Member Content Access and Categories – Now Greatly Expanded!

As a registered member, each of the following categories are now fully accessible, containing ALL the membership content on this site. These categories represent the current range of topics found on Bart’s blog, although they may be changed or added too as time progresses. As a member, please click on each category to review new content added. Due to 1,000’s of posts, only the latest 300 will be shown from this smart phone template.

• Why Did Christianity Take Over the World? Smithsonian Lecture 3. April 23, 2019
• Are These Really Contradictions? My Response to Matt Firth April 22, 2019
• The Radical Implications of the Resurrection April 21, 2019
• Why Are the Gospels Anonymous? April 19, 2019
• Contradictions in the Gospels – Rev Matthew Firth’s Response April 16, 2019
• Contradictions in the Gospels April 16, 2019
• What Is a Contradiction? April 15, 2019
• Who Were The “Pagans” Christians Were Converting? April 14, 2019
• A Papias Mystery: What Was the Book He Wrote? Guest Post by Stephen Carlson April 12, 2019
• Fund Raising Event on the Blog: Contradictions in the Gospels?? April 10, 2019
• Enoch’s Vision of the Realms of the Dead April 9, 2019
• Christianity’s Most Important Convert: Lecture at the Smithsonian April 8, 2019
• Jesus “Only” Adopted to be the Son of God? April 7, 2019
• Papias. How Do We Know His Context? Guest post by Stephen Carlson April 5, 2019
• The Writings of Papias: Guest Post by Stephen Carlson April 4, 2019
• A Blog Anniversary! Seven Years! April 3, 2019
• Revelation as a Blueprint for our Future April 1, 2019
• April 1, 2019
• My Very First Post: Do Textual Variants Matter?? March 31, 2019
• The Odd Modern Way of Reading the Book of Revelation March 29, 2019
• A Roman Vision of Heaven and Hell March 27, 2019
• Did Ancient Greeks Invent Heaven and Hell? March 26, 2019
• Armageddon and American Politics March 25, 2019
• Did Jesus Pray “Father Forgive Them” from the Cross? March 24, 2019
• Secular Versions of the Coming Apocalypse March 22, 2019
• Fundamentalist Visions of the End of the World March 20, 2019
• Expecting the Apocalypse: My Idea for the Book March 19, 2019
• An Early Otherworldly Journey March 18, 2019
• Pilate Released Barabbas. Really?? March 17, 2019
• Very Funny… March 16, 2019
• My Doubts about the Son of God: A Blast from the Past March 16, 2019
• The Protestant Obsession with Origins March 13, 2019
• Who Cares How It All Started? March 12, 2019
• The Passion for Origins March 11, 2019
• Do Any Ancient Jewish Sources Mention Jesus? Weekly Mailbag March 10, 2019
• The Original Obsession with Trips to the Afterlife March 8, 2019
• My Next Scholarly Book: Visits to Heaven and Hell March 6, 2019
• Heaven and Hell, Finally March 5, 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
• University Professors and their Research March 1, 2019
• A Return to the Historical Jesus February 27, 2019
• The Gospel Writers as Editors Rather than Authors February 26, 2019
• A New Way of Looking at the Gospels February 25, 2019
• Non-Christian Sources for Jesus: An Interview with History.com February 24, 2019
• If the Quest for the Historical Jesus Failed… What Then? February 22, 2019
• The Death Knell for the Study of the Historical Jesus February 20, 2019
• Wrede’s Revolutionary Claim about the “Messianic Secret” February 19, 2019
• Is It Plausible that Jesus Kept the Whole Thing a Secret?? February 18, 2019
• Why Textual Criticism Seemed to Be on Death’s Door February 17, 2019
• Who CARES if Mark was the First Gospel Written? February 15, 2019
• Editorial Fatigue in Luke: More from Blog Guest Mark Goodacre February 13, 2019
• A New Argument that Mark Was the First Gospel (Editorial Fatigue): Guest Post by Mark Goodacre! February 12, 2019
• Pursuing My Passion for Textual Criticism February 11, 2019
