Recent Posts
So: Did Anyone Think of Jesus as a Miracle-Worker Before His Crucifixion?
This is the final, and most important, of my posts on the miracles of Jesus. In it I raise the question – without being able to come to an absolutely definitive answer – of whether Jesus was thought to be a miracle worker already in his life time or if, instead, miracles came to be ascribed to him only later by followers who believed he had been raised from the dead. I incline toward the latter view. To set the stage for and make sense of what I have to say, I include the final comments from the previous post: [...]
Platinum Webinar for December: “O Little Town of Nazareth? Where Was Jesus Actually Born?”
Dear Platinum Members, It's time for our Quarterly Platinum Webinar. We have scheduled it for Thursday, December 14, 2023, at 7:30 pm. I've decided to go with a seasonal topic on an aspect of the Gospel birth narratives that most people have not much thought about: could "Jesus of Nazareth" have actually been born in Nazareth, instead of Bethlehem? Scholars have long argued so. But on what grounds? I'll explain in my talk, we'll have questions and discussion, and then you can decide for yourself. Hey, it's a free world! Here's the link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85895014121?pwd=d4YeabuDx7s5A5LTzXse3C4wQgebwV.1 I hope to see you there. [...]
What’s the *Point* of Jesus’ Miracles?
I have been talking about the stories of Jesus' miracles, and am raising the question of whether they necessarily go all the way back to Jesus' lifetime, as tales told while he was still living. I pick up where I left off last time, after showing that Jesus' miracle-working abilities increased with the passing of time. ****************************** Not only does Jesus become increasingly miraculous with the passing of time, these miracles are all told in order to make a point. The stories about Jesus as the miraculous Wunderkind reveal that he really was the Son of God endowed with supernatural [...]
Volunteer Needed!! Interested in Recording Audio Versions of the Blog Posts?
As you probably know, we have audio versions of all the blog posts that are available for all Gold and Platinum level members. The audio versions go out on the same day as the written posts themselves. It's a great benefit (if you're not Gold level yet: consider it!). But it takes a lot of work by volunteers who are very generous with their time. The volunteers record each post, and they are then produced and published by our audio volunteer Anthony (hail, Anthony!). We have two volunteers currently alternating in their reading of the posts, and we need to [...]
Was Jesus Considered a Miracle Worker During His *Lifetime*?
In my discussion of whether the historian can deal with the category of miracle, I’m now at the point where I can deal directly with the miracles ascribed to Jesus. This is an issue that I have dealt with in several books, including, most recently, Jesus Before the Gospels. It will take three posts for me to cover the waterfront here. This is how I began dealing with the issue in the book. ****************************** The Miracles of Jesus When one discusses the activities and deeds of Jesus, it is very hard indeed to avoid talking about his [...]
Gold Q&A!! Ask Your Questions!
Hey Goldies and Plats, Now's your chance! I'll be recording the December Gold Q&A on December 11, schedule gods willing, to be published later that week. God a burning, a smoldering, or a cool ? Ask away! Anything related to the blog. I'll do my best to answer. , Send your questions to [email protected], and Diane will compile and send me the list. DEADLINE: Get your question in by Saturday (12/09/2023) midnight (whenever midnight is in your time zone). Every question I get is interesting, but remember that shorter and to-the-pointer questions are more likely to be chosen. Zingers are [...]
Were Jesus’ Miracles in the Original Texts of the Gospels?
Here's an interesting question I received from a reader many years ago that I had forgotten all about, but I bet it's one some others have had (If you know the "Jefferson Bible" you'll see it has a long history of sorts): QUESTION: I have looked up the content of all the papyri of the New Testament I'm aware of (i.e. the most ancient manuscripts) . It is my understanding that although p52, p90, and p104 are dated around 125-150 AD, they contain fragments of John 18 and Matt 21 only, and that it's not until 200 AD that manuscripts [...]
I’m Lecturing on a Cruise this Summer. Interested in coming?
Everyone is traveling these days. I’m traveling these days. Hey, wanna travel with me? This summer I’m doing a tour (and giving lectures) on a cruise to historic coastal cities and religious sites of Western Europe, from Amsterdam to Lisbon, July 30 - August 10. This is gonna be an unusually good trip, with awe-inspiring scenery, gorgeous medieval towns/cities, important religious sites (including Santiago de Compostela), and some of the most amazing museums in the known universe. Included on the tour are some of my all-time favorite cities: Amsterdam, Bruges, and Lisbon. And it includes a bunch of places I’ve [...]
