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Comparing John and the Synoptics
I am about to embark on a very long thread, on the Gospel and epistles of John. As many of you know, my colleague, Hugo Mendez, assistant professor of New Testament and early Christianity at UNC, has started publishing on a major project involving the “Johannine Community.” That phrase will not mean a lot to many of you. To New Testament scholars it means volumes. In fact there *have* been volumes written about it. It is almost certainly the most important view about the Gospel of John and 1, 2, and 3 John to be developed over the past fifty years. We all teach it in our classes. And Hugo wants to challenge its existence. Hugo is on the blog and I asked him if he’d be willing to write some posts about his views. But then we both realized that I would need to set it up by explaining what the issue is all about before he shows his different perspective. And when I started thinking about how to introduce the matter, I realized, […]
March 26, 2020
Is This the Same Jesus? John and the Synoptics (part 2)
In yesterday’s post I began to show how vastly different the Gospel of John is in comparison with the Synoptics, purely in terms of contents. What is even more striking are the differences when when John and the Synoptics contain the same kinds of stories (e.g., miracles; teachings; passion narrative). This is where you can see how the portrayal of Jesus is REALLY different in the fourth Gospel (something no one can see if they simply assume they’re all saying the same thing and all have the same views — as happens when people will read one passage from one Gospel, then another from another, and yet another from another, instead of reading one at a time and seeing what *it* has to say, apart from what the others do). Here is how I deal with it in my textbook, slightly edited here. ************************************************************ Comparison of Emphases The differences between John and the Synoptics are even more striking in stories that they have in common. You can see the differences yourself simply by taking any […]
March 27, 2020
Fresh Air Interview for Heaven and Hell: Airing Tuesday!
As most of you know, my new book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife, is due to come out in two days, on Tuesday March 31. I am very lucky to say that I have done an interview with Terry Gross for Fresh Air that will be playing that day. If you’re not familiar with the show, it is probably the premier interview radio program in the country, with millions of listeners; it will be playing on your local NPR station and, of course, can be listened to online. Check it out at https://www.npr.org/programs/fresh-air/ It is an unfortunately very timely book just now. But, as I’ve mentioned before, even though lots of people have more time to read now than ever because of our time of crisis, it is almost impossible for publishers to get the word out about their new books. The only effective market strategies these days (I don’t mean corona-days but 2021-days in general) are social media (to a limited extent) and TV/radio media. And TV/radio media is not interested […]
March 29, 2020
Where Did the Gospel of John Get Its Stories?
In my previous two posts I’ve talked about how John is very different from the other three Gospels, the “Synoptics” — both in the stories it tells and the way it tells them. That leads to the natural question. Where did “John” (whoever the author was) get his stories from? It’s widely assumed he didn’t make them all up — and he certainly didn’t make up the ones found in other Gospels, since they were written before him. Then where did his stories come from? Did Some of them — the ones they have in common — come from the Synoptics themselves? The traditional answer is yes, since he was writing later. But then the issue is why he didn’t use *more* of the stories, including the ones that would have especially suited his purposes, and why he so drastically changed the ones he (allegedly) borrowed. But the prior question is whether there is sufficient *evidence* to suggest he used the Synoptics. It is absolutely not good enough to think he must have because they […]
March 30, 2020
The Most Intriguing Evidence that John Used Sources
So far in this going-to-be-substantial thread on the Johannine Writings (Gospel of John;1, 2, and 3 John) I have shown how John is very different from the other Gospels in numerous ways, argued that it’s account is not based on those of the others three (whether or not the author knew of their existence), yet maintained that he must have had other sources at his disposal that provided him with his stories. Before detailing what scholars have said about these other sources I need to give the argument that seems most convincing that his account is indeed based on earlier written accounts that he has taken over. It also happens to be the argument that is most intriguing, at least for my money. The other two argument I gave may not seem in isolation to be convincing. This one is meant to be. There are inconsistencies in John’s narrative that are easiest to be explain if he is compiling various sources together; these sources didn’t all say the same thing or have the same view; […]
March 31, 2020
Is The End Today???