• On Being Just a Textual Critic February 10, 2019
• Mark: The First Gospel in 19th Century Research February 8, 2019
• The Beginning of the Quest of the Historical Jesus February 7, 2019
• Mark’s Central Focus on Jesus’ Death February 5, 2019
• How No One Understands Jesus in Mark’s Gospel February 4, 2019
• How Do We Explain the Messianic Secret? February 3, 2019
• Guest Post! Joel Marcus on His New Book on the John the Baptist February 1, 2019
• The Aberrant View of the Afterlife in the Apocalypse of Peter January 30, 2019
• Finally. Why Did the Apocalypse of Peter Not Make It Into the Canon? January 29, 2019
• Other Manuscripts of the Apocalypse of Peter, And Why It Matters January 28, 2019
• Don’t Trust What You Read! January 28, 2019
• How Do We Know What Was Originally in the Apocalypse of Peter? January 25, 2019
• How Does A Book Actually Get Published? January 23, 2019
• If Jesus Wasn’t God, Was He Necessarily Either a Calloused Liar or a Raving Lunatic? January 22, 2019
• Was Jesus A Great Moral Teacher? A Blast From the Past January 21, 2019
• Readers’ Mailbag 1/20/2019: The Only Story of Jesus as a Boy in the New Testament January 20, 2019
• The Dangers of Fundamentalism January 18, 2019
• Your Thoughts on the Blog? January 17, 2019
• Does Eternal Punishment Even Make Sense? January 15, 2019
• Eternal Torment Even for Christians? January 14, 2019
• What *Greek* Version of the New Testament Do I Use? January 13, 2019
• The Happy News! No One Stays In Hell! January 11, 2019
• Did Early Christians Believe in Reincarnation? January 9, 2019
• Did We Exist Before We Were Born? January 8, 2019
• Does Everyone Get Saved in the End? January 7, 2019
• Fundamentalist Arguments Ad Absurdum about the “Original” Text of the NT January 6, 2019
• My Pod Cast Interview with Sam Harris January 4, 2019
• Hey, They’re Free! Memberships Still Available for Those Who Can’t Afford Them January 3, 2019
• My Research Goals for 2019 January 1, 2019
• Blog Year in Review, 2018 December 31, 2018
• Were There *Other* Virgin Births in Antiquity? December 30, 2018
• Was Jesus Born of a Virgin in the Gospel of John? December 28, 2018
• Does Mark’s Gospel Actually *Deny* the Virgin Birth? December 27, 2018
• Christmas Reflection 2018 December 25, 2018
• The Gospel of Luke without a Birth Story December 24, 2018
• Did Luke Originally Tell the Birth Story? December 23, 2018
• Last Minute Christmas Presents!! December 22, 2018
• The Virgin Birth in Matthew and Luke December 21, 2018
• Was the Apocalypse of Peter Originally Part of the New Testament? December 19, 2018
• How Would an Early Christian “Know” Which Books Peter Wrote? December 18, 2018
• The Books of Peter December 17, 2018
• Jesus’ Birth in Matthew and Luke: A Study in Contrasts December 16, 2018
• Jesus’ Birth as “The Fulfillment of the Prophecies” December 14, 2018
• The Birth of Jesus in Matthew December 12, 2018
• Free Memberships for Those Who Need Them! December 11, 2018
• The Birth of Jesus in Luke December 10, 2018
• What Can We Know about Jesus’ Birth? December 9, 2018
• Another Chance: Donating Free Memberships December 8, 2018
• Did Jesus Write Anything in the New Testament? December 7, 2018
• An Intriguingly Legendary Account of Jesus’ Death December 5, 2018
• A Gospel Written by Joseph of Arimathea! December 4, 2018
• Do Any Forgeries Claim to be Written by Jesus? December 3, 2018
• Gift Memberships 2018! December 2, 2018
• Could Peter Have “Written” 1 and 2 Peter Some Other Way? November 30, 2018
• Were First-Century Jewish Boys Taught to Read and Write? November 28, 2018
• Seriously. How Many People in Antiquity Could Write? November 27, 2018
• Who Wrote 1 Peter? November 26, 2018
• The Situation Behind the (“Forged”) Book of 1 Peter November 25, 2018
• The So-Called First Letter of Peter November 23, 2018
• Thanksgiving Musings 2018 November 22, 2018
