Page 72 – The Bart Ehrman Blog

The Apocalypse of John and the Gospel of Jesus: My Final Thoughts

Here now is the conclusion to my lecture on the ideology of domination in the book of Revelation. ****************************** I conclude with several more focused reflections on whether the Revelation of John represents the Gospel of Jesus. To sum up what I have been emphasizing: there is not a single word in all of Revelation about God loving others and no instruction to the followers of Christ to do so either. Instead, they are called to be “conquerors” – and once they overwhelm the rest of the earth with divine military might, they become its rulers, kings who control “the nations with a rod of iron.” Whether John meant this literally is beside the point. This is how he sees God, Christ, his followers, and the rest of the human race: powerful rulers and abject subjects. Is this what Jesus meant when he told his followers to abandon all desire for greatness? To live lives of service to others? To become slaves? In the book of Revelation Christ’s followers are slaves, but only to God. [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:34-04:00April 9th, 2022|Historical Jesus, Revelation of John|

The Criterion of Dissimilarity
Gallery
The Criterion of Dissimilarity

Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus

The Criterion of Dissimilarity

The criterion of dissimilarity. Over the past couple of class periods, I have introduced my undergraduate students to the problems that confront critical scholars who try to reconstruct what Jesus really said and did. These problems are created by the nature of our materials especially the New Testament Gospels. This is why I begin my course, which focuses on the historical approach to the New Testament, in something other than the chronological order of events or writings. Irony! But an irony with pretty compelling logic. If we began with a chronological order of writings, of course, we would begin the course with the writings of Paul, since these are the first surviving writings from any early Christian. Earlier by 15-30 years than the Gospels. But it doesn’t make sense to start with Paul (in my opinion) if you don’t know something about Jesus. And you can’t begin with Jesus unless you know something about our sources for Jesus, our Gospels. And so for a historical approach to the New Testament, we go out of chronological [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:38:56-04:00April 8th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Historical Jesus|

Did Early Christians Believe in Reincarnation?
Gallery
Did Early Christians Believe in Reincarnation?

Afterlife

Did Early Christians Believe in Reincarnation?

In my previous post I talked about how Origen's view that souls existed before being born as humans related to his view that in the end, all things -- including the most wicked beings in the universe -- will convert and return to God: salvation for all! Also connected to this idea was Origen's notion that after death people would be reborn to, in a sense, "give it another go." Origen is our most famous Christian proponent of the idea of reincarnation. Reincarnations - Before Origen The idea of reincarnation had been floated for centuries before Origen. In ancient Greece, the great philosopher Pythagoras was widely believed to have been the first to perpetrate, or at least popularize the idea. Later it was allegedly held by such figures as Parmenides and Empedocles, the latter of whom had allegedly said “Before now I was a boy, and a maid, a bush and a bird, and a dumb fish leaping out of the sea.” So too we find it in the Roman tradition, as when Virgil’s Aeneas [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:43:27-04:00April 8th, 2022|Afterlife|

Matthew’s Fulfillment Citations
Gallery
Matthew’s Fulfillment Citations

Canonical Gospels, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

Matthew’s Fulfillment Citations

Fulfillment citations - one of the most distinctive aspects of Matthew’s infancy narrative is his insistence that everything that happened was a “fulfillment” of Scripture. Why was Jesus’ mother a virgin? To fulfill what the prophet said (he quotes Isaiah 7:14: “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son”) Why was he born in Bethlehem? To fulfill what the prophet said (he quotes Micah 5:2: “And you, Bethlehem…from you shall come a ruler” Why did Joseph and the family escape to Egypt? To fulfill what the prophet said (he quotes Hosea 11:1: “Out of Egypt I have called my son”) Why did Herod have the boys two years and under killed? To fulfill what the prophet said (he quotes Jeremiah 31.15 “A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation”) Why did Joseph and his family relocate to Nazareth? To fulfill what the prophet said (he quotes … well what does he quote, exactly? “He will be called a Nazorean.” Huh?) Fulfillment Citations These so-called “fulfillment citations” are found in Matthew and only in [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:19:39-04:00April 7th, 2022|Canonical Gospels, Hebrew Bible/Old Testament|

We Need A Volunteer to Record Audio Versions of the Blog Posts. Interested?

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 Ben Porter, Chief Technology Officer (who does all the technology that makes the blog work). We have two volunteers currently alternating in their reading of the posts, and we need to add another in order to keep the operation running smoothly. Would you be interested? To be considered, you would need to fill out a form and then submit an audition recording (all explained in the link below). We are looking for someone with a very good reading voice. The position would take time and commitment, but the position does NOT require a lot of technical expertise. You [...]

