Reflections and Ruminations Archives - Page 3 of 29 - The Bart Ehrman Blog

Bart’s personal comments and reflections.

Why Not Just Believe in a Different Kind of God?

Several people have asked me recently about why, when I left the faith, I didn't simply start to believe in a different kind of God. I had come to think there was not an all-powerful, loving, and active God in the world simply because, after lots of reading, arguing, and thinking, I could no longer explain all the pain and misery in the world. But why would God have to be all-loving, all-powerful, and active? Why not believe in a different kind of God? I dealt with this question on the blog some years ago, and would like to revisit it now. Certainly in the realm of my expertise, the ancient world, there were very different views of the divine that could indeed explain why there is suffering. In antiquity everyone except Jews acknowledged that there were *lots* of other deities, at all kinds of level and of all sorts of temperament. Some divine beings could be hateful, malicious, and antagonistic. Can’t do much about that. Even with the good ones – if you got [...]

BDEhrman2022-06-07T14:39:47-04:00June 15th, 2022|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

The Problem with “Time Management”

I’ve been thinking a lot about time management lately, but decidedly not in the way most people do. Most people (at least the ones I know) want to figure out how to become more efficient with their time, how to get more done, how to get more focused. That’s the very LAST thing I need. Since I was about 18 I’ve worked on that sort of time management and now have no trouble being time-wise, focused, and efficient. My problem is just the opposite. It’s about enjoying the present rather than using the present as a way to get to the future. I’d say that’s also a huge problem in our culture and one that most people don’t realize they have. I too never realized I did either, really, until recently, and I’m not sure I fully realize it now. I used to roll my eyes when people talked about “living in the moment.” For me it was all about accomplishment, getting things done, as well and quickly as possible. One reason I’ve written so [...]

BDEhrman2022-05-09T10:43:21-04:00May 21st, 2022|Reflections and Ruminations|

I’m Puzzled about Time. Is there a “Present”?

If you read these posts, you’ll know that I’m not a physicist or a philosopher, and really, to address the issue that is on my mind just now, I need to be either, or, preferably both. I am puzzled about time. About a specific feature or aspect of time. I’ve been thinking about it for some time and will probably be ruminating on it for some time to come; and I’m considering it now. But my puzzle is: What is “now”? Is there a “present”? If so, what is it? OK, it’s a weird question but I’d like to know what you think. Most people have never thought about it. At least in all my 66+ years (sigh) I think I’ve only heard / read about the issue a couple of times. This will take a bit of explaining. I have no trouble conceptualizing the “past.” For most of us, including me -- when I’m not doing the hard-core academic historiographical thing (which I do enjoy doing, of course) -- the “past” is simply everything [...]

BDEhrman2022-05-04T18:54:11-04:00May 11th, 2022|Reflections and Ruminations|

The Book of Genesis, the White Jesus, and Debating the Resurrection: Interview with Seth Andrews

I've been doing a lot of interviews and podcasts over the past couple of months, and for my money this is absolutely one of the best, with Seth Andrews the Host of "The Thinking Atheist." He's a terrific interviewer: intelligent, knowledgable, and gifted at directing a conversation. We talked about all sorts of things from my views of the book of Genesis, to the white Jesus, to debating whether Jesus was raised from the dead, and on and on. Check it out!

BDEhrman2022-04-04T22:08:56-04:00April 14th, 2022|Reflections and Ruminations, Video Media|

Christian Pastors Who Have Lost Their Faith
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Christian Pastors Who Have Lost Their Faith

Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations

Christian Pastors Who Have Lost Their Faith

Are you curious about Christian Pastors who have lost their faith? You may not know this, but if you’re in a Christian church – whether it’s a traditional Roman Catholic church, Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, Independent-Bible-Thumping-Fire-and Brimstone-Fundamentalist – your priest/pastor may be losing his/her faith, or already lost it. And yet still be in the pulpit. There are some times when you might suspect something was up. Other times, you’d have no clue. I’ve been there, on both sides of that equation. I won’t talk about the loss of faith on the part of pastors who were preaching in front of me every week. But I can say something about myself, in the pulpit, desperately trying to hold on to my faith, and seeing it ooze away from me while preaching every week on the radio. It’s not a pleasant feeling and can lead to massive confusion, self-doubt, self-condemnation, and uncertainty about what to do and where to turn. My Journey I was never a permanent ordained minister in any denomination. I was *trained* to be [...]

