Recent Posts
A Major Forgery in the Hebrew Bible? Platinum Guest Post by Dennis Folds
I am pleased to publish this insightful and intriguing Platinum guest post by Dennis Folds, for all you fellow Platinum members. Many of you are interested in Christian pseudepigrapha (= forgeries), especially those in the New Testament. But what about the Old Testament? Now *here* is a bold thesis! Read it and remark! Remember: you too can submit a Platinum guest post. It does not have to be sophisticated, learned, or novel. Just write something you'd like to share with all of us, on anything at all connected to the blog and send it to me! ******************** Jeremiah Versus the [...]
Why Do Some Smart People Just Not Think?
I was recently contacted by a conservative Christian theologian who was interested in doing a public back and forth with me, not necessarily a debate but an exchange of ideas on the issue of theodicy – how to explain evil in a world over which God is sovereign. What puzzled me was his explanation for suggesting the event. He said he had followed my work for years and had read my books, but was surprised recently to find out that the reason I no longer believed in God not “for historical reasons” but because of the problem of suffering. I [...]
Reading Genesis—Are You Lost in Translation? Anniversary Guest Post by James Tabor
Several scholar-friends and colleagues graciously have written guest posts for the blog to celebrate our tenth anniversary. I am posting one a week and we will gather all of them together down the line to make them available as a group. This week's contribution comes from James Tabor, retired Professor of Christian Origins and Bible from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (a scholar many of you will know) who has written a large number of popular books, along with serious scholarship, and most recently his own fresh translation of the book of Genesis. This post is especially interesting: [...]
A Writing of Peter that *Barely* Got Into the New Testament
In my previous posts I’ve talked about writings that claimed to be written by Peter, the closest disciple to Jesus – a Gospel, and Apocalypse, and an Epistle . These are not the only Petrine writings floating around in the early church. Among other things, we have two other (different) apocalypses, one of them unusually fascinating that was discovered only in 1945 (a Gnostic writing). None of these was actually written by Peter, and I don’t think there’s a biblical scholar on the planet who seriously thinks it was. It appears that writing books in the name of Peter [...]
A Letter from Peter to James … Against Paul!
I have been discussing my thoughts about a future book on the canon of the New Testament for a broad reading audience, a book that explains why we got our 27 books, why other books didn’t get in, who made the decisions, on what grounds, and when. To introduce some of these issues I’ve already discussed two books that claimed to be written by the apostle Peter (but weren’t), the Apocalypse and the Gospel of Peter. Neither of them made it into the NT, obviously, but both were thought by some Christian leaders to be bona fide texts of Scripture. [...]
Why Do I “Trash” the Gospels??
Every now and then I get emails from people who are, well, not exactly fans. They have heard that I've said this that or the other thing, and have no interest at all in reading anything I've written, but genuinely want to know: Why are you trashing the Gospels? It’s a fair question, and deserves a fair answer. I dealt with it years ago on the blog; this is what I said then. ****************************** The short story is that I’m not *trying* to trash the Gospels. In my view, what I’m doing is showing what the Gospels really are and [...]
Anyone in/around Asheville NC in August?
BE Bloggers! I'm going to be in the Asheville NC area (Waynesville, actually) August 9-28 or so. I'm out there a good bit, but not usually for this amount of time. If any of you are in the area, let me know: if there are a few of you, maybe we could work out a blog dinner. It would be for blog members only; each person would pay for him/herself; and we would spend an evening engaged in interesting discourse! Let me know -- not here but on my private email -- and we'll see what, if anything, can happen! [...]
Reminder about My Gospels Course This Weekend
This is a reminder (or a minder, if you missed it the first time) that I will be doing an eight-lecture online course this coming weekend, four lectures on on Saturday and four on Sunday, with Q&A following each, on the four canonical Gospels. Here was the original announcement from a couple of weeks ago. ****************************** I am pleased to announce that I will be doing another online course, the second in the series: How Scholars Read the Bible. The first, if you recall, was a six-lecture course on Genesis. This one will be an eight-lecture course called: The [...]
