Blog Post Categories

The following categories are represented in the blog posts. If you want a chronological listing encompassing all posts for any of the topics that interest you, simply click on a category and read to your heart’s delight.

Categories on the Blog

Click on a category for the full archive, arranged by date.

• My Smithsonian Seminar: This Saturday!! April 27, 2021
• Live Chance to Ask Me Anything! This Sunday! April 27, 2021
• Volunteer Needed to Read Audio Posts! April 26, 2021
• Did Paul the Pharisee Learn about Christianity from his Relative, the Apostle Junia? Guest Post by James McGrath April 22, 2021
• Two Live Lectures on Sunday: The End is Near! April 20, 2021
• Paul’s Community at Corinth April 16, 2021
• Fifty Ways to Forge a Gospel April 14, 2021
• Two Live Lectures This Sunday, On Hot Topics April 7, 2021

• The Value of Amulets for Reconstructing the New Testament Text: Guest Post by Brice Jones March 18, 2021
• The Oldest View of Christ: Found in Only One Greek Manuscript of Luke! February 4, 2021
• How the Trinity Got Into the New Testament: Part 2 January 9, 2021
• How the Trinity Got Into the New Testament January 7, 2021
• Paul Dictated His Letters: How Does *That* Complicate Finding an Original? December 3, 2020
• Why Finding an “Original” Text is So Unexpectedly Complicated December 2, 2020
• What Does It Even Mean to Have an “Original” of An Ancient Writing? December 1, 2020
• Do We Have Paul’s Original Letter to the Philippians? November 27, 2020

• 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
• Homosexuality in the Bible (and the Christian Church) March 3, 2019

• The Divine Realm in Antiquity (Appropriately: A Pyramid!) March 3, 2021
• What Did Ancient People Think It Meant To Call Someone God? February 27, 2021
• Still Other Humans Who Became Gods: In Jesus’ Time! January 16, 2021
• Could a Human Become a God in the Ancient World? January 14, 2021
• Were Ancient Pagans Sometimes Monotheists? January 13, 2021
• The God Jesus, In Competition January 10, 2021
• No Virgin Births? Then How Were Demi-gods Born In Antiquity? January 5, 2021
• What About All Those *Other* Virgin Births in Antiquity? January 3, 2021

• The Spirit of God in the Old Testament May 6, 2021
• How Did the Holy Spirit Get Into the Trinity? In the Beginning…. May 5, 2021
• YHWH and Jehovah: Same? Different? Where’s Jehovah Come From? May 1, 2021
• Other New Testament References to Books Outside the Hebrew Bible: Platinum Guest Post by Doug Wadeson April 26, 2021
• Nope. Jesus is Not Yahweh. April 17, 2021
• Is Jesus Yahweh? April 15, 2021
• How Yahweh of the Israelites Became God of All: Platinum Guest Post by Dan Kohanski April 14, 2021
• What Are the Sources of the Hebrew Bible? March 11, 2021

• Jesus Under the Influence (of Women): Guest Post by James McGrath April 29, 2021
• The Letter Jesus Wrote from the Cross (!) April 28, 2021
• Another Letter Written By Jesus? Stranger and Stranger… April 27, 2021
• Do We Have Any of Jesus’ Writings? (The Answer May Surprise You!) April 21, 2021
• Could Jesus Read? April 20, 2021
• Did the Disciples See Jesus Raised from the Dead? April 4, 2021
• How The Afterlife Changed After Jesus’ Life April 3, 2021
• Fantastic Story. But History? Some Doubts about the Triumphal Entry March 28, 2021

