Page 73 – The Bart Ehrman Blog

The “Young Ehrman’s” Faulty Understanding of Inspiration

In my previous post I talked about evangelicals who argue that if I had only had the right understanding of evangelical theology, I would not have left the faith once I realized my (errant) views were problematic. I would say that this is true of the video about me that Kurt Jaros posted a couple of weeks ago, here: https://ehrmanblog.org/did-i-have-an-errant-view-of-inerrancy-guest-video-post-by-kurt-jaros-5/ I have enjoyed Kurt’s video posts on the blog very much and really appreciate him setting the record straight for evangelicals who have misunderstood or misrepresented my views on textual criticism. And I decidedly do NOT think that he has “misrepresented” my views about inspiration (the views of the “young Ehrman”). But I do think he misunderstood them. He inferred from things I said that I must have held views that in fact I did not hold. The issue has to with the fact that we have so many manuscripts of the New Testament but there are so many *differences* among them. Kurt says that when I was shocked to learn this, it directly led [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:21-04:00March 18th, 2022|Bart's Critics, New Testament Manuscripts, Reflections and Ruminations|

Upcoming Debate and Possible Blog Breakfast? Anyone in San Diego March 24?

This next week I'm heading out to San Diego for a debate on March 24 with a Catholic Apologist named Jimmy Akin on the question of whether the Gospels of the New Testament are historically reliable. I've never debated a Catholic apologist before! This should be fun. I also (obviously) haven't done a live event in over two years. So, this will be interesting as well as fun. The event will be live streamed if you're interested, and even if you're not. Here's the announcement, with ticket information, in case you might want to attend or listen in: Jimmy Akin vs Bart Ehrman - Campaign (catholic.com) MOREOVER (only distantly conntected): It turns out I'll be free for breakfast that morning. I'm happy to do a blog event ((as in live, and in person!) if anyone feels like shlepping out to Del Mar. I'm thinkin' March 24 at 8:00 am. Anyone interested? Just send me an email at [email protected] There'd be no obligation other than showing up, ordering what you want, eating what you order, and [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:22-04:00March 17th, 2022|Public Forum|

Explanations for Why I Left the Faith

I have often been puzzled by how defenders of the Christian faith attack me and my views by taking the biographical route, pointing out the course of my faith journey, identifying a flaw in it, and then drawing the conclusion that if I had not thought X or been convinced by Y then I would have seen the truth and not been led astray. The way this narrative usually works is this: “If Ehrman had not been raised a fundamentalist he would have realized… x, y, and z … and he then never would have left the faith” OR “If Ehrman had not held X view he would not have been so easily swayed when he realized it was wrong” OR “The problem is that Ehrman appears to have thought Y and that’s not at all what true evangelicals think” and so on and on. The reason I find this puzzling is that people get their notions of how I was raised or what I thought from things I’ve written and said and in most [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:21-04:00March 17th, 2022|Public Forum|

Gold Q & A: March 2022!

Dear Gold Members, It is time for our monthly Gold Q&A. Have a question? Ask it! Anything related to the blog! To enter your question on to the list: send it to Diane at [email protected] DEADLINE: You've got a week to come up with something. Deadine will be Midnight March 23; We have the recorded session out to you by March 30, if all goes to plan! Send some zingers. I'm looking forward to it! Bart

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:22-04:00March 16th, 2022|Public Forum|

Memories of Ukraine. Guest Post by Douglas Wadeson, MD

In view of our coming fund raiser for Ukraine on Sunday (Fundraiser for Ukraine. Lecture on "Who Killed Jesus? And Why?" | The Bart Ehrman Blog) a long-time blog member and one of my blog advisors, Doug Wadeson, has provided this moving and informative recollection of his times there. ******************** We are all distressed by the events in Ukraine. My wife and I feel a particular connection to this situation as we have visited Ukraine a number of times and still have friends there. A missionary friend ran a language college in Simferopol, Crimea although his ultimate goal was to teach Christian values to people raised in officially atheistic communism. Each year he sponsored a symposium bringing together Ukrainians, Russians, Americans and Europeans in an east-meets-west sort of multidisciplinary meeting where we each presented a paper for discussion and debate, on any number of subjects, but with a particular worldview in mind, usually Christian or atheist. As a medical doctor I offered to participate. He also arranged for me to speak at various medical facilities [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:22-04:00March 16th, 2022|Public Forum|

An Eyewitness Account of Jesus’ Crucifixion!

