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.

• A Fund-Raising Webinar: What Can We Really Know about the Birth of Jesus?? November 27, 2020
• Some Feedback on the New Blog ?? November 22, 2020
• Interested in Volunteering for the Blog? November 10, 2020
• Comments on the Blog November 3, 2020
• Speaking Event This Thursday and Friday (4 lectures, remote) November 1, 2020
• Did Jesus’ Disciple John Write the Gospel of “John”? October 28, 2020
• My Privileged View of Suffering October 23, 2020
• Welcome to the New Blog Site! October 21, 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
• Christian Manuscripts Used for Magic? November 25, 2020
• “Oral” Changes in the Christian Bible? November 22, 2020
• Why Scribes Changed Their Manuscripts November 19, 2020
• The Original Blog Post!! Misquoting Misquoting Jesus! October 22, 2020
• Why Do Are So Many Textual Critics Evangelicals? Readers’ Mailbag. July 26, 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

• Paul’s Ascent to Paradise. Guest Post by James Tabor August 28, 2020
• What Did Ancient People Think (a) God Was? March 5, 2020
• How Were People Crucified? January 15, 2020
• Heaven and Hell in a Nutshell December 15, 2019
• Why Are Their Differences in the Gospels? Does it Affect Their Inspiration? Guest Post by Mike Licona December 10, 2019
• Sex and Gender in the Ancient World November 4, 2019
• Is It Ever Right to Lie? Or Was It? Even in Early Christianity? The Relevance for Forgery. September 29, 2019
• A Recent Argument that Ancient Pseudepigraphy Was NOT Deceptive (or Meant to Be) September 24, 2019

• Christianizing the Old Testament and the Museum of the Bible: Guest Post by Jill Hicks-Keeton July 21, 2020
• How Accurate are our Copies of the Hebrew Bible? July 1, 2020
• The Importance of the Dead Sea Scrolls for Understanding Jesus: Readers’ Mailbag June 28, 2020
• What Are The Dead Sea Scrolls? June 23, 2020
• Readers Mailbag: Does Isaiah 53 Predict the Death and Resurrection of Jesus? May 8, 2020
• Is There Any Point To Life? More on Ecclesiastes April 20, 2020
• What Is The Meaning of Life? The Book of Ecclesiastes April 19, 2020
• A Good Time for Wisdom! April 15, 2020

• What Really Happened at Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate? November 23, 2020
• Luke and Matthew at Odds: The Genealogies November 9, 2020
• Another Unusual Feature of Matthew’s Genealogy: The Women! November 8, 2020
• A Numerical Puzzle in Matthew’s Genealogy November 7, 2020
• Curiosities and Puzzles from the Very First Passage of the New Testament November 5, 2020
• Are the Gospels Right? Did Pilate Really Release a Prisoner at Passover? November 1, 2020
• Where Did the Idea of a “Suffering Messiah” Come From? October 30, 2020
• Who Would Die for a Lie? October 12, 2020

• What Really Happened at Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate? November 23, 2020
• Is Mary Magdalene the Founder of Christianity? November 16, 2020
• Luke and Matthew at Odds: The Genealogies November 9, 2020
• Another Unusual Feature of Matthew’s Genealogy: The Women! November 8, 2020
• A Numerical Puzzle in Matthew’s Genealogy November 7, 2020
• Curiosities and Puzzles from the Very First Passage of the New Testament November 5, 2020
• Are the Gospels Right? Did Pilate Really Release a Prisoner at Passover? November 1, 2020
• Who Would *Invent* the Idea that Women (?!) Discovered Jesus’ Empty Tomb? October 7, 2020

• 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
• The Outrageous Immorality of Early Christians (!) (?) July 12, 2020
• Did the Benefits of the Christian Community Win Converts? Readers’ Mailbag. July 10, 2020
• Want To Know About the Apostolic Fathers? January 22, 2020
• Was Christianity a Missionary Religion with No Missionaries? January 4, 2020

• 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
• What Are The Epistles of John? April 29, 2020
• Reading the New Testament Letters in CONTEXT April 28, 2020

• Peter and Mary Magdalene in Competition November 18, 2020
• The Gospel of Mary Magdalene November 13, 2020
• John, the Bedbugs, and Miracles that Convert October 8, 2020
• The Roman Standards Worship Jesus? From the Gospel of Nicodemus October 1, 2020
• A Gospel of Nicodemus? September 30, 2020
• Some Intriguing Selections from the Gospel of Peter September 25, 2020
• A Very Odd Saying of Jesus September 24, 2020
• And Now: The Gospel of Peter! September 23, 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

• How Were the Gnostic Gospels Discovered? October 26, 2020
• The Opening Section of the Gospel of Judas August 7, 2020
• What is the Gospel of Judas About? August 5, 2020
• Sethian Gnostics and the Gospel of Judas August 4, 2020
• What Is Gnosticism? August 2, 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
• Thomas: The Most Important Gospel Outside the New Testament August 29, 2018

• 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
• Where Did the Trinity Come From? Video Lecture. September 2, 2016

• 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

• 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
• Life after Death in the Bible and Beyond: Webinar with Oxford Press May 3, 2020
• The Not Old Better Show – Heaven and Hell Book Interview April 22, 2020
• Brief Video Promotion of Heaven and Hell February 25, 2020

• Thanksgiving 2020 November 26, 2020
• Why Do Some People Make Such Bad Arguments for the Superiority of their Religion? November 2, 2020
• How Hard It is To Become an Agnostic…. October 29, 2020
• What Happens When Your Beliefs Contradict What You Have To Teach? Readers’ Mailbag October 11, 2020
• Why Believe in God? October 2, 2020
• Inclusive Language in Bible Translation? September 20, 2020
• Translating the Bible (and other ancient texts) September 18, 2020
• Does Basic Information about the NT *Matter*? My Pop Quiz August 30, 2020