• Deciding on Which Books Should Be in the New Testament November 21, 2018
• Question: How Do I Read Books? November 19, 2018
• Early Debates about the Gospel of Peter November 18, 2018
• Now, The Gospel of Peter November 16, 2018
• Interested in Taking a Trip With Me to Greece and Turkey? November 14, 2018
• Introducing the Book of 2 Peter November 13, 2018
• Introducing the Apocalypse of Peter November 12, 2018
• A Very Perplexing Question November 11, 2018
• Thanksgiving and the Blog November 9, 2018
• Old and Ongoing Criticisms! November 7, 2018
• The De-apocalypticized Jesus of the Gospel of John November 6, 2018
• How Christianity Grew and Grew November 5, 2018
• Today You Will Be With Me in Paradise? November 4, 2018
• Miraculous Conversions in the Book of Acts November 2, 2018
• Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s Churches November 2, 2018
• Jesus and Hell October 31, 2018
• The Value of Eyewitness Testimony October 31, 2018
• Discovery of the Nag Hammadi Library and Some Crucial Missing Parts! October 30, 2018
• The Difference Between Eschatology and Apocalypticism October 29, 2018
• My Own Translation of the New Testament? October 28, 2018
• Jesus’ Apocalyptic Message in Matthew October 26, 2018
• Did Jesus Call Himself God? October 26, 2018
• How Reliable are Oral Traditions? October 24, 2018
• Talking Dogs and Resurrected Slaves October 24, 2018
• The New Edition of My New Testament Textbook October 23, 2018
• Yet Other Apocryphal Books October 22, 2018
• Blog Dinner! Denver, November 15 October 21, 2018
• The Digital Bible (by Jeff Siker) October 21, 2018
• More Apocrypha: A Letter of Jeremiah, (Fascinating) Additions to Daniel, and 1 Maccabees October 19, 2018
• More Books of the Apocrypha: Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, and Baruch October 17, 2018
• Some of the Apocrypha: Tobit, Judith, and Additions to Esther October 16, 2018
• What Is the Apocrypha (of the Old Testament)? October 15, 2018
• Did Paul Belief in that the Fleshly Body Would be Resurrected October 14, 2018
• Mapping the Diversity of Earliest Christianity October 11, 2018
• What’s the Story of Lazarus and the Rich Man All About? October 11, 2018
• The Fate of the Rich and the Poor: Another Story October 8, 2018
• Heaven, Hell, and the Parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man October 8, 2018
• A Bit of Fun with 666! October 6, 2018
• If Jesus Wasn’t Really Raised from the Dead, What Happened? October 5, 2018
• Who Wrote the Book of Revelation? October 4, 2018
• The Lake of Fire in Revelation October 2, 2018
• The Afterlife in Revelation October 1, 2018
• More on the Symbolism of Revelation September 30, 2018
• More Symbolism in Revelation: 666, The Number of “The Beast” September 28, 2018
• Symbolism in Revelation: The Whore of Babylon September 26, 2018
• Overview of the Book of Revelation September 25, 2018
• Studying the Bible as Theology and/or History September 24, 2018
• How I Take Notes on What I Read for a Trade Book September 23, 2018
• How Do We Know When the Gospels Were Written? September 21, 2018
• Writing a Historical-Critical Textbook that Isn’t *Critical* September 20, 2018
• A Peculiar Story of Peter’s Martyrdom September 19, 2018
• Who *Was* the First Bishop of Rome? September 17, 2018
• Peter: First Bishop (Pope) in Rome? September 16, 2018
• Opportunity Knocking: A Chance to Read a Draft of My Book September 14, 2018
• Would the Disciples Die for A Lie? Proofs for the Resurrection. September 13, 2018
• Did Jesus Believe Sinners Would Be Annihilated? The Sheep and the Goats September 12, 2018
• Gehenna: Where You Do Not Want to Go September 10, 2018
• Jesus on Gehenna September 9, 2018
• Looking for Feedback on My Views about Jesus and the Afterlife September 7, 2018
• Did My Loss of Faith Affect my Scholarship? September 6, 2018
• Opening for Dinner in Durham September 4, 2018
