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My Final Exam This Semester! The Birth of Christianity.
The Birth of Christianity, Reli 208 Final Exam Questions Your final exam is scheduled for Thursday Dec. 9 at (ugh…) 8:00 a.m. It will consist of ten short answer identification questions and two essays. The exam will be closed book, closed notes, and open mind. The Identifications The i.d.’s will be terms that we have covered during the semester, either in the reading or in the lectures. You will be allowed up to 100 words to answer each i.d. As examples, you could be asked to describe: “Canon,” “Anchorite,” “Perpetua,” “The Gospel of Mary.” You will be given some choice for the i.d.s – for example, I may ask twelve from which you are to answer ten. You should plan on devoting no more than an hour to this part of the exam. The Essays You will then have two essay questions , and should plan to devote about an hour to each. In this case, unlike the i.d.s, I am providing (below) the entire range of potential questions. […]
November 28, 2021
Did Paul Know Much about the Historical Jesus?
In my graduate seminar this semester we had an interesting and intense discussion about Paul and Jesus. In particular, we delved into the issue of what Paul knew about the historical Jesus and whether he knew more than he said and if so why he didn’t say more and if not how that could be. In an earlier iteration of my undergraduate Introduction to the NT class, this was what I had my students debate. I never could figure out a good way to word the resolution, but most of the time I gave it as this: “Resolved: Paul Knew Next To Nothing About the Historical Jesus.” The problem with that resolution is that it asserts a negative, so that the affirmative team is arguing for a negative resolution. Not good. But I couldn’t come up with anything I liked better, and so went with it. Most students are surprised to find that if they simply make a list of what Paul says about Jesus between the time of his birth and the time of […]
November 27, 2021
What Paul Knows about Jesus’ Death, and What Led Up to It
In my last post I began to enumerate the things that Paul said about Jesus. *Most* of what he says about Jesus has to do with the significance of his death and resurrection. But what if we wanted to know about the *life* of Jesus – the things that Jesus said, did, and experienced between his birth and his death? Paul doesn’t tell us a ton, as has frequently been noted. But he does tell us some. In addition to what I laid out in the previous post, there are the following bits of information, again taken from my fuller analysis in Did Jesus Exist? ****************************** Paul knows that Jesus was a teacher, because he quotes several of his sayings. I will deal with these later [in my next post]. For now it is worth noting that two of the sayings of Jesus that Paul quotes were delivered, he tells us, at the Last Supper on the very night that Jesus was handed over to the authorities to face his fate. For I received from […]
November 30, 2021
What Paul Says about Jesus’ Teachings
So far I have been discussing what Paul says about the historical Jesus in his surviving seven letters. For the next couple of posts I’ll indicate what he says about the teaching of Jesus. Once again there are two observations to make. The first is that he obviously knew that Jesus taught some things. The other is that it is a bit surprising that he doesn’t tell us more. I will be dealing with that second issue soon, when I discuss why Paul doesn’t give us more information about the historical Jesus (there are several options). The following discussion is taken from my book Did Jesus Exist, which was meant to deal more with the first issue: the fact that Paul quotes Jesus on occasion shows at the least that Paul knew Jesus existed (as do the other data that he mentions about Jesus’ life). ****************************** The Teachings of Jesus in Paul In addition to these data about Jesus’ life and death, Paul mentions on several occasions the teachings he delivered. We have seen two […]
December 1, 2021
Must Jesus Divide Families? Part 2 of 2. Platinum Guest post by Douglas Wadeson
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November 21, 2021
Did Paul Know What Jesus Taught? More Reflections
I have been talking about Paul’s knowledge of the historical Jesus, and yesterday began a discussion of what Paul clearly knew about Jesus’ teachings. That’s where I will pick up here. Again, I have taken the discussion from my book Did Jesus Exist?, so the orientation of what I have to say is toward showing that Paul provides solid (and for my mind, virtually incontrovertible) evidence that Jesus was not simply “made up” but was an actual historical figure – an issue that, for most people in the universe of intelligent humans, is not much of an issue, but which is disputed by that tiny yet oh-so-vocal group of “mythicists” about which I have said some things before. In any event, there are a few more interesting aspects of the question of Paul’s use of Jesus’ teachings, as follows: ****************************** There are no other obvious places where Paul quotes Jesus, although scholars have often found traces of Jesus’ teachings in Paul. The big question is why Paul does not quote Jesus more often. That is […]
December 5, 2021
An Article about Religious Studies by One of My Undergraduate Students
I have a number of unusually interesting students this semester. My undergraduate course is called “The Birth of Christianity,” and deals with an entire range of historical issues about how Christianity emerged in the world, from Jesus to just past Constantine (with a focus on the second and third centuries). This is eye-opening stuff for a lot of undergrads (and, well everyone else who learns about it). One of my students taking the course has changed her second major to Religious Studies as a result, and wrote an OpEd in the university newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, to explain. Charlsie is a Peace, War, and Defense major with, now, a Religious Studies second major. This is a fantastic combination, given the role of religion in world affairs in general, not to mention many of the wars and other conflicts around the world. Charlsie was happy for me to share the piece with you. Here it is! Serving the students and the University community since 1893 […]
December 2, 2021
A Rare Opportunity! Want to Read My Book on Revelation (before it’s published)?