Another Book by “Peter” That Could Have Become Scripture
In this thread I’m discussing several Christian books that were considered by some early groups of believers and church leaders to be bona fide Scripture – written by apostles and inspired by God. All of the books I’m discussing were written by authors who were claiming to be Jesus’ closest disciple, Peter. But eventually church fathers became convinced otherwise, and the books were relegated to the trash heap of Christian curiosities. Here’s one that has become known only in modern times and that has intrigued readers – both scholars and lay folk. What exactly did church leaders find objectionable about [...]
Does God Create People to Roast in Hell? Anniversary Guest Post by Jason Staples
I am publishing a series of guest posts that have been generously contributed to the blog in honor of our ten-year anniversary. Each post is written by a recognized expert in our field who has previously made guest posts for us. This one comes from Jason Staples, my erstwhile PhD student who now teaches at North Carolina State and whose (long!) dissertation has turned into TWO separate monographs, the first already published by Cambridge University Press (The Idea of Israel in Second Temple Judaism), and the other now forthcoming from Cambridge (focusing on Paul). Here, after some much-appreciated kind words, [...]
A Book That Nearly Became Scripture: The Apocalypse of Peter
As I indicated in my previous post, I’m planning to write a book (after the one on charity in early Christianity) explaining how we got the canon of the New Testament. Who choose the books? On what grounds? And when? I continue the thoughts I’m laying out in my prospectus here, in the first of four case studies – a book that almost made it in. ****************************** Four Vignettes to Explain the Issues To illustrate some of the major issues, to show how the process worked, to give a sense of the historical disputes, and to show [...]
And Then My NEXT Book Project: How Did We Get the Canon of the NT?
In my most recent thread I laid out my thoughts on my next book (what I *think* will be my next book) on how Christian views of charity helped revolutionize ancient (and as a consequence, modern) society. Now I will begin a series on my thoughts for my book after that. Throughout the past ten or fifteen years I’ve always thought two books ahead; that way when I’m writing a book, in my down time I can be thinking a bit about the next one. It’s kind of pleasant, actually, since there is no pressure on my thoughts – I [...]
Is It Even Possible to Follow Jesus’ Teaching? What Do You Think?
Here is a post where I raise a fundamental question that I find very hard to answer. I will not be able to respond to all your reflections, but I will read them all and am very eager to see what you have to say. In connection with my next book I’ve been reading a lot of writings by the church fathers from the 2-5th centuries to see what they have to say about giving away wealth. A big issue for some of these writers was whether committed Christians should give away *everything* to the poor, or rather keep most [...]
Specious Arguments for the Truth of the Bible
Professors who have taught the same subject for decades often get tired with covering the same material time after time and, as a result, answering the same questions time after time. I've had friends who teach New Testament tell me: "If I have to teach the Synoptic Problem ONE MORE TIME I am going to SCREAM…." I've never felt that way. It's probably just a matter of personality and brain chemistry. For me, teaching someone who doesn't know something that I’ve taught for many years just means they haven’t had the chance to learn it. It’s the same outside the [...]
Doing Critical Scholarship as a Committed Christian: Anniversary Guest Post by Jeffrey Siker
As part of our ten -year anniversary on the blog, we requested special anniversary posts from scholars who had, over the years, made guest contributions; our instructions were that they could post on any topic of their choice for the event. We had a gratifying number of scholar-colleagues-friends of mine graciously respond. I'll be posting one of them a week, and then at the end figure out a way to combine them into one big kind of anniversary blog post e-book for distribution. Here is the first in line, written by one of my closest friends Jeff Siker, Professor Emeritus [...]
Did Christians Invent Hospitals?
This will be the last of my posts on this thread, connected with what I hope is my next book, that I’m calling tentatively, The Creation of Charity: How Christianity Transformed our World. Here I talk about one of the lesser-known aspects of early Christianity – a surprising one to most people. Arguably the most important development in the Christian history of charity came in the institutionalization of giving, not on the governmental level but through extra-mural ecclesiastical organizations. Of these, none proved more historically significant than the invention of the hospital. Most health care in the Greek and Roman worlds [...]