• Thomas and His Identical Twin Jesus, in the Acts of Thomas September 4, 2018
• Jesus’ Twin Brother, Thomas September 3, 2018
• Progress Report on the Afterlife September 2, 2018
• Thomas, the Synoptic Gospels, and Q August 31, 2018
• Thomas: The Most Important Gospel Outside the New Testament August 29, 2018
• The Gospel of Thomas: An Overview August 28, 2018
• Thomasine Christians and Others, From After the New Testament August 27, 2018
• The Valentinian Gnostics from After The New Testament August 26, 2018
• The Sethian Gnostics, from After The New Testament August 24, 2018
• Proselytizing on the Blog August 22, 2018
• Our Knowledge of Gnosticism August 21, 2018
• What Was Discovered in the Nag Hammadi Library? August 20, 2018
• How the Gospel of Thomas Was Discovered August 19, 2018
• Finishing my Dissertation August 17, 2018
• The Core of My Dissertation on The Gospel Quotations of Didymus the Blind August 15, 2018
• Bruce Metzger and Me: Finding a Dissertation August 14, 2018
• Is 1 Clement Older than Some Books of the New Testament? August 13, 2018
• Did a “Pope” Write the First-Century Book of 1 Clement? August 12, 2018
• The Letter of First Clement: An Overview August 10, 2018
• Blog Dinner in Durham in September is Full! August 8, 2018
• Was Jesus Thought To Be a Miracle Worker in His Own Lifetime? August 8, 2018
• The Message of Jesus’ Miracles August 7, 2018
• Blog Dinners Next Month. Interested? August 6, 2018
• Is There Sarcasm in the New Testament? August 5, 2018
• Jesus and His Miracles: Some Interesting Features August 3, 2018
• Did the Original Gospels Describe Jesus’ Miracles? August 2, 2018
• More Free Memberships Available August 1, 2018
• More on the Historical Problem of Miracles July 31, 2018
• History is not the Past! Proving Jesus’ Resurrection and Other Miracles July 30, 2018
• My First Taste of Critical Scholarship July 29, 2018
• Upcoming Speaking Events, Fall 2018 July 27, 2018
• Did Peter Use a Secretary for his Writings? A Blast from the Past July 26, 2018
• Finishing my Work on the Afterlife July 24, 2018
• Traditions About Jesus that Are Probably Not Historical July 23, 2018
• How a Book Gets Its Title July 22, 2018
• The Trickiest Criterion for Determining What Happened in the Life of Jesus July 20, 2018
• An Important Criterion for Establishing What Actually Happened July 19, 2018
• Rules of Thumb for Reconstructing the History behind the Gospels July 17, 2018
• The Historian’s Wish List July 16, 2018
• What I Saw at St. Catherine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai July 15, 2018
• Visiting the Monastery at Mount Sinai: A Blast From the Past July 14, 2018
• A Key Contradiction in the Birth Narratives July 12, 2018
• Are Matthew and Paul at Odds on the Most Important Issue? July 10, 2018
• Are the Gospels Principally Concerned to Show What Actually Happened? July 9, 2018
• Why Contradictions Matter for Understanding the Life of Jesus July 8, 2018
• Student Excuses: A Blast From the Past July 6, 2018
• The Historical Significance of Contradictions July 5, 2018
• Balancing the Scholarly and the Popular July 3, 2018
• The Broader Significance(s) of Contradictions July 2, 2018
• The Strangest Moment of My Teaching Career July 1, 2018
• If the Bible is Contradictory, How Can it Be Authoritative? June 29, 2018
• Are Contradictions the Real Point? June 27, 2018
• Internal Discrepancies in the Gospel of John June 26, 2018
• Why Does Luke Appear to Contradict Himself? June 25, 2018
• Sources for the Hebrew Bible: A Blast from the Past June 24, 2018
• Does Luke Flat Out Contradict Himself? June 22, 2018
• New Rules for Comments on the Blog June 21, 2018
• How I Write: The Crucial Phase June 19, 2018
• Does the Book of Acts Portray the *Teachings* of Paul Accurately? June 18, 2018
• Does the Book of Acts Accurately Portray the Life and Teachings of Paul? June 17, 2018