Here’s an opportunity. Interested in reading the draft of my book on the Apocalypse of John (tentatively titled: Expecting Armageddon)? I’m giving people the chance to do it as a fundraising effort for the blog. As most of you probably know, I’m now finishing up the book. I’ve been working on it for about three years and as of yesterday have all the chapters drafted. The first half of the book deals with how the book of Revelation is typically read. Most people don’t read it, of course: too weird or scary! Those who do read it almost always suppose that it is talking about what will happen soon in our own future. I will be arguing that this view is absolutely wrong and sometimes (literally) disastrous. The second half of the book will be dealing with what Revelation actually does reveal (if not our future). It has a distinctive image of God, of humans, and of the world that many people find disturbing, and it’s easy to see why. In particular I will be […]
November 23, 2021
A Thanksgiving Reflection, 2021
I love Thanksgiving. Absolutely love it. For me it’s the best holiday of the year – family, friends, food, and football. How good can it get? (OK, a lot of my family and friends would drop the football.) And it’s always a time for me actually to realize how much good there is in the world and in my life. On the other hand, every Thanksgiving has a darkside for me, a sense of guilt that I myself have so much to be thankful for. Isn’t that a bit triumphalist and self-congratulating, given how awful so many people feel, not because of self-pity (though there is a lot of that also) but because their lives really are filled with pain and misery? These two feelings of gratitude and guilt are simultaneous. That is weird and possibly paradoxical, but I never try to resolve the tension between them, to make one triumph over the other or to reconcile them to one another. They are both real and true but obviously at odds. I think that’s worth […]
November 25, 2021
An Evangelical Apologist Who *Supports* My Book Misquoting Jesus!
In October 2019 I was invited to a Christian apologetics conference in Chicago to give a talk. (click the link to see my post about it). As you may know, “apologetics” is big in evangelical Christian circles; it is the attempt to demonstrate the intellectual reasonableness of the faith, to “defend” the truth of Christian claims (for example, mounting evidence for the actual resurrection of Jesus, for the infallibility of the Bible, and so on). It is highly unusual for a non-evangelical to be invited to talk at one of these things, but they wanted me to come to speak alongside three very conservative Christian apologists so that the audience could hear “the other side.” We all talked about contradictions and inconsistencies in the Bible. I said they were numerous and signficant and, short story, the others said they were not. You would think I’d be entering the Lion’s Den, but in fact it was great fun and everyone was well behaved and good natured. The scholar who organized the conference was Kurt Jaros, a […]
December 8, 2021
But Why Doesn’t Paul Say More About the Historical Jesus?
To this point I have enumerated everything that Paul explicitly says about what Jesus said, did, and experienced during his earthly life. The driving question is the one that I turn to now and in the next post. Why didn’t Paul tell us *more*? I’ve long been fascinated by this question, and even though I’ve thought about it for well over thirty years, I’ve never decided on what I really think. There are just too many counter-arguments for every perspective that I’ve heard or thought of! In these two posts I want to lay out three of the main options. If you think of others that need to be aired, feel free to make a comment. I have taken the following from my textbook The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings. ****************************** Paul of course has a lot to say about the importance of Jesus, especially the importance of his death and resurrection and his imminent return from heaven. But in terms of historical information, what I’ve listed above [i.e., in […]
December 9, 2021
Why Doesn’t Paul Say More about the Historical Jesus? Other Options.
In my last post I started giving the principal options, as I see them, for why Paul did not mention more about the historical Jesus. Below are two other leading options. As I’ve indicated, there are probably others, and if some occur to you, feel free to comment! ****************************** Option Two: Paul knew more of the traditions of Jesus, but considered them irrelevant to his mission. This option relates closely to the one preceding, with a major difference. In this case, Paul did not himself teach his congregations many of the traditions about Jesus that he knew, nor did he refer to them extensively either in person or in writing — not because he had no occasion to (since he clearly did) but because he chose not to. Why would he choose not to? Perhaps because he considered the traditions about Jesus’ words and deeds to be irrelevant to his message of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Support for this view can come from a passage like 1 Cor 2:2, where Paul insists that the only […]
December 11, 2021
Strawmanning Ehrman: Guest Post by Kurt Jaros
This now is the next post by Kurt Jaros, who himself is a Christian theologian and apologist but who explains how other conservative apologists have misrepresented me. For the record, I swear, I ain’t payin’ him to say this! Kurt will be happy to respond to your comments or questions. Enjoy! Misquoting Ehrman – Part Two: Strawmanning Ehrman “In this video, I begin exploring how it is that some Christian scholars and apologists have misconstrued Bart Ehrman’s views in Misquoting Jesus. This isn’t to say these particular Christians intentionally misconstrued his position, but perhaps were hasty in their analyses. Christians have a moral duty to fairly and accurately convey their opponents’ claims (1 Peter 3:16), so it’s time to steelman Ehrman, not strawman him.”