The Miracles of the Emperor Vespasian. A Platinum Post by Ryan Fleming
Here is a provocative and intriguing post on a topic not widely known outside the realm of Roman historians: the miracles attributed to the Emperor Vespasian (which sure sound a lot like the miracles attribued to Jesus, written in Gospels produced just at the time of or after his reign.) The post is by Platinum member Ryan Fleming. Platinum members are allowed to write posts for other Platinum members. It's a great perk of the highest level of blog membership! And when we have a few in the bag, Platinum members vote for which of them can appear on the [...]
Is There Any Sarcasm in the New Testament?
Every now and then someone asks me if there is any sarcasm used in the New Testament. You would think the answer would be fairly obviously, No. But, well, I've dealt with the issue before, and my response was Yes. Let me start by giving a definition of sarcasm. You can find various definitions just on the Internet, but the basic idea is that sarcasm is a form of humor that used irony in order to mock another. It is difficult to identify sarcasm in ancient writings. In fact, as you’ve probably noticed, sometimes it’s hard to know if someone [...]
Was Joseph the Actual Father of Jesus? Announcing a Special Online Christmas Course
I'm pleased to announce that I will be doing a special event this Christmas season, a two-lecture online course called Jesus: The Actual Son of Joseph: Evidence From the New Testament Itself. This is a topic I have long thought about casually but never really dug into until recently. And when I dug, I started realizing that in fact there's a lot buried, more than I expect. There are very good reasons for thinking that a number of the earliest sources of the New Testament (Paul, Mark, the sources of Matthew and Luke), as well as the latest (John), not [...]
Do You Want to Take the Final Exam for My Course: “Birth of Christianity”?
I'm teaching The Birth of Christianity this semester, a course that deals with the history of Christianity from right after the New Testament up to about the conversion of Constantine. Want to take my Final Exam? Well, I ain't gonna grade it if you do. But here are the instructions I gave to the class so they could know what to expect -- including the ten POSSIBLE essay questions, from which I will choose two for them to answer, in essays they could take one hour (each) to write. What do you think? Could you nail it? The Birth [...]
An Intriguing and Unusual Demonstration of Early Christian Differences…
Nine years ago when I was discussing on the blog the topic of the current thread -- the wide diversity of early Christianity -- I took the occasion to mention a book that I had just read and found to be unusually interesting and enlightening. It is by two Italian scholars, married to each other, who teach at the Università di Bologna: Adriana Destro, an anthropologist, and Mauro Pesce, a New Testament specialist whose teaching position is in the History of Christianity. Their book is called Il racconto e la scrittura: Introduzione alla lettura dei vangeli. It is about all [...]
How Paul’s Own Writings Show the Earliest Church Was Split Over “Orthodoxy” and “Heresy”
Are Christian "heresy" (that is, "false belief") and "orthodoxy" ("right belief") products of developments within Christianity after the New Testament? Or can they be detected in the New Testament itself? I'm not asking if the New Testament literally has false teachings. As per my definitions, I'm asking whether it contains views that disagree with one another, only some of which later came to be seen as acceptable. In getting to that answer I have been discussing the views of Walter Bauer, in his classic work, Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity, who maintained that from the earliest of times, [...]
How the Canon Itself Tames the Diversity of the New Testament
The writings of the New Testament do not provide good evidence that Christianity started out as an original unity, only to come to be fragmented with the passage of time into the second and third Christian centuries -- so I argued in the previous post. Quite the contrary. And yet having them all in the same book (between covers) does seem to readers to suggest an overarching unity. That's what I want to talk about here. For the most part, the books of the NT are the earliest Christian writings we have, and most of the books can probably be [...]
But Your Own Teacher Bruce Metzger Didn’t Think That!
In my previous post, and a number of times elsewhere, I mentioned my mentor at Princeton Theological Seminary, Bruce Metzger. Over the years I've been asked a number of times why, if he was my teacher, I don't agree with him on so many things. Usually this comes as an accusation more than as a genuine query. Here's a reworking of a response I gave to the issue about ten years ago. ****************************** Prof. Metzger was not just a brilliant scholar but also a deeply committed Christian, an ordained Presbyterian minister, who believed in the inspiration of the Bible and in [...]
Wasn’t Early Christianity Basically Unified? Why Fret About Occasional Diversity?
