was soon to bring in a new kingdom [...]

Render Unto Caesar: Jesus’s Indifference to Human Governments and Economies

By |August 6th, 2026|Public Forum|29 Comments

In this thread have been arguing that Jesus was decidedly a revolutionary:  he despised the current system (government) (both Roman and Jewish) and hoped for/anticipated its complete overthrow.  But he was not in support of rebellion.  That seems a bit odd, since most revolutionaries are precisely trying to incite either a violent or peaceful coup for a new system to be put in place. Jesus was different precisely because of his apocalyptic views:  governments were necessarily human institutions, the humans in power were part of a cosmic-wide network of evil and corruption, and the powers ultimately in control (above their [...]

Was Jesus’s Crucifixion One Big Mistake?

By |August 5th, 2026|Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE), Heresy and Orthodoxy, Historical Jesus|29 Comments

In my previous post I indicated that, looked at in one way, the crucifixion of Jesus was one big mistake.  The ruling authorities knew that he considered himself the future ruler of Israel, the messiah, and so they condemned him for insurrection.  But Jesus wasn’t in favor of insurrection.  He was predicting something much bigger, a cosmic intervention by God.  He personally posed no threat to Roman rule. Once I wrote that, it occurred to me – in a rather tangential and possibly irrelevant way – that there actually were early Christians who taught that Jesus crucifixion was One Big [...]

The Triumphal Entry and Jesus’s Mistaken Identity

By |August 4th, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|10 Comments

Even though the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem almost certainly could not have happened as described (see previous post), they clearly contain some elements of historical truth.  This is often the case with the Gospels and with other historical narratives that have come down to us from antiquity. The task of the historian is to determine what is invention, what exaggeration, and what is (more or less) historical. With respect to the historical elements, the following seem reasonably secure (even some of these, of course, can be debated, but in my judgment the evidence for them is [...]

The Implausibility of the Triumphal Entry

By |August 2nd, 2026|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|23 Comments

It is precisely the intricate and complete intertwining of (what we would call) “religion” and “politics” in the ancient world (see my previous post) that explains why Jesus’ forthright views about God and understanding of himself as God’s spokesperson let to his arrest and execution, as well as, ironically, his indifference to the governmental and cultic status quo.  His revolutionary views and yet indifference can be illustrated by his two incendiary actions near the end of his life and, oddly, his two discussions of taxation. I will deal with the first of his two actions, typically designated the “Triumphal Entry,” [...]

Understanding Jesus: A Swedish Podcast Interview

By |August 1st, 2026|Public Forum|8 Comments

When my book Love They Stranger came out a few months ago, I was honored to be interviewed for a Swedish podcast about my major theses and how I support them.  It was one episode in a multi-part series, and has now just recently been aired. I thought it was a particularly interesting back and forth, and the producers have given us permission to share it here on the blog. I hope you enjoy it!  (My host begins by welcoming his audience in Swedish -- but have no fear!  He has very fine English and breaks into it at about the [...]

Religion, Politics, and Resistance in Jesus’ Day

By |July 30th, 2026|Public Forum|24 Comments

To condemn, oppose, and defy the current order is not necessarily the same as, or even a stage toward, urging its reformation.  Jesus certainly condemned, opposed, and defied the ruling authorities of his day.  But he did not propose (or support) an agenda to reform the system.  He believed God would destroy both the system and those who ran and supported it.  He would then set up a new order.  He didn’t need either urging or assistance. Roughly speaking there were two sets of ruling authorities in Jesus’s time and place, what we today would differentiate as “political” and “religious.”  [...]

Thoughts on Jesus and Activism. What Do You Think?

By |July 29th, 2026|Public Forum|38 Comments

Here are some random thoughts I’ve been … thinking, while contemplating Jesus’s views of political and economic systems.  They are not definitive thoughts, but explorations.  What do you think?  I would welcome your comments (on this post I probably won’t be answering questions, just observing responses). Normally when someone opposes a political or economic situation, they want it to be reformed.   We should move to a state-supported health care system; we should get rid of the electoral college; we should abolish the House of Lords; we should close the borders; we should … whatever, ad infinitum. It has long been [...]

Jesus the Pacifist

By |July 28th, 2026|Historical Jesus|24 Comments

I was raised thinking Jesus was completely relevant for  our own current affairs, that his teachings were directly relevant for governmental policies and social agendas, that he had preferred methods of political rules, definite ideas about competing economic systems, and strong opinions about governmental priorities.  To no great surprise, growing up in Kansas in the 1960s and early 1970s, I simply assumed his teachings provided divine support for Capitalist Democracy. I don’t think so any longer.  It’s not that I think he preferred Marxist Socialism, as has been sometimes argued by academics and their eager followers, or … well, any [...]

The Indifference of Jesus

By |July 25th, 2026|Historical Jesus|26 Comments

How concerned was Jesus about the social, economic, cultural, and political issues that are so vitally important to us and occupy so much of our mental space? The answer is surprising. First some (probably unexpected) background. As a Jewish peasant in early first-century rural Aramaic-speaking Galilee, Jesus would not have known about Greek Stoics or their philosophical views.  He nonetheless appears to have shared a perspective with them, one that is a bit unexpected.  Like them, he was completely indifferent to a number of issues most people find deeply relevant and important, including fundamental questions connected with governmental policies and [...]

The Sadness of Beginning to Doubt

By |July 23rd, 2026|Bart’s Biography|36 Comments

A friend of mine from 50 years ago got in touch with me recently. We were roommates at Moody Bible Institute, and became youth pastors together at Trinity Covenant Church in Oak Lawn, Illinois.  I've been reminiscing about those days, and have been thinking about an event connected with the church that I talked about in my book How Jesus Became God (HarperOne, 2014).  It involves a sad moment when my doubts about the Christian faith were starting to take hold. Here what I said there. ****************************** When I attended Moody Bible Institute in the mid 1970s, every student [...]