Diane2025-09-10T13:01:19-04:00April 7th, 2022|Public Forum|

Are the Teachings of Jesus Realistic? Guest Post by Douglas Wadeson

Platinum members on the blog (Check it out! Register | The Bart Ehrman Blog ) are allowed to submit guest posts to other Platinum members, and among those submitted we (they) vote on which ones to include on the whole blog. Here is an extremely interesting and challenging one posted by Platinum member Doug Wadeson. Read it and see! Doug will be happy to reply to comments. ****************************** Jesus is generally thought of as a great moral teacher, but I have heard that questioned on occasion. For example, Jesus said, “Do not show opposition against an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other toward him also” (Matthew 5:39). Really?! Does Jesus want us to be target practice for bullies? Won’t that just enable and embolden them? And on a societal scale, if America is attacked are we not supposed to defend ourselves? Otherwise evil will win. A real sore point for some people is that Jesus never condemned slavery, which was a common institution in his day (e.g., Matthew [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:34-04:00April 7th, 2022|Historical Jesus|

John of Patmos and the Passion for World Domination

I move on now to discuss Revelation’s view of ruling the world. If at the end of time God destroys everyone other than his followers, whom will they rule? I begin by picking up my final question in the last post. ****************************** Where does the book of Revelation stand on the morality of domination? There is really not much doubt. When the catastrophes have run their course, Christ’s followers are granted world dominion. To understand what that might mean for John of Patmos we have to consider one of the stranger anomalies of his narrative. After the wrath of God has been satisfied: what remains of the population of earth? At the last judgment in ch. 20 everyone whose name does not appear in the “book of life” – that is, anyone who is not a follower of Jesus – is sent to the second death in “the lake of fire” (20:11-15). Doesn’t “everyone” mean everyone? John stresses that it does: after earth’s entire non-Christian population is cast into the fiery lake, so too are [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:34-04:00April 6th, 2022|Revelation of John|

Reminder: My Debate on Saturday. Did the Resurrection of Jesus Really Happen?

This is just a reminder that on Saturday I'm holding a day-long (!) debate on Saturday on whether Jesus was actually raised from the dead. Tickets are still available. Here was the original announcement, in case you're interested. ****************************** I would like to announce a major public debate that I will be having with the well-known conservative evangelical apologist Mike Licona on the resurrection of Jesus. The title is “Did the Resurrection of Jesus Really Happen? Two Bible Scholars Debate the Evidence.” It will be held remotely on April 9th from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 pm EST. The debate is not directly connected with the blog but is my own thing, done in conjunction with the courses I've been recording for the Bart Ehrman Professional Services. There will be a charge for the event. Some of the profits will be redirected to the blog, and blog members will get a discount (see below). If you have any interest at all, check out the video below. And if you want to learn more or sign up, [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 5th, 2022|Public Forum|

O Frabjous Day, Callou Callay

I'm chortling in my joy. Today is a big day for me! At last my academic study of guided tours of the afterlife came out: Journeys to Heaven and Hell: Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition. As many of you know, this is the scholarly monograph that is roughly similar at least in topic (almost all the material is actually completely different) to my trade book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife, which came out two years ago. I STARTED out -- six years ago, in 2016 -- thinking I wanted to do further research into afterlife in the early Christian tradition, and was specifically interested in writing a scholarly book on "Katabasis," the technical term for "a journey to the realms of the dead" (it literally means "a going down"). I got two full years of research leave to do it, a fellowship at the National Humanities Center in 2018-19 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019-20. I did nothing but work on it full time both years, and I've [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 5th, 2022|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

Revelation and Ancient Views of Dominance

In my previous post I discussed whether the fact that Revelation is filled with symbolism and not to be taken literally should affect our evaluation of its presentation of violence and domination. Now I move on to ask whether its views reflect those of Jesus himself. I resume where I left off: ****************************** To say that this is all “just a story” is to miss the point rather spectacularly. The story conveys a message, an understanding of right and wrong and of what really matters before the Almighty. The book celebrates judgment, bloody vengeance, and divine wrath – not love, mercy, forgiveness, or reconciliation. In the end, the Lamb who was once bloodied avenges his blood a thousand-fold. For John, Christ came the first time in meekness, but he is coming back in power. History will be guided by the vengeance and wrath of God and his Lamb. Is this what Jesus thought? I obviously cannot provide an analysis of the historical Jesus’ teachings in the time I have left. But I will stress that [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:34-04:00April 5th, 2022|Greco-Roman Religions and Culture, Revelation of John|

Wanna join this month’s book club reading? Check it out!