I have spent three posts talking about the terms “orthodoxy” and “heresy” and why they are problematic; in doing so I have been explaining both the traditional view of the relationship of orthodoxy and heresy (as found, for example, in the writings of Eusebius) and the view set forth, in opposition, by Walter Bauer. So, where do we now stand on the issue, some 90 years after Bauer’s intervention? As I indicated in my last post, there are some problems with Bauer’s analysis, but also much positive to say about it. Conservative scholars continue to hold to a more traditional [...]
The Revolutionary Understanding of Orthodoxy and Heresy: An Evaluation of Bauer’s Views
In my last two posts I talked about the relationship of orthodoxy and heresy in early Christianity. The standard view, held for many many centuries, goes back to the Church History of the fourth-century church father Eusebius, who argued that orthodoxy represented the original views of Jesus and his disciples, and heresies were corruptions of that truth by willful, mean-spirited, wicked, and demon inspired teachers who wanted to lead others astray. In 1934 Walter Bauer challenged that view in his book Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity. Bauer argued that in many regions of the church, the earliest known form [...]
Does God Have Chromosomes? Platinum Post by Douglas Wadeson, MD
What happens when a modern physician starts asking difficult questions of familiar biblical stories? Here is one answer: an intriguing post covering a topic that will not have occurred to most of us. Let's think about how a Virgin Birth works when (now, unlike antiquity) we have a pretty good idea of how Births work in general. If God made Mary pregnant through the spirit, what does that have to say about the nature of Jesus' at the biological level and, well, the chromosomes of God? This Platinum guest post is delivered to us courtesy of Platinum member Doug Wadeson. [...]
The Most Significant Study of Christian “Heresy” in Modern Times
In my last post I started discussing the terms “orthodoxy” and “heresy,” pointing out that their traditional/etymological meanings are not very helpful for historians. “Orthodoxy” literally means the “right belief” about God, Christ, the world and so on. That means it is a theological term about religious truth. But historians are not theologians who can tell you what is theologically true; they are scholars who try to establish what happened in the past. And so how can a historian, acting as a historian, say that one group of believers is right and that another is wrong? The problem with the [...]
A Fundamental Issue: Heresy and Orthodoxy in Early Christianity
I have been talking about various forms of Gnosticism and that now has led me to move into a broader discussion about early Christian "heresy" in general. I've talked a lot about non-canonical books, and various forms of Christian belief and practice, and so on over the years, but to my surprise it's been a very long time since I addressed one of the most fundamental questions of early Christian history, the relationship of "orthodoxy" and "heresy" in early Christianity. The understanding of this relationship has long been much debated, and the debate begins with the terms themselves, which, as [...]
What’s the Best Way to Read a Non-Fiction Book?
I sometimes get asked what the best way is to read a work of non-fiction. Well, who knows? All I can say is what I do. I've dealt with the question here on the blog a number of times. But since I'm nearing the tail end of research on my next book dealing with the ethics of Jesus in relation to the broader world at the time, and how his ethics revolutionized the ways people in the west thought about how we ought to behave, I'm reading a lot right now, and I thought I should address the question [...]
How Exactly Could the Virgin-Born Jesus Have a Twin Brother?
I have mentioned in passing that there were some early Christians who thought that one of Jesus’ brothers, Jude (or Judas: both are translations of the same Greek word), was actually a twin. Not just of anyone, but of Jesus himself. Some readers have expressed surprise in the most succinct way possible, by asking: “Huh??” I talk about the matter in a couple of my previous publications, especially when speaking about early Christian apocryphal texts that deal with the missionary exploits of the apostles after Jesus’ death. We have several of these, including an Acts of Thomas. Like the [...]
Categories on the Blog
Click on a category for the full archive, arranged by date.