Were Early Christians Really Charitable? Or Was It All Talk?
In this thread on “charity” in early Christianity I’ve been discussing what the Christian writers said about the importance of giving money to those in need. But did all this preaching have any real-life effect on anything? In his classical discussion of wealth in antiquity, Paul Veyne pointed out that it is important to “distinguish carefully between the ethic that a society practices…and the ethic that this society professes. The two ethics usually have little in common.” (Bread and Circuses, p. 25) To this point I have been discussing early Christian rhetoric. But what about its practice? There is solid [...]
Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Write Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Free video.
As you may know, I have started producing a series of online courses that consider in a systematic way how historical scholars understanding the Bible. These are not connected with the blog, but are a separate activity I have for the Bart Ehrman Professional Services (BEPS; website: www.bartehrman.com) In June I did a freebie as part of the series and invited all blog members to come. Many did! If you missed it, or would like to see it again, just click this link! It's a 50 minute talk, with Q&A following, on one of the important issues confronting readers of [...]
Announcing a New Live Course on the Gospels! Interested?
I am pleased to announce that I will be doing another online course, the second in the series: How Scholars Read the Bible. The first, if you recall, was a six-lecture course on Genesis. This one will be an eight-lecture course called: The Unknown Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. As with all the courses I do online, this one will NOT be in connection with the blog per se – it is part of my separate venture (Bart Ehrman Professional Services) that you can find at my personal website http://www.bartehrman.com. I am announcing it here on the blog [...]
Our Platinum Webinar! Tuesday July 19.
I'm looking forward to our re-rescheduled Platinum-Onlies Webinar on Tuesday! Topic: Peter and Paul: The Dueling Apostles Time: 7:30 - 9:00 pm. Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83457463872?pwd=aGl5eHVRNURscllOdEN0SEZNdnJ2dz09 Meeting ID: 834 5746 3872 Passcode: 334283 Hope to see you there! = Bart
How Could Jesus Be BOTH Divine and Human at Once? An Intriguing Ancient View
This now is my tenth and final April 18 anniversary post. The blog started on April 18, 2012, and with this post I will finish all the previous posts from April 18. This one, from 2021, is especially interesting for anyone intrigued by early Christian attempts to figure out who Christ was. God? Human? Half of each? Both at once? How's *that* work??? ****************************** In this long thread on the Trinity I have been trying to explain how Christians came to the view that Jesus was God but that he was separate from God the Father – that both were [...]
Christians Who Reversed Jesus’ Teachings: Wealth is GOOD!
In this thread I’ve been giving a short history of ancient Christian views of giving to charity – a matter of real interest for the blog itself, but of bigger interest for the world at large. Surprisingly, before Christianity started to take over the Roman world, no one apart from Jews appeared to think that the “poor” mattered enough to do much of anything to help them. Jesus, though, as a Jew, stressed the importance of taking care of those in need. That’s what God does and it’s what his people should do – give everything to help those without [...]
“Redemptive Gifts”: Can Giving to Charity Save Your Soul?
In my previous post I began to show that after Jesus’ death, his followers started to soften his message that it was necessary for his followers to give up all their material goods. In fact, Christian leaders started seeing the virtue of wealth in their communities and began to claim that wealthy people who gave of their goods generously (without getting rid of them all) could help provide salvation for their souls. Such views become standard within the Christian tradition, creating two intriguing ironies for the religion, one related to the proclamation of Jesus during his life and other connected [...]
Rescheduled (and RE-scheduled!) Platinum Webinar July 19
It's past time for another Platinum webinar; as you know, this is a four-time a year event, for Platinum Members only. Apologies for having had to reschedule this one twice--I'll have a few words to say about that during the Zoom. Our topic is TBA. The date: Tuesday July 19; 7:30-9:00 (EST) No need to register; just show up. I will talk on the subject for 40-45 minutes, and then take questions for 30-35 minutes. Interested? It's for Platinum members only. Here's the link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83457463872?pwd=aGl5eHVRNURscllOdEN0SEZNdnJ2dz09 Meeting ID: 834 5746 3872 Passcode: 334283 One tap mobile +13017158592,,83457463872#,,,,*334283# US (Washington [...]