Here is another modern Gospel forgery that has over the years won over readers who have thought it was authentic. It's intriguing stuff: an eyewitness account of Jesus' death! Again, this is taken from my book Forged: Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are (HarperOne, 2010). ****************************** An equally interesting modern apocryphon, The Crucifixion of Jesus, by an Eye-Witness, deals not with the beginning of Jesus’ adult life, before his ministry, but with its ending and aftermath. [1] The account comes in the form of a letter written, in Latin, seven years after Jesus’ crucifixion, from a leader of the mysterious Jewish sect of the Essenes in Jerusalem to another Essene leader who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. All elements of the supernatural are completely stripped away from the account’s description of Jesus’ life and death. Jesus is shown to have led a completely human life and to have died a completely human death. But not on the cross. Jesus survived his own crucifixion and lived for another six months. The account [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:21-04:00March 16th, 2022|Christian Apocrypha, History of Biblical Scholarship|

Debate Announcement! Did the Resurrection of Jesus Really Happen? Two Bible Scholars Debate the Evidence

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, here is the link: https://www.bartehrman.com/debate/ For now: more on the debate. If you are attentive to numbers, you will notice that this debate will be an all-day affair. Seven hours. Pray for my soul! On the upside (for you [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:22-04:00March 15th, 2022|Bart's Debates, Public Forum|

Want a Recording of Upcoming Ukraine Lecture: “Who Killed Jesus? And Why?” ?

Several people have informed me that they will not be able to attend the Ukraine Fundraiser on Sunday March 20, 4:00-5:30 Eastern Time, LIVE but would like to make the donation and receive a RECORDING, so: Anyone who registers for the event, whether they come to it live or not, will be sent the recording to have for posterity. The recording will also include the Q&A that follows the lecture. You can make your donation on the blog Home page (scroll to bottom), and you can register & get the Zoom link here. Remember, this is 100% a fundraiser for CARE, which is doing heroic work to help Ukrainians who have had to flee their country, so give what you can. I am personally matching donations up to $10,000.

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:22-04:00March 14th, 2022|Public Forum|

Our Ukraine Fundraiser: For those who can’t afford it and for those who can donate for them

There are blog members who would love to come to the lecture I'm giving as a fundraiser for Ukraine on Sunday, but simply can't afford the donation (for the information about the event itself, see below). And so this post is for TWO groups of people. If you yourself can afford to come and would like to donate a "ticket" or several tickets to the event for someone or someones who cannot, please click here to do so. If you can NOT afford the donation amount but would like to come to the lecture click here to register and on the Donation Amount, simply enter $0 or the amount you are able to give. The blog is not meant to be exclusive but to be open to all. Many thanks to all for being on it and supporting our causes. Note: for those who wish to donate, but can't attend the lecture live, we will be recording the the talk and will make that available to all donors. Here now is the original announcement again. [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:22-04:00March 14th, 2022|Public Forum|

How Luke Rewrote Matthew’s Nativity Story Platinum Guest Post by Dennis J. Folds

I'm pleased to give this Platinum Guest Post by Dennis Folds, a highly informed and informative assessment of the relationship between the infancy stories of Matthew and Luke. A lot has been said about these stories over the years, but Dennis has an intriguing perspective that I don't recall seeing before. Terrific! Read it and see what you think. And send some comments/questions for Dennis. Do you have a post to send along for Platinum members? It does not need to be highly informed, erudite, researched: just something you've been thinking about that you would like to share with other Platinum members, anything related to the many issues we deal with on the blog. The queue is virtually empty now, so send your post along! For now: here's Dennis. ****************************** The Synoptic Problem is the framework in which scholars debate about the commonalities among the three synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke. A lot of material is in all three, more material is common to two of the three, and the remainder is found in [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:21-04:00March 14th, 2022|Canonical Gospels|

Young Jesus with the Brahmins in India!