Just got this email, as my book has now appeared today. Ha! Prof. Ehrman, I thought you’d get a kick out of this) So here I am, working in the home office like a lot of people today, when my wife comes downstairs and informs me that our Amazon device just announced that Heaven and Hell were coming today. !!!!! You can imagine the surprise one might get when this thing just announces out of nowhere that the apocalypse is today. Hilarious!!!
So What Sources for Jesus’ Life *Were* Used in the Fourth Gospel?
I have been providing the evidence that the Gospel of John is not a single composition written by a single author sitting down to produce the account at a single time, but is made up of written sources that have all been edited together into the finished product. (See my previous two posts.) Now I can say something about these sources of Jesus’ life, teachings, miracles, death, and resurrection. Again, this is taken from my Introduction to the NT. ****************************************************************** Thus the theory of written sources behind the Fourth Gospel can explain many of the literary problems of the narrative. These sources obviously no longer survive. What can we say about them? Character of the Sources in John (1) The Signs Source. Some of the seams that we have observed appear to suggest that the author incorporated a source that described the signs of Jesus, written to persuade people that he was the messiah, the Son of God. There are seven “signs” in the Gospel; it is possible that these were all original to the […]
April 1, 2020
CORONA CRISIS OFFER: FREE MEMBERSHIPS TO THE BART EHRMAN BLOG!
FREE MEMBERSHIPS TO THE BART EHRMAN BLOG! Today is the 8th anniversary of the Bart Ehrman Blog! A day to celebrate. But also to commiserate. Who, on April 3, 2012, would have expected that eight years later we would be in the midst of the most serious world-wide crisis in our lifetime? I will celebrate the past eight Blog years in my next post. Today I want to announce the Blog’s response to our crisis. We all know a major part of the current tragedy: many millions of people suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed. Blog members among them. And wannabe blog members. The vast majority of these millions suddenly have limited or no income. Disaster. Most of them also have extra time on their hands with little to do. Let’s give them something. Why not read a helpful blog instead of .. doing something less helpful? Engage the mind. Learn. Think. Reflect. The combination of economic disaster and unwanted free time prompts an obvious Blog Offer. Anyone who is not already a blog member can join […]
April 3, 2020
Blog Anniversary, 2020!
As I indicated in my previous post, we had our eighth anniversary as a blog two days ago, on April 3. How things have changed since started this little venture in 2012. As I have said before, at the time I had no idea how the blog would work or go. A friend had suggested the idea of a blog over drinks, and I thought it was crazy. Who has time to do a regular blog? Lots of people, I guess, since there are millions out there. But I said: No Way. So he suggested I do it for money. I said, Money for a BLOG??? Plus, I told him, I was doing just fine, thank you very much. But then he said, You could do it for charity. BINGO. I thought about it. Steven Ray contacted me out of the blue to see if I needed any website help. I conferred with him about the blog idea, but it off for months and months, and finally toward the end of 2011 I thought I […]
April 5, 2020
The Social History Behind the Fourth Gospel
The New Testament Gospels can be studied like any other piece of literature, since they are, of course, literary texts. And so over the years scholars have applied a number of literary approaches to unpack the meanings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. But in a number of ways these books are different from most literature we encounter otherwise, for example, from antiquity, the writings of Homer or Virgil, or, from the modern world, Dickens, Virginia Woolf, or, well, J. K. Rowling. These authors and their works are very different from each other, of course. But the books they write are fiction. The Gospels are different. They do, of course, contain numerous fictional elements, and they certainly can be studied following the same literary methods one would use for other texts (on the basic level, looking for plot, subplot, theme, character development etc etc.). But they are, in addition, historical texts, more like historical fiction, I suppose, but not designed to be “fiction” probably — designed to be history but (whether wittingly or not) constructed […]
April 6, 2020
The Blog Podcast and Some New Protocols