Our COO and organizer of all things blog, Diane Pittman, has sent along this announcement of the upcoming Book Club event, a two-parter that sounds unusually interesting. If it's interesting, are you interested? Here it is! ****************************** It's BACK...It's BOLD...It's BIGGER than ever...(Well, not really, but it'll be as much fun as it usually is.) It's the Bart Ehrman Blog Book Club #3 (BBC 3). Click here to sign up and get the Zoom link. If you've never had a chance to participate in one of our BBCs, this will be a perfect introduction. Every person, regardless of your beliefs, is welcome. In honor of the Passover/Passion week, we will be reading just one book: "The Last Week: What the Gospels Really Teach Us About Jesus's Final Days in Jerusalem" by Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan. This book was recommended for us by Bart. Click on link to order directly from Amazon; you may also be able to find it at your local library. Because Passion week is the [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 5th, 2022|Public Forum|

Understanding the Old Testament! Joshua – 2 Kings as the Deuteronomistic History
Gallery
Understanding the Old Testament! Joshua – 2 Kings as the Deuteronomistic History

Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Reader’s Questions

Understanding the Old Testament! Joshua – 2 Kings as the Deuteronomistic History

I recently received a question about the books of Joshua and Judges: when were they written? They are fascinating books -- flat out GREAT stories in them -- and need to be placed in the historical context of their author to be understood. But when was that, and what ideas were guiding his narrative? I discuss such issues in my textbook The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction, right after my coverage of the Pentateuch. Here is what I say there. ****************************** As we move now beyond the Pentateuch, we come to another collection of historical writings in the Hebrew Bible. Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings are usually thought of and treated as a group of books, probably all written by the same author (or group of authors). These books narrate the life of Israel once it comes to the Promised Land, as it conquers the peoples already dwelling there, divides up the land, lives in the land as a group of tribes, comes to be ruled by kings, and eventually [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:34-04:00April 3rd, 2022|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Reader’s Questions|

Why I Am Not A Christian: Is Bart Ehrman a Christian?
Gallery
Why I Am Not A Christian: Is Bart Ehrman a Christian?

Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations, Teaching Christianity

Why I Am Not A Christian: Is Bart Ehrman a Christian?

A lot of people wonder why I am not a Christian? Is Bart Ehrman a Christian...is a very popular question. Just now – fifteen minutes ago – I came to realize with the most crystal clarity I have ever had why I am not a Christian. Of course, as most of you know, I have not called myself a Christian publicly for a very long time, twenty years or so I suppose. But a number of people tell me that they think at heart I’m a Christian, and I sometimes think of myself as a Christian agnostic/atheist. Their thinking, and mine, has been that if I do my best to follow the teachings of Jesus, in some respect I’m a Christian, even if I don’t believe that Jesus was the son of God....or that he was raised from the dead, or even that God exists. In fact, I don’t believe all these things. But can’t I be a Christian in a different sense, one who follows Jesus’ teachings? Fifteen minutes ago I realized with startling [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:36:32-04:00April 2nd, 2022|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations, Teaching Christianity|

If Revelation is All Symbolic, Why Would the Violence Matter?

I've been presenting a lecture I gave to a regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature recently on the violence of the book of Revelation. In my previous post I talked about a passage that strikes me as excessively ugly, which discusses Jesus' treatment of the prophetess Jezebel (a Christian leader/teacher) from the church of Thyatira. At this point in my lecture I move on from detailing aspects of the violence of the text to considering its significance. ****************************** Most of Revelation, of course, is not about what will happen to Christians that John considers wayward, but to those outside the church who suffer incomprehensible catastrophes and are eventually tossed alive into a lake of burning sulfur. But why would it have to be this way, even if God is just and decides to avenge his persecuted or even martyred followers and to wipe out the masses of the ungodly? Couldn’t he simply give them a simultaneous and fatal coronary? Or just disintegrate them with a cosmic ray gun? Not for John. The wrath [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:33-04:00April 2nd, 2022|Revelation of John|

A LOTTERY!! To CELEBRATE the Blog’s 10-Year Blogiversary!

I am very pleased to announce that the Blog's ten-year anniversary is on April 18! We have been going at it this whole time, ten years, non-stop! HA! Tempus is fugiting.... We are celebrating the upcoming date in a variety of ways. There will be at least one celebratory event, special announcements, reposting of favorite posts from years gone by, and a couple of fundraisers. Today I announce the first fundraiser. A LOTTERY with prizes, with all proceeds going to disaster relief in Ukraine. As to the Lottery: Each ticket is $10 and you can buy as many as you like. So if you want to have a shot (see prizes below), buy one! If you want to increase the odds, buy more. The limit to the number you can buy is .... well, it is limitless. Tickets can be purchased UNTIL MIDNIGHT APRIL 18 (the anniversary date itself). ALL of the money will go to Ukraine relief, through one of the two charities we support that are doing amazing work in this most horrible [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:54-04:00April 1st, 2022|Public Forum|

Did Nazareth Exist?
Gallery
Did Nazareth Exist?

Historical Jesus, Mythicism, Reader’s Questions

Did Nazareth Exist?