• Fantastic Story. But History? Some Doubts about the Triumphal Entry March 28, 2021
• Did Jesus Really Have a “Triumphal Entry” into Jerusalem? March 27, 2021
• Was Matthew Influenced by Buddhist Writings? Platinum Post by Steve Sutter March 9, 2021
• In What SENSE is Jesus “God” in Matthew, Mark, and Luke? My Change of Mind February 28, 2021
• Is the “Word” (Logos) of God in John the Wisdom (Sophia) of God in Judaism? February 21, 2021
• Does Luke Present Different (Inconsistent!) Views of Christ? February 18, 2021
• How Old Was Jesus ??? February 17, 2021
• Was Christ actually God in the Flesh? February 16, 2021

• Two More Live Lectures this Sunday! April 14, 2021
• Modern Christians Who Follow Marcion (Unawares) March 25, 2021
• The Value of Amulets for Reconstructing the New Testament Text: Guest Post by Brice Jones March 18, 2021
• When Did Jesus Become Divine? February 3, 2021
• Women Apostles in Early Christianity November 15, 2020
• How Were the Gnostic Gospels Discovered? October 26, 2020
• What Is Gnosticism? August 2, 2020
• Did Early Christian Heretics Promote Outrageous Sex Rituals? July 14, 2020

• 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
• The Johannine Letters in Sum May 1, 2020

• Was Paul Peter’s Enemy? May 4, 2021
• The Letter Jesus Wrote from the Cross (!) April 28, 2021
• Another Letter Written By Jesus? Stranger and Stranger… April 27, 2021
• Do We Have Any of Jesus’ Writings? (The Answer May Surprise You!) April 21, 2021
• Were Jesus and Christ Two Different Beings? March 31, 2021
• Jesus, Mary Magadalene, and … Sexual Innuendos? January 31, 2021
• An Apocryphal Story of Mary’s Conception of Jesus December 15, 2020
• A Different Account of Joseph and Mary! December 13, 2020

• 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
• Is the Didache One Document or Three? December 23, 2017
• The Ethical Teachings of the Didache December 21, 2017

• 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
• Were Jesus and Christ Two Different Beings? March 31, 2021
• What Is Gnosticism? A Video Introduction March 30, 2021
• Modern Christians Who Follow Marcion (Unawares) March 25, 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

• Two More Answers from My Pop Quiz September 2, 2020
• Does Basic Information about the NT *Matter*? My Pop Quiz August 30, 2020
• My Faux Pop Quiz this Semester August 26, 2020
• My Early Christian Apocrypha Seminar August 24, 2020
• Jesus in Scholarship and Film August 16, 2020
• Why Would An Atheist Teach the Bible? Readers’ Mailbag July 19, 2020
• Take A Final Exam on the New Testament! May 4, 2020
• How Do I Get To Know What Is In the Bible? February 14, 2020

• 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
• An Unusual Podcast Interview with a Muslim about How I Debate. Check This One Out! September 11, 2020
• Smith-Pettit Lecture – The History of Heaven and Hell August 21, 2020
• Reason and Theology – Heaven, Hell and the Afterlife July 7, 2020
• My Interview with Erstwhile-Evangelist-Now-Secular-Humanist Bart Campolo May 20, 2020
• Live Event on Wednesday Evening, May 6! May 5, 2020

• Quotations of Non-Canonical Writings in the New Testament: Platinum Post by Douglas Wadeson March 24, 2021
• Christian Attitudes toward War, Through the Ages: Platinum Post by Dan Kohanski March 2, 2021
• An Intriguing but Most Peculiar Book! Guest Post by Kristin Swenson February 24, 2021
• A Christian Is Not Necessarily a Disciple (Monthly Platinum Post: Douglas Wadeson) February 20, 2021
• The Essence of Religious Literacy: A Christian Perspective. Platinum Guest Post by Fredrick Ackun February 11, 2021
• Interview about My Writing with the North Carolina Writers’ Network February 11, 2021
• Even Giants Have a Cross to Bear: Platinum Post by Marie Wiley February 2, 2021
• Platinum Guest Post by Douglas Wadeson: A Christian Is Not Necessarily a Disciple, and Vice Versa. Part 2 January 27, 2021