Was Moses Called God?

By |July 22nd, 2026|Early Judaism|10 Comments

In my last couple of posts I've talked about how the King of Israel could, oddly enough, be called "God."  That seems contrary to what we think of ancient Judaism, where only God can be God.  But it helps explain why later Christians could call Jesus God.  There was precedent for a human to be called that, even within Judaism, Possibly yet more unexpectedly, within the Jewish tradition even Moses was sometimes considered a divine being, and called God.  Here's how I explain it in my book How Jesus Became God (HarperOne, 2014) ****************************** It is interesting to note that [...]

The King of Israel Was Called … God?

By |July 21st, 2026|Early Judaism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|10 Comments

In my previous post I showed that beings other than God could be called God in the Old Testament and other ancient Jewish literature.  It seems strange, but there it is.  I continue now with an especially important case in point: the king of Israel.  In this case there is not a lot of ambiguity about the matter, as odd as that might seem. Again, this is from my book How Jesus Became God. ****************************** Hebrew Bible scholar John Collins points out that the Israelite notion that the human king could be considered in some sense divine ultimately appears to [...]

Jewish Precedents for Jesus Becoming God

By |July 19th, 2026|Early Judaism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|23 Comments

In my previous post I showed how Jews could and did conceive of humans who became super-human beings -- angels.  But that's a far cry from thinking humans could be GOD!  And yet the Jewish followers of Jesus claimed that's what he was.  How'd that work exactly? That may come as a surprise: Jews who were monotheists thought that others could be God, along with the one God?  Uh, how does *that* work? As it turns out, you can find it in the Hebrew Bible and in later Jewish traditions as well.  Angelic beings are sometimes called “gods” (e.g. Psalm [...]

How Can Monotheists Think a Human Could Become God?

By |July 18th, 2026|Early Judaism, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|15 Comments

One of the questions I regularly get is how we can imagine that Jews -- specifically, the Jewish followers of Jesus after his death --  could possibly imagine that he had become God.  They were monotheists.  How could someone in addition to God be or become God?  That maybe makes sense in pagan circles, where there are many gods and a rather fluid transition between humanity and divinity.  But not in Judaism, right? Well, wrong. As it turns out Jews also sometimes thought that a human could become divine.  In this post I’ll talk about one variant of this view, [...]

August 2026 Gold Q&A Announcement

By |July 17th, 2026|Public Forum|8 Comments

Gold and Platinum Members, the date for the August Q&A is in the books. Bart will be answering your questions live on Saturday August 15th at 3pm Eastern. During the first half of the session, Bart will answer questions submitted in advance. Please send your question to [email protected] no later than Thursday August 13th. For the second half, we’ll open the floor to live questions from attendees. In previous months, we asked participants to keep their questions focused on a particular topic. This time, anything goes: early Christianity, the New Testament, Bart’s career, his current research, or whatever else you’ve [...]

Personal Faith, Textual Problems, and the Miracles of Jesus: More Readers’ Questions

By |July 16th, 2026|Reader’s Questions|36 Comments

Here are three quite disparate questions from readers (with attempts at answers), each interesting and together showing the kind of range of issues that are involved with trying to make sense of the Bible from a historical point of view.   QUESTION: I am at one of the hardest points of my life, the dimming of my faith. I have always been a person of faith throughout my young age, and I really want to keep that faith mainly because I want a better future for my son. However, upon the discovery of the contradictions, errors, and upon actually studying [...]

How the Year 1517 Revolutionized Biblical Studies

By |July 15th, 2026|History of Biblical Scholarship|10 Comments

Two events in 1516-1517 CE unexpectedly altered the field of biblical studies for all time.  Yesterday I discussed the first published edition of the Greek New Testament by Erasmus (1516); today I discuss the “95 Theses” of Martin Luther.  Neither scholar would likely have approved the tenets or conclusions of historical criticism that emerged from the foundation they laid.  But emerge they did. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, an Augustinian friar and ordained Catholic priest, posted his “95 theses” – traditionally said to have nailed them to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenburg.  This moment is usually [...]

Two Years that Transformed the World of Biblical Studies.

By |July 14th, 2026|History of Biblical Scholarship, New Testament Manuscripts|19 Comments

Someone should write a book on the inordinate significance of the years 1516 and 1517 for the rise of modern biblical scholarship.  Two publications by two ordained Catholic Priests, Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, revolutionized how the Bible came to be studied, in some ways marking the beginnings of the historical-critical study.  Both men would have been completely surprised by the outcome. The Bible had long been understood in light of traditional perspectives and interpretations advanced by ecclesiastical writers for centuries; in the Latin-speaking West, based on theological understandings of the Vulgate.  The grounds for a seismic change, for not [...]

The Martyrdom of Polycarp (Another Book of the Apostolic Fathers): In a Nutshell

By |July 12th, 2026|Early Christian Writings (100-400 CE)|12 Comments

Do you know the first account of a Christian martyr -- the actual narrative of his trial and executio -- from outside the New Testament?  It's one of the Apostolic Fathers, and for many readers one of the most intriguing:  The Martyrdom of Polycarp. Here  is a nutshell summary of the work, an edited version of my Introduction to the translation I made for my collection, The Apostolic Fathers (Harvard University Press) ****************************** The Martyrdom of Polycarp has long occupied a place of special intrigue for readers of the Apostolic Fathers.  This is an account, evidently based on the testimony of [...]

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