One question I repeatedly get asked is about my opinion on whether the town of Nazareth actually existed. I was puzzled when I started getting emails on this, some years ago now. What I came to realize is that mythicists (i.e., those who think that there never was a man Jesus; he was invented, a “myth”) commonly argue that Nazareth (like Jesus) was completely made up. I still get the emails today – a couple within the past month. I tried to deal with this issue at length in my book Did Jesus Exist? But since I get asked the question still, apparently by people who haven’t read my book (!) – I thought I would repeat some of what I say there. Here is an excerpt on the issue: Did Nazareth Exist - Jesus' Hometown One supposedly legendary feature of the Gospels commonly discussed by mythicists is that the alleged hometown of Jesus, Nazareth did not exist but is itself a myth. The logic of this argument, which is sometimes advanced with considerable vehemence and force, [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:28:23-04:00April 1st, 2022|Historical Jesus, Mythicism, Reader’s Questions|

Do Textual Critics Have to be Radical Skeptics? Guest Post by Kurt Jaros
Gallery
Do Textual Critics Have to be Radical Skeptics? Guest Post by Kurt Jaros

New Testament Manuscripts

Do Textual Critics Have to be Radical Skeptics? Guest Post by Kurt Jaros

Here now is the sixth and final video post by Kurt Jaros, connected to my views of Textual Criticism. As you know, Kurt is a conservative evangelical apologist who, unlike some others, is openminded about issues of biblical scholarship. May his tribe increase. Here he argues that the fact we have different manuscripts of the NT with different wording does not necessarily have to lead to a deeply skeptical view of the Bible. ****************************** Misquoting Ehrman – Part Six: Reject Radical Skepticism How does radical skepticism creep into some people's minds when they think about textual criticism? In this last episode of Misquoting Ehrman, I provide an important distinction which demonstrates how radical skepticism does not follow from the manuscript evidence we have. Then, I recap the series. Thanks for viewing!

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:33-04:00March 31st, 2022|New Testament Manuscripts|

The Most Violent Passage in Revelation, in My View:

From where I sit, the harshest most violent passage in Revelation is not one that dispenses with a third of the human race in one verse or describes a horde of locusts that will sting everyone on earth except God’s close followers and cause unbearable physical agony for five months that cannot be relieved and that they cannot escape even by dying – i.e., they are not allowed to end it all. OK, maybe that one is the worst. But in terms of awfulness, this for me is the one, as I discuss in the lecture I gave on Revelation recently. In the previous post I mentioned two of the worst. Here’s *the* worst. ****************************** The third passage shows that Christ directs his violence not only against pagans and Jews but also against his own followers, even active leaders and teachers in his church. The tenuous standing of Jesus’ followers is a leading theme of his letters to the seven churches of in chapters 2 and 3. Christ regularly threatens to remove his favor and [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:33-04:00March 30th, 2022|Public Forum, Revelation of John|

Two of the Most Violent Passages in Revelation

I continue here with my discussion of the violence in the book of Revelation as taken from a recent lecture I gave. As is clear, I find it incredible that so many well-meaning scholars want to insist that its not *actually* violent. OK, then. As I've indicated, chs. 6-16 are a three-part series of disasters, 7 seals, trumpets, and bowls of wrath each, bringing war, death, economic collapse, starvation, torment, natural disaster, and cosmic disruption (with other things). I pick up there in what follows: ****************************** And as awful as they are, the seals, trumpets, and bowls are not the most violent parts of the book. Three other passages compete for that dubious honor. The first comes as an interlude between the seven trumpets and the seven bowls of God’s wrath (14:14-20). Here we have another vision of “one like the Son of Man” (Christ) who is seated on a cloud, wearing a golden crown and carrying a sharp sickle (14:14). It is not an auspicious image. An angel emerges from the [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:33-04:00March 29th, 2022|Public Forum, Revelation of John|

Does Paul Condemn Slavery? The Surprising Answer–Paul and Philemon

This past week I received a question from a reader about the book of Philemon. The last time that happened ... well, actually, I think it has happened only once before in the history of the blog! And now that vibrant and widespread interest has been raised, it is a good time to address it again! Seriously, it involves an unusually intriguing question. What was Paul's view of slavery? Philemon provides an unexpected answer, at least as I read it. This is the shortest of Paul’s letters (it’s a one-pager) where he is writing to his convert Philemon, a rich slave owner, asking him to receive back into his good graces his run-away slave Onesimus. So what was *that* all about? Here is the question and my response. QUESTION: From your writing about Greco Roman notions of dominance as status, it seems that the simple manumission of a slave was not a de facto improvement in status, because a man with no wealth, power, or influence was about as low on the ladder as [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:33-04:00March 27th, 2022|Paul and His Letters|

Previous 1···717273···218 Next