July Gold Q&A
Dear Gold Members, These monthly Gold Q&A's have been a lot of fun to do. Time for another one! Have a question? Ask it! Anything related to the blog! To enter your question on to the list: send it to Diane at [email protected] DEADLINE for your question. Saturday July 16, midnight (whenever midnight is where you live). I will try to get it recorded soon after that, with a goal of releasing it on or around the 20th. Sorry for the short notice. July has been a killer--more on that another time! Questions that are relatively short (a sentence or [...]
Categories on the Blog
Click on a category for the full archive, arranged by date.
- Reading Genesis—Are You Lost in Translation? Anniversary Guest Post by James Tabor August 6, 2022
- A Writing of Peter that *Barely* Got Into the New Testament August 4, 2022
- A Letter from Peter to James … Against Paul! August 3, 2022
- Anyone in/around Asheville NC in August? August 1, 2022
- Reminder about My Gospels Course This Weekend August 1, 2022
- Does God Create People to Roast in Hell? Anniversary Guest Post by Jason Staples July 30, 2022
- A Book That Nearly Became Scripture: The Apocalypse of Peter July 28, 2022
- Is It Even Possible to Follow Jesus’ Teaching? What Do You Think? July 26, 2022
- Specious Arguments for the Truth of the Bible July 24, 2022
- Does Luke Get Rid of the Atonement? July 5, 2022
- How Do You Decide What an Author Actually Wrote? The Last Supper July 3, 2022
- What Did Jesus Say at the Last Supper? July 2, 2022
- Teeth Will Be Provided April 10, 2022
- Do Textual Critics Have to be Radical Skeptics? Guest Post by Kurt Jaros March 31, 2022
- Faith and Inerrancy, In My Case — Did the “Young Ehrman” Get it Wrong? March 19, 2022
- The “Young Ehrman’s” Faulty Understanding of Inspiration March 18, 2022
- Time Magazine Cover Story on Lost Christianities. Kind Of…. November 9, 2021
- The Remarkable Story of Masada: Guest Post by Jodi Magness May 27, 2020
- Academic Fraud at the Highest Levels May 24, 2020
- Startling and Disturbing Development Involving Manuscripts at the Museum of the Bible October 15, 2019
- Why Was the World Created in 4004 BC? July 1, 2019
- The Hobby Lobby, Biblical Manuscripts, and Academic Scandal June 25, 2019
- An Official Copy of Jesus’ Death Sentence: Another Forgery? May 27, 2019
- Homosexuality and the New Testament. Guest Post by Jeff Siker. March 4, 2019
- The Invention of Charity: My Prospectus for the Book June 21, 2022
- An Even More Unusual Story of What Happens to the Rich… June 7, 2022
- What the Earliest *Christians* Thought About Wealth May 26, 2022
- Shouldn’t the Upper Classes Help the … Upper Classes? May 25, 2022
- Does Wealth Make You More … Virtuous? May 24, 2022
- Fabulously Rich But Not Attached to the Lucre (?) May 19, 2022
- The Ancient Argument for Getting Rid of All Your Wealth May 18, 2022
- Revelation and Ancient Views of Dominance April 5, 2022
- A Major Forgery in the Hebrew Bible? Platinum Guest Post by Dennis Folds August 8, 2022
- What’s the Point? Hey, *IS* There a Point? The Book of Ecclesiastes June 30, 2022
- A Skeptical View of Life … From the Bible! June 28, 2022
- Onan the Barbarian: How an obscure Bible character affected reproductive rights. Platinum Guest post by Douglas Wadeson MD June 24, 2022
- Who Buried Moses? Platinum Guest Post by Lou Suarez May 31, 2022
- Concerns for the Poor in the Jewish Tradition May 28, 2022
- Was The Messiah Supposed to Be Born of a Virgin? May 1, 2022