We have a lot of new members joining us, some of them (new) paying members (Thank you very much!) and others who are taking advantage of our free two-month offer (welcome!!). We’re delighted to have you, and hope you enjoy the blog. Please spread the word! For newcomers, some information about a couple of additional features of the blog that you may not know about (and a reminder about these for everyone else); and then a couple of notes about protocol on the blog, including a couple of changes we are implementing. IMPORTANT FEATURES First and foremost, I want to highlight the Bart Ehrman Blog Podcast. This is an amazing production – so amazing that I wish I had something to do with it. But it wasn’t my idea, it’s not something I do, and it is absolutely fantastic. An unusually energetic blog member came up with the idea: John P. Mueller. John dreamt up the podcast, designed it, implemented it, narrates it, produces it, and administers it. Check it out: https://ehrmanpodcast.libsyn.com/ Every week, […]
April 7, 2020
UGH. Lost Comments from April 6
Some bad news, I’m afraid. Yesterday I went to review and post the comments that had come in the previous day (April 6, between noon and midnight). There was only one. Normally there are 40-50. Yup, something was wrong. Complicated story, but because of a weird technical difficulty involving the back-up system, the comments were sent into the stratosphere. There were 42 of them. If you made a comment then and saved it, please resubmit. If you want to compose it again from scratch, do that. If you don’t want to bother, I’m so sorry. In fact, I’m so sorry all around. This has obviously never happened before in our history. We are working to make sure it will not happen again. Apologies!!
April 8, 2020
The Divergent Views of Christ in John
Now that I have explained what the socio-historical method is in general terms (in my previous post) I can go on to show how it can be applied to a particular Gospel, in this case, the Gospel of John. Again, none of this is new and fresh scholarship that I myself came up with; two of the real pioneers of this method were two of the greats of New Testament interpretation in the latter part of the twentieth century, both of whom, remarkably, taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York (taught, in fact, some of my good friends!), the Protestant scholar J. Louis Martyn, and the Roman Catholic scholar, Raymond Brown. Their views ended up being a more or less consensus position for many years, and continues to be prominent among teachers of the NT still today. This is how I explain the matter in my Introduction to the New Testament **************************************************************** The Gospel of John from a Socio-Historical Perspective The place to begin is by examining the different thematic emphases evident in different […]
The History Behind John’s Gospel
In my previous post I explained that there are different (even divergent) understandings of Jesus in the Gospel of John. I ended, the post by asking the following: How does one explain these thematic differences among the stories of John? Social historians would argue that the history of the community affected the ways that it told its stories about Jesus and that critical events in this history led to changes in the community’s understanding of Jesus and his relationship to the people to whom he came. Scholars who have developed this idea have traced the community’s history through three stages. That is where I pick up here, by citing how I lay out the matter in my New Testament textbook discussion of John, and the three stages in the life of the community. This particular aspect of the question will take two posts. All of this information is important for my ultimate goal: to explain why scholars have found the theory of a Johannine Community so valuable as a way of explaining what we find […]
April 10, 2020
Easter Reflection 2020
By all counts, this is the strangest Easter in memory – one of the two most important holy days in the year for over two and a half billion people in the world, the vast majority of whom cannot celebrate it together for the first time in their lives. Even so, for many of these Christians this particular Easter, with the message it brings, could not have come at a better time. And even for those of who are not Christian, the season brings a powerful message, worth reflecting on. Even as a committed Christian, I always had a surprisingly ambivalent relation to Easter. For the first thirty years of my life, I was very active in the Church; as a young adult I was not just a faithful attender of church who was engaged in worship and Sunday School, I became actively involved in church ministry as a youth pastor, head of Christian education, assistant pastor, and pastor (of the Princeton Baptist Church). But I was never as joyful at Easter as everyone else […]
April 12, 2020
More of the History Behind the Gospel of John