- Platinum Webinar for December: “O Little Town of Nazareth? Where Was Jesus Actually Born?” December 5, 2023
- Volunteer Needed!! Interested in Recording Audio Versions of the Blog Posts? December 4, 2023
- Was Jesus Considered a Miracle Worker During His *Lifetime*? December 3, 2023
- Gold Q&A!! Ask Your Questions! December 2, 2023
- Were Jesus’ Miracles in the Original Texts of the Gospels? December 2, 2023
- I’m Lecturing on a Cruise this Summer. Interested in coming? December 1, 2023
- The Miracles of the Emperor Vespasian. A Platinum Post by Ryan Fleming November 30, 2023
- Was Joseph the Actual Father of Jesus? Announcing a Special Online Christmas Course November 27, 2023
- A Hugely Memorable Moment: When I Saw Codex Sinaiticus September 7, 2023
- My Trip to Saint Catherine’s Monastery on Mount Sinai: Discovery Site of Codex Sinaiticus September 6, 2023
- The Discovery of Codex Sinaiticus: One of the Most Important Manuscripts of the New Testament September 5, 2023
- Why Do Some (Many?) Scholars Not Treat the Bible Like Other Ancient Sources? August 26, 2023
- An Intriguing Anti-Jewish Variant: Did Jesus Pray “Father forgive them”? February 9, 2023
- Anti-Jewish Alterations of the New Testament Writings? February 8, 2023
- New Testament Manuscripts That Reveal Later Theological Controversies February 7, 2023
- New Testament Manuscripts as Windows into Early Christian History February 5, 2023
- Armageddon in Biden and the Bible October 23, 2022
- When Did Jesus Die? Dating Jesus’ Death by the Earthquake October 9, 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
- Is Christ *Merely* the “Adopted” Son of God? October 8, 2023
- Is It Better to Follow Christ or to Live a Contented Life? Paul vs. Epicurus September 20, 2023
- Does Archaeological Evidence Show that Jesus Was Buried on the Day He Died? September 3, 2023
- Josephus’ One Statement About the Burial of Crucified Victims in Judea September 2, 2023
- Did Jews Always Bury Their Dead on the Day of their Death? Was Jesus Buried Then? August 29, 2023
- We Have Crucifixion Nails! Isn’t that Evidence for Jesus’ Burial? August 12, 2023
- Were Roman Leaders Told to Provide Decent Burials for Crucified Victims? (Really?) August 6, 2023
- Did Romans Show Clemency to Crucified Criminals? August 5, 2023
- Reminder: Interesting Lecture on Thursday Oct. 19: Creation Stories not in Genesis! October 18, 2023
- The Creation Stories in the Hebrew Bible (outside of Genesis!). A Lecture You May Be Interested In October 2, 2023
- Was Abraham “Just Plain Nuts?” A Platinum Post by Douglas Wadeson MD June 26, 2023
- Creation Stories of the Ancient World (Part 2): An Ancient Egyptian Account May 11, 2023
- Yahweh and Moses. Platinum Guest Post by Omar Abur-Robb April 7, 2023
- You Have No Right To Question Why You Suffer. What??? March 18, 2023
- Creation Stories of the Ancient World (Part 1): On Enuma Elish and Genesis 1 Guest Post by Joseph Lam March 16, 2023
- Does God Punish Those Who Do *Right*? March 15, 2023
- So: Did Anyone Think of Jesus as a Miracle-Worker Before His Crucifixion? December 6, 2023
- What’s the *Point* of Jesus’ Miracles? December 5, 2023
- Was Jesus Considered a Miracle Worker During His *Lifetime*? December 3, 2023
- How Exactly Could the Virgin-Born Jesus Have a Twin Brother? November 12, 2023
- A Bizarre Scene in the Gospel of Philip: Jesus Kissing Mary November 5, 2023
- Another Mythicist View of Jesus’ Brothers October 17, 2023
- What the Jesus “Mythicists” Say About the Brothers of Jesus October 15, 2023
- But If It Didn’t Really Happen, Who Cares? October 10, 2023
- Aren’t You Inconsistent in Your View of the Historicity of the Gospels? October 25, 2023
- But If It Didn’t Really Happen, Who Cares? October 10, 2023
- If Luke Didn’t Originally Have a Birth Story — Then What? October 7, 2023
- Did Luke Originally Have the Birth Narrative (chapters 1-2)? October 5, 2023
- Early Gospels in Circulation: An Even Messier Scenario October 4, 2023
- The Messy World of the Early Christian Gospels. Who Is Copying What? October 1, 2023
- Why Would Jesus Get Angry at this Poor Leper? September 30, 2023
- Why Is Jesus So Angry? September 28, 2023
- The Most Significant Study of Christian “Heresy” in Modern Times November 16, 2023
- The Slippery Slope of Extreme DIAKRISIS (Discernment). A Platinum Post by Barry Haney June 19, 2023