- Why Paul Persecuted the Christians April 30, 2022
- Did Jesus Insist on Voluntary Poverty? July 10, 2022
- Another Historical Scholar’s Understanding of the Resurrection June 14, 2022
- Lazarus and the Rich Man: What To Do with Wealth June 5, 2022
- Concerns for the Poor in the Jewish Tradition May 28, 2022
- The Plausibility of the Fourth Gospel: The Sayings of Jesus. Guest Post by Dennis Folds May 6, 2022
- Why Romans Crucified People and Who Was Crucifixion Reserved For? May 1, 2022
- Was The Messiah Supposed to Be Born of a Virgin? May 1, 2022
- Pilate Released Barabbas. Really?? April 30, 2022
- Why Do I “Trash” the Gospels?? August 2, 2022
- Did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Write Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Free video. July 19, 2022
- Rescheduled (and RE-scheduled!) Platinum Webinar July 19 July 13, 2022
- Did Jesus Insist on Voluntary Poverty? July 10, 2022
- If Jesus’ Death Was Not an Atonement: Why Did He Die?? July 6, 2022
- Does Luke Get Rid of the Atonement? July 5, 2022
- How Do You Decide What an Author Actually Wrote? The Last Supper July 3, 2022
- What Did Jesus Say at the Last Supper? July 2, 2022
- Did Christians Invent Hospitals? July 21, 2022
- Were Early Christians Really Charitable? Or Was It All Talk? July 20, 2022
- Christians Who Reversed Jesus’ Teachings: Wealth is GOOD! July 16, 2022
- “Redemptive Gifts”: Can Giving to Charity Save Your Soul? July 14, 2022
- Softening Jesus’ Message on Giving up (Literally) Everything July 13, 2022
- The Invention of Charity: My Prospectus for the Book June 21, 2022
- You Mean Everyone (Except the Truly Destitute) Needs to Give? But How Much? June 2, 2022
- A Christian NDE and the Problem with Being Filthy Rich June 1, 2022
- A More Serious (Specific) Problem with the NRSV Translation October 3, 2021
- Was Christ So Divine That He Was Not Human? The “Antichrists” of 1 John March 16, 2021
- How the Trinity Got Into the New Testament: Part 2 January 9, 2021
- Did Some *One* Forge the Writings of “John”? Guest Post by Hugo Mendez May 19, 2020
- Problems with Thinking the “Letters of John” in the NT are Forgeries? Guest Post: Hugo Mendez May 18, 2020
- Are the Gospel and Epistles of John *Forgeries*?? Guest Post by Hugo Mendez May 12, 2020
- Was There One Author Behind the Four Johannine Writings? A Community? Guest Post by Hugo Mendez May 11, 2020
- WAS there a Community behind the Gospel and Letters of John? Guest Post by Hugo Mendez May 5, 2020
- Another Book by “Peter” That Could Have Become Scripture July 31, 2022
- A Book That Nearly Became Scripture: The Apocalypse of Peter July 28, 2022
- And Then My NEXT Book Project: How Did We Get the Canon of the NT? July 27, 2022
- A Christian NDE and the Problem with Being Filthy Rich June 1, 2022
- Thomas’s Trip to India and the Problem of Wealth May 31, 2022
- An Eyewitness Account of Jesus’ Crucifixion! March 16, 2022
- Young Jesus with the Brahmins in India! March 13, 2022
- God’s Mercy and Justice: The Opening of a Chapter in Journeys to Heaven and Hell November 10, 2021
- What Is the Didache & When Was the Didache Written May 1, 2022
- Platinum Webinar! March 8. Why Is the Apocalypse of Peter Not in the New Testament? February 25, 2022
- How I First Learned About the Gospel of Judas Iscariot July 20, 2020
- Slurs Against Religious Opponents and Makin’ Stuff Up July 15, 2020
- How Did We Get *These* 27 Books in the New Testament? October 4, 2019