BDEhrman2022-05-29T22:56:02-04:00April 9th, 2022|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

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 [...]

BDEhrman2022-04-05T20:21:36-04:00April 5th, 2022|Book Discussions, Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations|

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

BDEhrman2024-03-06T21:13:17-05:00April 2nd, 2022|Public Forum, Reflections and Ruminations, Teaching Christianity|

Faith and Inerrancy, In My Case — Did the “Young Ehrman” Get it Wrong?

Here I pick up from my previous post about evangelicals misunderstanding my journey of faith, first by repeating its final paragraph: ****************************** My sense is that there is a simple reason that a lot of evangelical apologists think I “threw the baby out with the bathwater” (the baby of faith with the bathwater of fundamentalism). I might be wrong about this, but my sense is that taking this view allows them to explain why I left the faith without compelling them to address the ACTUAL reasons I did for themselves. It is easier to caricature me and what happened and to point out my “mistake.” I do not think that’s true of Kurt Jaros (see my previous post). I think he has simply misread what I said. And I can see how that misunderstanding is understandable, so to say. Here’s why: In Misquoting Jesus, I say the following: This kind of realization coincided with the problems I was encountering the more closely I studied the surviving Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. It is one [...]

BDEhrman2022-03-25T11:05:13-04:00March 19th, 2022|Bart's Critics, Bart’s Biography, New Testament Manuscripts, Reflections and Ruminations|

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 [...]

BDEhrman2022-03-16T09:32:28-04:00March 18th, 2022|Bart's Critics, New Testament Manuscripts, Reflections and Ruminations|

What Is The Difference Between an Evangelical and a Fundamentalist?

I often get asked what the difference is between a fundamentalist and an evangelical, and I’ve realized that in my book on Revelation – almost done with the editing! (I think…) – I may need to address the matter. Here is my first shot at it. Tell me what you think. ****************************** It is rather difficult to differentiate cleanly between “fundamentalists” and other “evangelicals” – in large part because If you're interested, join the blog. I provide five posts a week, mainly on the New Testament and early Christianity, but also on modern religion as it relates to them. There is a small membership fee, but it all goes to help those in need. So why not? Click here for membership options conservative Protestantism is a continuum rather than a set of discrete categories. The way I’m using the terms is this: “evangelical,” in the broad sense, refers to Protestant Christians who are deeply committed to the idea of personal salvation through a spiritual experience, often described as being “born again.” Only those [...]

BDEhrman2022-01-11T10:40:28-05:00January 22nd, 2022|Reflections and Ruminations|

My Pet Peeve: Simplistic Answers to Explain Suffering

In my last post I discussed two things that get under my skin in professional contexts, making me blow my top (to mix the metaphor): ignorance posing as expertise (not just in biblical studies but generally) and facile answers, by “experts,” to the biggest personal/philosophical/religious problem people have to face, why there is suffering in the world if there is an all powerful and loving God in charge of it. As I pointed out, I have no problem with people in general not knowing lots of things. I don’t know massive amounts of things. But I at least acknowledge it and try not to pretend to be an expert in something I have only a casual knowledge of. And I have no objection to people having answers that make sense to them, explaining why they themselves, or those they love, or the millions of people they don’t know experience such misery and pain, suffering in extremis. I do object when people who claim to be experts spread simplistic answers to difficult questions without bothering to [...]