In my last post I talked about a humorous Gospel forgery by a modern scholar. There are a number of other forgeries of Gospels done in (relatively) modern times -- especially in the nineteenth century -- which were not particularly risible but were far more successful. I still get asked about them today, especially by people who don't know what to think about them or, even more, people who assure me they are true. I talk about them in the last chapter of my book Forged (HarperOne, 2011). Here's one of the most successful, as I discuss there. ****************************** One of the most widely disseminated modern forgeries is called The Unknown Life of Jesus Christ.[1] From this account we learn that Jesus went to India during his formative teen years, the “lost years” before his public ministry, and there learned the secrets of the East. The book made a big splash when it appeared in English in 1926; but as it turns out, it had already been exposed as a fraud more than thirty years [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:20-04:00March 13th, 2022|Christian Apocrypha, Forgery in Antiquity, History of Biblical Scholarship|

Fundraiser for Ukraine. Lecture on “Who Killed Jesus? And Why?”

Most of us are feeling depressed, frustrated, anxious, stressed, fearful, and helpless in the face of what is happening in Ukraine. Even though there is nothing we as individuals can do to halt the Russian advance and is horrific consequences, we can at least do something to help those in the throes of the humanitarian crisis. I would like to do a fundraiser to provide funds for one of the great charities dealing with the situation, one that the blog has always supported.. We will send all the money we raise directly to Care International. They are doing fantastic work in the crisis and desperately need the funding. Our event will be on Sunday March 20, 4:00-5:30 Eastern Time. It will be a Zoom lecture that I give on "Who Killed Jesus? And Why?" It will involve a 45 minute lecture and a 45 minute Q&A. We are asking all attendees for a minimum donation of $45 dollars. If you choose to come, please consider giving more -- as much as you can and wish. [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:22-04:00March 12th, 2022|Public Forum|

Interested in Going to Rome with Me?

Two years ago and then last year I was scheduled to do give lectures on a tour in Italy, starting in Rome and going to Naples, Pompeii (!), and Sorrento. I was eager to do it -- great places! But alas, it was cancelled both times. BUT, it's back on, as I've announced. AND there is still some room for travelers. Interested? My topic is the relationship of Christianity and traditional Roman religions and cultures in the early centuries CE: “Christians and Pagans.” The tour company, Thalassa, is terrific; it will be a small and intimate group and we will have tons of time to talk, discuss, and hang out together. They are now accepting registrations for the trip. Below is a poster for it, with a link for more information. Here is part of what I say about my lectures. When Christianity arrived on the world stage in the first century AD, Rome and the Empire it founded were predominantly “pagan” – filled with a large number of polytheistic religions worshiping the Greek [...]

admin2025-07-16T17:38:27-04:00March 12th, 2022|Public Forum|

A Humorous Modern Gospel Forgery

In a previous post I gave the introduction to my book about ancient forgery, Forged, written for a general audience. Posting it reminded me of a modern forgery that was done by a bona fide scholar -- of a Gospel text! I heard the story numerous times because the fraud was exposed by my own teacher, Bruce Metzger. I think the first time I wrote about the story was in my book Lost Christianities (Oxford University Press, 2003). Here is what I said there: ****************************** Some forgeries have been perpetrated in modern times, of direct relevance to our current study of early Christian apocrypha. One might think that in our day and age, no one would be so deceitful as to try and pawn off any first hand accounts of Jesus as authentic. But in fact, nothing could be farther from the truth. Strange Gospels appear regularly, if you know where to look for them.[1] Often these record incidents in the “lost years” of Jesus – e.g., accounts of Jesus as a child or a young [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:07-04:00March 10th, 2022|Forgery in Antiquity, History of Biblical Scholarship|

Why Date the Gospels after 70 CE?