• Why I Am Obsessed with Jesus: A Blast from the Past June 15, 2018
• How Does an Author Write a Trade Book? Phase 2. June 14, 2018
• The Name Judas Iscariot: What Does It Mean? June 12, 2018
• Taking the Temperature of the Blog: June 2018 June 11, 2018
• Why Would I Call Myself Both an Agnostic and an Atheist? A Blast from the Past June 10, 2018
• Two Rather Bizarre Accounts of How Judas Died June 8, 2018
• Can We Know Anything Historically About How Judas Iscariot Died? June 7, 2018
• The Death of Judas in Matthew June 5, 2018
• Self-Reflection on The Process of Writing a Book June 4, 2018
• Why Did Judas Iscariot Betray Jesus? June 3, 2018
• Past and Present: One of My Debates with Dinesh D’Souza June 2, 2018
• Did the Gospels Originally Have Titles? May 31, 2018
• Non-Disclosure Agreements May 30, 2018
• What the New Fragment of Mark’s Gospel Looks like (the so-called First-Century Mark) May 28, 2018
• Did Jesus Do “Signs” To Prove Who He Was? A Blast from the Past May 27, 2018
• Doing Research for a Trade Book May 25, 2018
• We Do *NOT* Have a First-Century Copy of the Gospel of Mark May 24, 2018
• Why Didn’t the Gospel Writers Tell Us Who They Were? May 23, 2018
• Why Would an Ancient Author Write a Book Anonymously? May 22, 2018
• Why Are The Gospels Called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? May 20, 2018
• Do We Know Why Jesus Went to Jerusalem? May 19, 2018
• The Tricks of Writing for a General Audience May 18, 2018
• How a Book Gets Written May 17, 2018
• Back in Business! May 16, 2018
• How I Write a Trade Book for a General Audience May 16, 2018
• Technology Challenge at the Beach May 15, 2018
• My Life! An Interview with Frank Statio on “The State of Things” May 13, 2018
• Does Paul Condemn Slavery? The Case of Philemon and Onesimus. May 11, 2018
• A Different First-Century Mark? An Interesting Piece of Sleuth Work May 10, 2018
• Why Would It Matter If There Were a First-Century Copy of Mark? May 9, 2018
• Bogus Christian Apologetics and a First-Century Fragment of Mark May 8, 2018
• Seeing Capernaum and the “Jesus Boat”: A Blast From the Past May 6, 2018
• Are Christians Intolerant? May 4, 2018
• 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
• Fresh Air – Christianity’s Path From ‘Forbidden’ To A ‘Triumph’ April 26, 2018
• What It Takes to be a Graduate Student April 25, 2018
• The Different Terms for Literary Deception April 24, 2018
• Different Kinds of Literary Deceit April 23, 2018
• A Forger Fooled By Forgery April 22, 2018
• Additional Free Memberships Available April 20, 2018
• My Book on Literary Forgery April 20, 2018
• Some Academic Good News April 18, 2018
• My Testier Days: A Response to a Critique of How Jesus Became God April 17, 2018
• Q&A with Bart on The Heretic Happy Hour April 16, 2018
• Why Should Faith and the Afterlife Matter? Readers’ Mailbag April 15, 2018 April 15, 2018
• Jesus as God in the Synoptics: A Blast From the Past April 13, 2018
• Blog Lunch in Houston Thursday April 19? April 13, 2018
• Is There a Time and Place for Heaven and Hell? April 11, 2018
• The Thinking Atheist Interview: The Triumph of Christianity April 10, 2018
• Degrees of Punishment and Purgatory April 9, 2018
• Who Invented the Idea of a Suffering Messiah? April 8, 2018
• The Unforgivable Sin and Purgatory April 6, 2018
• The Sixth Anniversary of the Blog! April 4, 2018
• Making the Bestseller List April 3, 2018
• Did Jesus Teach About Purgatory? April 2, 2018
• An Easter Reflection 2018 April 1, 2018
• The First Intimation of Purgatory? March 30, 2018
• The Birth of Purgatory March 29, 2018
• The Martyr Perpetua and Her Estranged Family March 28, 2018
• The Martyrdom of Perpetua March 27, 2018
• Forgery Lecture March 26, 2018
• How Were Books Published in the Ancient World? March 25, 2018

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