BDEhrman2021-12-24T03:55:40-05:00January 5th, 2022|Bart's Debates, Reflections and Ruminations|

Bart Behaving Badly: Podcasts on the Problem of Suffering

I’m getting much more mellow and much less feisty the older I get, but, well, I still have my moments. I’ve always loved a good argument and for most of my life I could get pretty intense when having one – even when it was about something that really was quite immaterial. These days, though, I pretty much have a live and let live attitude. In part I imagine that’s because I realize that all of us are probably wrong about lots of things (most?) and usually it doesn't much really matter, as long as being wrong doesn’t do anyone much harm. Let the one without error be the first to cast a stone. But I’ve had a couple of bad experiences in the past month on podcasts I’ve done, when I wasn’t my usual affable self and I’ve been trying to figure out what set me off, making me rather hyper-confrontational and – can you believe it? – possibly (probably) pretty rude. As I’ve thought about it I’ve come to realize (or at least [...]

BDEhrman2021-12-22T07:37:20-05:00January 2nd, 2022|Bart's Debates, Reflections and Ruminations|

What I’m Reading These Days. You?

Before Christmas this year I read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. It’s a great story. (Novella? It’s about a hundred pages in my edition.) I used to read it every year. In my first marriage, for a number of years, my wife and I read it out loud to each other on Christmas Eve. Just about everyone knows the story but almost always from the movies and stage productions. Most of those are just fine, some are actually pretty good. BUT, there is nothing like the book. It’s extraordinarily moving, and even beyond that, the writing is fantastic. For about thirty years now I’ve read high quality fiction, by which I mean fiction that is thoughtful and thought provoking and written by people who really know how to write. Most novels aren’t written particularly well, but when you read one that is, you just sit back and admire. My GOD that’s a fantastic sentence! I wish *I* could write a sentence like that! For my money, Dickens is one of the best of all time. In [...]

BDEhrman2021-12-20T17:25:19-05:00December 29th, 2021|Reflections and Ruminations|

Which King of the Jews Do You Prefer? Christmas Message, 2021

Over the years I’ve said a lot about the New Testament, usually showing its manifold and various problems. But at most that’s half the story, and probably a lot less. There is something far more important: once you realize there are problems with a literal or historical reading, there is still the STORY. And the story can be quite powerful. Like all good stories, those of the New Testament can and should make us think and reflect. These are, at any rate, some of the most famous, influential, and life-changing stories in the world, not necessarily because they are historical (some are, some aren’t) but because they have a message to convey. One of the most powerful and paradoxical stories involves Jesus’ birth in Matthew 2. He is born in Bethlehem and wisemen astrologers from the East realize that something of cosmic significance has happened. It is proclaimed in the heavens. They follow a star to where the King of the Jews has been born and come to Jerusalem to make inquiries. The Great King [...]

BDEhrman2021-12-17T15:23:11-05:00December 25th, 2021|Canonical Gospels, Reflections and Ruminations|

How I’ve Changed My Approach To Writing

In a previous email I mentioned that I had started writing my trade book on Revelation, tentatively titled Expecting Armaggedon. Over the past couple of months I have been reflecting on how my approach to writing books like this has changed over time. I talked about my basic procedure a few years ago on the blog: https://ehrmanblog.org/how-i-write-the-crucial-phase/ The basic line is that I typically spend a couple of years doing the research and making very detailed outlines of the book, chapter by chapter, and then a short amount of time writing it. The process I described there still holds for the most part (it’s a process that I’ve tried to convince every single graduate student I’ve ever had to follow, and every single one of them has decided not to!) (to their advantage, often...) But I've changed my approach to the writing itself. As I recently mentioned, my first trade book was Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. Once that was finished, I decided (again) to move back to hard-core scholarly writing. But a [...]

BDEhrman2021-10-24T19:48:16-04:00November 4th, 2021|Book Discussions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Why I Prefer the NRSV

In my various posts recently I've talked about problems I have with the NRSV; some people have asked why, then, it is my preferred translation. And even more commonly (a few times a month) I get asked if there are ANY translations out there that try to give the original form of the text instead of the one(s) altered by scribes. I've dealt with both questions in the past, and here will, in short order, explain my overall strong preference for the NRSV, all things considered. This is a post from aeons ago. ****************************** A number of people have responded to some of my recent comments by asking what my preferred Bible translation is. I get asked the question a lot – especially since my book Misquoting Jesus, where I talk about the changes scribes made in the manuscripts they copied over the years. A number of readers were alarmed and wondered whether I should let scholars know about these problems. In every case I responded that yes, indeed, scholars – all scholars of the [...]