- When Were Matthew and Mark First Seen as Scripture: Guest Post on Papias by Stephen Carlson June 10, 2019
- Papias and the Writers of the New Testament: Guest Post by Stephen Carlson April 25, 2019
- A Papias Mystery: What Was the Book He Wrote? Guest Post by Stephen Carlson April 12, 2019
- Did Heretics’ Texts Describe Their Incestuous Rituals? April 13, 2022
- Fabrication, Forgery, and Accusations of (Heretical) Christian Licentious Rituals! April 12, 2022
- The Massive Diversity of Early Christianity. My Book: Lost Christianities November 6, 2021
- Two Live Lectures on Sunday: The End is Near! April 20, 2021
- Was Marcion a Gnostic? April 13, 2021
- The Earliest Views of the Trinity (Long after the New Testament) April 11, 2021
- How Can the Father and the Son Be the SAME? Can Your Father Also Be Your Son? April 10, 2021
- Are God and Christ the SAME Person? April 8, 2021
- The Council of Nicaea and The Resulting View of Christ May 2, 2021
- Constantine and the Christian Faith: My Fourth Smithsonian Lecture May 2, 2019
- When Christianity Became the “Official” Religion of Rome May 2, 2018
- Making Rome Pagan Again May 1, 2018
- The Beginning of the End of Paganism April 30, 2018
- Did Constantine Outlaw the Pagan Religions? April 29, 2018
- The Conversion of Constantine February 12, 2018
- Did the Council of Nicaea Take Away Reincarnation and Give us the Bible? January 8, 2017
- Bart Ehrman discusses the Apocalypticist July 27, 2016
- Violent Opposition to the Romans in the Days of Jesus (or Brian)? June 30, 2014
- Brian and the Apocalyptic Jesus Part 3 June 29, 2014
- Brian and the Apocalyptic Jesus Part 2 June 28, 2014
- Brian and the Apocalyptic Jesus Parts 1 June 27, 2014
- Day Two of Jesus and Brian June 25, 2014
- Day One of Jesus and Brian June 24, 2014
- The Life of Brian Conference June 23, 2014
- Why I Am Not A Christian: Is Bart Ehrman a Christian? April 2, 2022
- My Final Exam This Semester! The Birth of Christianity. November 28, 2021
- MORE Assignments on the Birth of Christianity September 5, 2021
- Student Papers for “The Birth of Christianity” September 4, 2021
- Pop Quiz on Early Christianity September 1, 2021
- My Syllabus for “The Birth of Christianity” August 31, 2021
- Two More Answers from My Pop Quiz September 2, 2020
- Does Basic Information about the NT *Matter*? My Pop Quiz August 30, 2020
- The Book of Genesis, the White Jesus, and Debating the Resurrection: Interview with Seth Andrews April 14, 2022
- An Intense Back and Forth on Key Issues March 8, 2022
- “In the Beginning” (Part 2) March 6, 2022
- In the Beginning: Myth, Legend, and History in the Book of Genesis (Part 1) March 5, 2022
- An Interview about Heaven and Hell: American Freethought Podcast July 21, 2021
- Where Did the Trinity Come From? The (Briefer) Video Version March 9, 2021
- My Interview About Jesus for “The Dagger Squad” February 23, 2021
- A Recording of My Webinar on Heaven and Hell January 24, 2021
- Why Do Some Smart People Just Not Think? August 7, 2022
- Is It Even Possible to Follow Jesus’ Teaching? What Do You Think? July 26, 2022
- Doing Critical Scholarship as a Committed Christian: Anniversary Guest Post by Jeffrey Siker July 23, 2022
- Early Christianity and War. Guest Post by Dan Kohanski July 12, 2022
- Are Christian Apologists Just Being Dishonest? What Do YOU Think? June 16, 2022
- Why Not Just Believe in a *Different* Kind of God? June 15, 2022
- The Problem with “Time Management” May 21, 2022
- I’m Puzzled about Time. Is there a “Present”? May 11, 2022