New Testament scholars are virtually unified in thinking that the Gospels of the New Testament began to appear after 70 CE. The major exceptions are conservative evangelicals who often date them earlier. One can understand why: they typically maintain that the Gospels of Matthew and John were written by disciples of Jesus and it seems implausible that they would still be alive toward the end of the first century (especially given live expectancies in antiquity). There are good reasons, nonetheless, for the scholarly consensus outside evangelical circles. I’ve talked about the matter on the blog before but just now I reread my discussion in my New Testament textbook and thought it might be useful to give it here. In particular I like the final point I make (in the second to last paragraph), which, now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve stressed enough over the years. Here is what I say there: ****************************** Critical scholars are widely agreed that the earliest Gospel was Mark, written around 70 c.e.; [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:07-04:00March 9th, 2022|Canonical Gospels|

An Intense Back and Forth on Key Issues

I recently had a very interesting interview for a podcast called "Global Skeptics." We had only about 20 minutes and so we agreed to do it rapid-fire. This was one of the best Bam-Bam-Bam interviews I've ever done -- great and wide-ranging questions from a variety of perspectives. Here it is!

FreedomBen2025-09-10T12:57:07-04:00March 8th, 2022|Public Forum, Video Media|

“In the Beginning” (Part 2)

In my previous post I began to summarize the lectures that are available in my course: “In the Beginning: Myth, Legend, and History in the Book of Genesis.” If you’re interested in the course, you can learn more about it on my personal website (which is not directly connected to the blog): www.bartehrman.com Here I will give a synopsis of the final four lectures. Lecture 3: The Ancient Tales of Genesis: Borrowings from the Wider Culture Scholars and lay-readers alike were shocked in the mid 19th century to learn that versions of the most important stories of Genesis 1-11 were discovered in other (non-Israelite) parts of the Ancient Near East. In fact, in many cases these other non-biblical versions can be shown to be much older than those in Genesis. There is, for example, a story of creation from ancient Canaan called the Enuma Elish, which is different in many ways from the story in Genesis 1, but with numerous similarities as well both in the overall concept and sometimes even with [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:07-04:00March 6th, 2022|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Public Forum, Video Media|

In the Beginning: Myth, Legend, and History in the Book of Genesis (Part 1)

As I have mentioned before, I have started a small business on the side, Bart Ehrman Professional Services (BEPS). At this point it involves booking speaking engagements, providing consultations with authors of various kinds, and online courses. The online courses, of course, are a way of disseminating knowledge about the Bible, the historical Jesus, the history of Christianity, and so on. BEPS is a separate commercial endeavor for me and I am diligently keeping it distinct from the blog, except to announce what I’m up to there for blog members who might be interested. You can also learn more about it on my website, www.bartehrman.com This past month I produced a six-lecture course called “In the Beginning: Myth, Legend, and History in the Book of Genesis.” This is the first of possibly many courses in a long series called “How Scholars Read the Bible.” The entire series will be devoted to showing what critical scholars think, believe, and argue about the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, but also to show why they think what [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:06-04:00March 5th, 2022|Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Public Forum, Video Media|

Don’t Forget! Ask Bart Anything: Sunday!!

Please remember our fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders (MUCH in need of support just now in particular!). It's your chance to ask me questions and my chance to desperately think of answers. ALSO: I will have a one-one-one after the event with the highest bidder! And bids are due TONIGHT. See details here: https://ehrmanblog.org/ask-bart-anything-blog-event-march-6/

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:21-04:00March 4th, 2022|Public Forum|

Sting and Thomas. Guest Post by Evyatar Marienberg

Here now is the second post on Sting and the New Testament by my colleague Evyatar Marienberg. To learn more about Evyatar and his book on Sting (Sting and Religion: The Catholic-Shaped Imagination of a Rock Icon, Cascade Books / Wipf & Stock, Oregon 2021) see yesterday's post. ****************************** Those who checked the Wikipedia’s page about Sting (and many other online sources), might have noticed that it is said his “real” name is “Gordon Matthew Thomas.” I did not mention “Thomas” in his name, following his birth certificate, and still the reality of Sting’s legal name. Some might have also noticed that a saying attributed to the New Testament’s figure of Thomas was mentioned above. Thomas, in fact, is some kind of a ghost around Sting. In his most recent album, The Bridge of 2021, the ninth track is called “The Bells of St. Thomas” (full disclosure: Sting shared with me an early demo of that song, and asked me for comments). In this song, the interlocutor wakes up in an unknown bed, in the [...]

BDEhrman2025-09-10T12:57:06-04:00March 3rd, 2022|Book Discussions|

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