In the last post I began to discuss what we can know about the history of the community that produced (or that produced someone who produced) the Gospel of John. My argument is that you can use hints in the Gospel to reconstruct what appears to have happened in the community in which and for which it was produced, and reconstructing what these events were can help make sense of how and why the distinctive views of the Gospel developed (or rather, the *various* views, some found in one of its sources, others in another). To make best sense of this post it will probably be of some use to read the preceding one. Again I am taking this discussion from my textbook on the New Testament. ***************************************************************** Stage Three: Against the Synagogue Sociologists have studied a number of religious communities that have been excluded from larger social groups and forced to carry on their communal activities on their own. The findings of these various studies are of some interest for understanding how the […]
April 13, 2020
Q&A on Heaven and Hell
The following is a Q&A that I have done with my publisher Simon & Schuster for the History in Five page. You should check it out. You will get a free ebook! Here’s the site: https://www.simonandschuster.com/p/historyinfive You’ll see, its an impressive array of authors with intriguing answers to questions about their books. Here’s what mine looks like. Why write about the afterlife? What drew you toward the subject of heaven and hell? I was raised as in a Christian household and the literal realities of heaven and hell were taken very seriously. My personal views intensified when I had a “born again” experience in high school, and eventually headed off to the fundamentalist Moody Bible Institute, where we were trained to evangelize “the lost” (that is, the vast majority of the human race): there was one way to heaven, and the results would be glorious; every other way led to hell and eternal torment. I no longer hold those views, but I have long been struck that so many other people in our world […]
April 14, 2020
The Not Old Better Show – Heaven and Hell Book Interview
On April 1 I did a podcast interview with Paul Vogelzang, the host of Smithsonian Associates “The Not Old Better Show,” aired on Soundcloud (Washington DC). The podcast focuses on the issues or particular relevance to the 50+ crowd (nence its name) but obviously lots of the topics it hits are on the minds of everyone else as well. The interview was on my new book on Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. I read an excerpt from the book int he interview but mostly it’s question and answer. I’ve done the show several times now, and have always found Paul to be an unusually perceptive and generous interviewer. Here ’tis. Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition:
Tags: Abyss, afterlife, Agnostic, Bart Ehrman, Damnation, Everlasting Life, Gehenna, Hades, heaven, Heaven and Hell, hell, Immortality, Paradise, Paul Vogelzang, Perdition, The Not Old Better Show, Tophet, Underworld
April 22, 2020
A Good Time for Wisdom!
We are living in a time of virtually unparalleled crisis, and it is forcing us not only to cope with tragedy — either our own or that of so many millions of others — but also to make sense of it and figure it out. It is easy to come up with simple Pollyanna views that don’t take seriously the trauma, and to cite religious mantras that try to make it sound like it is all right, when in fact it is not. And the reality is, most people very much *don’t* want to go down the rabbit hole of deep reflection. I certainly, absolutely, do not think this is a time for despair and complete despondency. But I do think it is a time for thoughtful reflection, on the state of the world, on our values and priorities as a human race, a nation, a locality, and individuals. Being in isolation for a couple of months can certainly provide us some opportunity to think about our world, our lives, our own goals and objectives, […]
April 15, 2020
Interested in a Webinar on My Book?
For all who are interested! This coming Monday, 2:00-3:00 pm, I will be leading a one-hour webinar hosted by Oxford University Press. It is free and open to everyone. The webinar will focus on the history of the ideas of heaven and hell, the subject of my recent book with Simon & Schuster. So *that’s* a bit strange. An Oxford event focusing on a book I wrote for someone else??? I’ll explain below. FIRST, about the event. I will start by giving a fifteen-minute talk, and that will be followed with Q & A. Since several hundred people have already signed up for the event, the questions will be in writing, either submitted in advance or on “Chat” during the talk. The original idea of the webinar was to make it for university students and their professors. But then Oxford thought, what the heck: why not just open it up? It’s not like we have to worry about their not being enough *chairs* in the room! So, anyone can join up to listen and watch. […]
April 17, 2020