- A Scandalous Discovery of a Scandalous Gospel? April 25, 2023
- Is The Rapture in the New Testament? March 23, 2023
- Wait, Was Jesus Married? Guest Post by Kyle Smith February 21, 2023
- Is Christianity a Cult of the Dead? Guest Post by Kyle Smith, PhD February 16, 2023
- An Intriguing Anti-Jewish Variant: Did Jesus Pray “Father forgive them”? February 9, 2023
- Anti-Jewish Alterations of the New Testament Writings? February 8, 2023
- Religion and the Wrecking Ball of Truth November 22, 2022
- Can’t We Just Get Rid of Some of the Books of the Bible? October 25, 2022
- Did Ancient Writers Use Secretaries? September 1, 2022
- How Many People Were Literate in Antiquity? August 31, 2022
- You Don’t Think Peter Wrote 1 and 2 Peter? August 9, 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
- How Exactly Could the Virgin-Born Jesus Have a Twin Brother? November 12, 2023
- What Is the Gospel of Thomas All About? And Did the Author Use the New Testament Gospels? November 10, 2023
- The Most Famous Non-Canonical Gospel: The Gospel of Thomas November 8, 2023
- A Bizarre Scene in the Gospel of Philip: Jesus Kissing Mary November 5, 2023
- The Gospel of Philip: An Example of a Valentinian Gnostic Gospel November 4, 2023
- Check Out This Gnostic Myth from the Gospel of Judas! November 1, 2023
- The Gospel of Judas: Here’s a Taste of It October 31, 2023
- The Gospel of Judas: The Most Recently Discovered Sethian Gnostic Gospel October 29, 2023
- Do Church Fathers Show What the Authors of the NT Actually Wrote? November 8, 2022
- How Serendipity Changed My Life: The Apostolic Fathers October 12, 2022
- 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
- An Intriguing and Unusual Demonstration of Early Christian Differences… November 25, 2023
- How Paul’s Own Writings Show the Earliest Church Was Split Over “Orthodoxy” and “Heresy” November 24, 2023
- Wasn’t Early Christianity Basically Unified? Why Fret About Occasional Diversity? November 19, 2023
- The Most Significant Study of Christian “Heresy” in Modern Times November 16, 2023
- A Fundamental Issue: Heresy and Orthodoxy in Early Christianity November 15, 2023
- What Is the Gospel of Thomas All About? And Did the Author Use the New Testament Gospels? November 10, 2023
- Thomasine Gnostic Christians, and Sundry Others November 7, 2023
- The Gospel of Philip: An Example of a Valentinian Gnostic Gospel November 4, 2023
- Who Was The Last Non-Christian Emperor of Rome? September 14, 2022
- 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
- The Gospel according to Mel (Gibson) September 21, 2023
- The Life of Brian and Jesus: Was Jesus Really Buried on the Day of the Crucifixion? July 11, 2023
- More on the Life of Brian and the Historical Jesus July 9, 2023
- The Life of Brian and the Historical Jesus July 8, 2023
- 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
- Trying to Make Scholarship Interesting November 2, 2022
- More Interesting Topics in New Testament Studies. Other Writing Assignments for my Undergrads October 18, 2022
- Interesting Topics in New Testament. My Weekly Writing Assignments for Undergrads October 16, 2022
- Publishing in Academic Journals October 15, 2022
- Getting the PhD in New Testament Studies October 13, 2022
- What’s It Like to Teach PhD Seminars? October 11, 2022
- What Serious Research Projects Can Undergraduates Do in Early Christianity? October 5, 2022
- What’s It Like to Teach at a Research University? October 4, 2022
- The Life of Brian and Jesus: Was Jesus Really Buried on the Day of the Crucifixion? July 11, 2023
- The Life of Brian and the Historical Jesus July 8, 2023
- Don’t Wanna Be Left Behind? An Upcoming Lecture on the Rapture! April 10, 2023
- 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
- Is There Any Sarcasm in the New Testament? November 29, 2023
- What’s the Best Way to Read a Non-Fiction Book? November 14, 2023
- Is It Better to Follow Christ or to Live a Contented Life? Paul vs. Epicurus September 20, 2023
- Bogus Arguments for Disbelief August 31, 2023
- Preparing for that “Final Trip” (outta here). What Do You Think? August 2, 2023
- “Death is nothing to us.” What Do YOU Think? April 27, 2023
- Gold Q&A LIVE! (And Recorded) Tuesday April 11 April 10, 2023
- How Does An Author Write a Bestseller? April 10, 2023