BDEhrman2021-10-20T11:11:42-04:00November 2nd, 2021|Public Forum, Reader’s Questions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Must Jesus Divide Families? Platinum Guest Post by Douglas Wadeson

Platinum members! As you know, one of the perks of your esteemed status is that you are allowed to write blog posts for other platinum members to read and interact with. Do you have anything you'd like to talk about, any views you'd like to put out there for feedback?? Send me a post! It can be any size up to 1400 words or so. On any topic we deal with on the blog. And if you choose (but only if you choose) it can become a candidate (chosen by Platinum members) to be posted to the entire Blog. So why not? Get your views out there. Send me a post! The following is the first of two posts by Douglas Wadeson on a controversial topic that most people don't know is controversial. Did Jesus actually believe in "family values" the way they are defined today -- and the way that many Christians simply assume? A close look at the Gospels can be very revealing. Here Doug begins to provide it. Your views/comments? Send them [...]

BDEhrman2021-10-22T11:07:43-04:00October 21st, 2021|Historical Jesus, Platinums, Reflections and Ruminations|

Starting My New Trade Book on Revelation

I started writing my book on the Apocalypse of John a couple of weeks ago and have been using the occasion to reflect on my how my approach to writing has changed over the past few years. My first trade book – that is, a book for a general audience -- was Jesus: Apocalyptic Prophet of the New Millennium. That came out in 1999 so I suppose I started working on it in 1997. Up to that point I had published three scholarly books – (Didymus the Blind and the Text of the Gospels; The Text of the Fourth Gospel in the Writings of Origen; and The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture) and most recently my New Testament textbook (The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings). The first two of these written for were for a very small group of ancient New Testament manuscript nerds (like me) in the world; the third for a wider range of scholars; and fourth for 18- to 20-year-olds who knew nothing about the New Testament. The [...]

BDEhrman2021-10-11T16:32:58-04:00October 21st, 2021|Bart’s Biography, Book Discussions, Reflections and Ruminations|

Then Who WAS the First Bishop of Rome (if not Peter)?

In my previous post I addressed question from a reader whether Peter was really the first bishop in Rome (that is, the first Pope). I guess I could have just answered the question with one word: no. But it took a post to explain. Now I want to move to the obvious corollary. If not Peter, then who?? The ancient traditions about the leadership of the church of Rome is a bit confused. According to the second-century Irenaeus, the first leader known by name (after the apostles) was a man named Linus, who was appointed to the office by Peter and Paul (Against Heresies 3, 3, 3). In one place the father of church history, Eusebius, appears to agree with this, to some extent, when he says that “the first to be called bishop after the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul was Linus” (Church History, 3, 2); but here Linus is appointed not by Peter, but by someone else, after Peter’s death. And to confuse things even further, just a few paragraphs later Eusebius phrases [...]

BDEhrman2021-09-06T20:07:44-04:00September 19th, 2021|History of Christianity (100-300CE), Reflections and Ruminations|

Weird (But Common) Ways To Read the Bible

It constantly amazes me that so many people who believe the Bible never read it. My undergraduate students (to this day) have read the Harry Potter books. But when I ask if they have read the entire Bible, the answer is almost always no. And yet most of them will say the Bible comes from God. So I ask them: “I can understand why you’d want to read a book by J. K. Rowling, but if GOD wrote a book wouldn’t you want to see what he had to say?” My puzzlement is old news to long-term blog members – I've talked about it before. But here’s something else that I find puzzling: Why do people who do read the Bible read it in such an unusual way? If I want to read a short story by Mark Twain, O. Henry, or (to pick one of my modern favorites) William Trevor, I do so after having some idea of where he was from and when he was writing, and then I start with the first [...]

BDEhrman2021-09-05T04:54:09-04:00September 7th, 2021|Reflections and Ruminations|

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