Loading...This past December 7 was one of my so-far-favorite days of my mortal existence. As many of you know — and some of you observed! — that was the day I gave my final lecture at UNC, a “retirement lecture,” with family, friends, former grad students, fabulous members of the Blog, fantastically helpful team members from the Biblical studies academy, and (I’m running out of “f’s” here), and other fine-people from near and far in attendance.
The lecture was recorded and I would like to share it with you here.
Get access to Dr. Ehrman's library of 4,000+ articles plus five new articles per week about the New Testament and early Christianity. It costs as little as $2.99/mth and every cent goes to charity!
Unlock 4,000+ Articles Like This!
I saw it on YT without pausing from start to finish. Wish we could’ve been there in person! Excellent lecture! Thank you Dr Ehrman.
I got into a back-and-forth with someone on Twitter, who commented on this lecture, claiming that the theology in the NT is pretty much unanimous and steady. And he had the blue tick next to his name, I think he is a public figure. And I can’t help but wonder how it’s possible to actually believe that, *if* you actually have read these books.
Many people certainly do believe it. But almost always they have a religious commitment to the view vbefore they’ve actually read the books.
Your lecture is a compilation of Bart’s Greatest Hits – a wonderful summary, and thank you for your career!
My question: What are the adjectives for the four gospels? I know of Johannine and Markan. What are the other two?
Second question, they seem to have different suffixes – is this related to the time and place when the adjectives were developed, or what?
a. Matthean and Lukan
b. It’s simply a function of phonetics/word formation in the history of English, since Johannan or Johnan wouldn’t sound right.
I found the answer to my first question about the gospels: they are called Matthean, Markan, and Lukan. And I can understand dropping the “w” in Matthew for ease of pronunciation.
But why does John’s gospel become “Johannine”?
Yup, “w” drops for ease; so too with Johnan — seemed better to change.
Now that you are retired and not bound by any regulations, I thought I would ask you again the question about Luke 17:21. What linguistic rule (Greek or English) did you use to change the spatial meaning of the preposition ἐντός from ‘inside’ to “Among” in Luke 17:21, or is your view here entirely theological?
I’m afraid I’ve given lengthy explanations of it already. It’s not a linguistic rule and certainly not because of any theological views I have. It’s because of hte literary context, which is true of the meaning of every word in every context. I don’t think we need to go down this path again — we had roughly 20 back and forths on it already!
Never have you acknowledged the fact though, that it is actually impossible to come to this “literary context” as you and others have, because it would violate the simplest rules of grammar here in the verse. Yours and others view here is based on something that is not even close to what was said to have taken place here. Which is why you people (always) accompany it with false ad hoc theological exegesis statements like “Jesus was a bigot and hated all Pharisees, etc.” 20 times you were given the chance to be honest about it, 20 times you failed us. What is the point of you in your position if we cannot even get the most basic of a proper answer out of you when asked? It took me years and thousands of dollars to undo the damage of you, and others who were not giving us honest answers, but theological nonsense. Facts and Truths will always prevail. Ioannis Konstantakos wrote that question for me to ask of people like you who take this view of Luke 17:21 as you do, because it is impossible to answer correctly. Are you a Scholar Bart?
It actually violates the Greek grammar? I’m not sure what you mean. How much training do you have in Greek grammar? As you probably know, my mentor and Doktorvater was Bruce Metzger, who was one of the leading linguists in the biblical world of the 20th century. He never considered that the “among you” violated the Greek grammar. In fact, it’s how he translated it.
I have never ever said Jesus was “a bigot and hated all Pharisees.” I regularly say precisely the opposite. The issue has nothing to do with the historical Jesus; it has to do with the literary context of Luke. If you have to twist words to get to your view, it’s not a healthy marker for your views. If you want politely to have a different opinion, that’s fine. But this is borderline abrasive.
You and the people like you that take this view all have the same excuse. I also have screenshots of every single one of our conversations. You’re looking at me as well, but you don’t need to, because I didn’t create the Greek language. The question that you have yet to answer still remains, this is not a matter of opinion, but of capability of the rules that govern the words of the language which I know you know, Bruce too.
In order to come to the conclusion that you have, I’m simply asking you to show your work.
How did you go about doing it given the rules that govern the Greek language? so I ask you again:
Bart: What linguistic rule did you use to change the spatial meaning of the preposition (ἐντός) from ‘inside’ to (Among/ in the midst of) ‘outside’ in Luke 17:21?
Before “literary context” there must be a literally possibly in which to do so. How were you able to do so? It’s a simple question. How did you do it?
You did this type of work for ? 40 years. Something like this should take you only a matter of seconds ?
As I’ve pointed out, the word clearly means that in some contexts, and I”ve given you examples. You should probably appreciate the reality that translators of the New Testament do know Greek. Why is this such a big issue with you? I have no horse in this race, it’s just what I’ve come to conclude after studying the issue seriously. But it sure seems to be important for you!
Im not a Christian either, but I want of truth of things. I know you know who Ioannis Konstantakos is, and I have spoken to one of his colleagues as well, and both say this view here of ‘Among’ is an impossibility, in every single way possible.
When I speak to people in the biblical world (you) it’s ‘Among.’ When I consult the keeper of keys of Greek language and culture they say, “Absolutely no way, it’s a theological cheat. In no way could it be anything else but ‘inside of you.’ Case closed.
So yes it’s a bit of an issue Bart. Especially when you have consistently avoided to demonstrate how you are able to do so without violating the rules of the Greek language when asked of you.
You yourself have undone centuries of damage to the NT caused by people, only to do the same exact thing here.
I have already spoken to enough experts to know the truth is. I also have been lied to by church leaders about what the Bible says, and I would never do that to someone else. That’s why the truth no matter what it is, is so important.
Prof. Konstantakos is not the only Greek philologist in the world. He’s a fine scholar. There are lots of fine scholars. They disagree with each other. No one of them is right all the time. That’s true in biblical studies, quantum physics, evolutionary psychology, classics, art history, cultural anthropology — name your subject. No one person has the final word. And appealing to one expert, even if she or he is considered one of the top people in the field, is not the same as looking at evidence.
Greek words — most of them — mean different things in different contexts and have different connotations in different contexts. No one word means JUST ONE THING most of the time. If you read the Phaedo, “logos” does not mean what it means when you read the Gospel of John. If you insist it means teh same thing, you misunderstand.The only way to know what a word mean is by paying special attention to its context, in this case, the literary context of the Gospel of Luke and it’s portrayal of Jesus.
I’m sorry you thibnk that I’ve damaged people by my views, but there are exellent reasons for what I think about the passage. You are free to disagree. But I think we’ve had enough of this conversations; you’ve stated your views clearly and repeatedly, and so I’d ask that we put an end to the back and forth on this particular issue.
Thank you and congratulations on this milestone. Best wishes for the road ahead. Lots and LOTS of work to do!
I started watching the lecture. Thanks for sharing.
Dr. Ehrman. Your next book might rewrite history. It will “correct” interpretations of ancient history. In the year of 70 CE, there were two “Q” communities: the Qumran and the “Q” content.