December 15, 2021
A Great Short Story in Scripture: The Book of Ruth
It’s been a long while since I’ve posted much of anything on the Old Testament, and it’s high time I did so! As I have announced recently, in February I’ll be publishing a six-lecture course on the Pentateuch (the first five books) – one of the most influential collection of books in the history of civilization. There are lots of other amazing books in the Old Testament as well, and it’s a real pity people don’t read them more. With this post I am starting a thread on the “short stories” of Scripture. I begin with one of the truly greats, Ruth. This one will take a couple of posts. I have taken the discussion from my book, The Bible: A Historical and Literary Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, 2018) ****************************** RUTH One of the real gems among the books of the Hebrew Bible is the four-chapter book of Ruth, the tale of a Moabite woman married to and then widowed by an Israelite man, who then uses her wits, determination, and sexuality to […]
December 12, 2021
A Suggestive Story in the Book of Ruth
In my previous post I talked about the book of Ruth, a gem of a short-story in the Hebrew Bible. Now that I’ve explained how the plot works, I’d like to make just a couple of points about what it is trying to teach, starting with a comment about an episode that many readers over the years have found rather intriguing. It is definitely one of the confusing and suggestive passages in the book. It comes in chapter 3, where Ruth and her rich (and drunk) relative Boaz end up asleep together on the threshing floor, and in the dark Ruth “stealthily uncovered his feet.” The next day he arranges to marry her. What??? Different cultures, using their different languages, use different euphemisms for sexual organs. In older English literature, for example, a man’s penis is sometimes referred to as his “member.” Hebrew had its own euphemism for genitals. They were called
December 14, 2021
Another Fantastic Scriptural Short Story: Esther
In my last couple of posts I talked about one of the great short stories of the Hebrew Bible, Ruth; now I move to another – Esther. This one will take only one post. Again I am taking this material from my book The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction. ******************************* The book of Esther is another short story with a woman as the main character, and it too is about an intermarriage of a Jew and a non-Jew. But in this case it is Esther who is the Jew; her husband is a pagan figure of rather grand importance. He is, in fact, the King of Persia. As with the other short stories, the book of Esther is difficult to date, but as its action takes place during the period of the Persian empire it is certainly postexilic, probably from the fourth century b.c.e. It tells the story of a Jewish queen who saves the entire Jewish people from destruction. As such, it provides us with the first recorded attempt of a […]
December 19, 2021
Two Apocryphal Short Stories
We’ve been doing short stories in this thread, and now I will introduce two more. These are from the “Apocrypha.” This is the term that Protestants use for a group of Jewish books not in the Hebrew Bible that are, however, accepted by both Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians as having a secondary canonical status. In these denominations, therefore, they are called “Deuterocanonical Books.” There are some terrific narratives among these books. Here I describe two of the best known, Tobit and Judith, again from my textbook on the Bible. ****************************** Tobit Tobit is a work of historical fiction—by which I mean it is a fictional tale set within a real historical context. Originally the book was written in Aramaic, either in the late third century B.C.E. or the early second. The narrative is set in the eighth century B.C.E. in the city of Nineveh, where the hero of the story, Tobit, has been exiled from his town in Galilee during the conquests of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser. In other words, the account is […]
December 23, 2021
Blog Platinum Webinar! For You Platinums Only!
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December 7, 2021
What We KNOW about Jesus. Platinum guest post by Dan Kohanski
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End of the Year Option?
As we barrel forward in the holiday season, a lot of people are thinking about end-of-the-year giving. If you’re one of them, would you consider making a donation to the Bart Ehrman Blog? Every penny you donate goes straight to the charities we support (see below); we take nothing out ourselves to pay for overhead. And if you’d like, we can apportion your donation to just one or more of these charities as you prefer. Our goal for the blog heading to December 31 is to raise $325,000 for the year (through membership fees and donations). We’re close. Wanna help? Just go to the homepage and scroll to the bottom of the screen, and you’ll see the two easy options for making the donation. In case you don’t know, or in case you’d like a reminder, here are the charities we support through member donations. The Urban Ministries of Durham: This charity is near and dear to my heart, the agency that deals with hunger and homelessness in my own part of the universe. It […]
December 18, 2021