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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 […]
April 3, 2022
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 […]
April 5, 2022
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 […]
April 6, 2022
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. […]
April 9, 2022
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 […]
April 7, 2022
Does Paul Know That Judas Iscariot Betrayed Jesus?
I sometimes get asked about Paul and Judas Iscariot: did Paul know Jesus was betrayed? I was asked it again a couple of weeks ago and have decided to repost an answer from some years ago. SO: QUESTION: Do you think that Paul, without naming him, is referring to Judas in 1 Corinthians 11:23-24? (The verse in the NRSV: “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”) RESPONSE: Ah, it’s a great question. Paul never explicitly mentions Judas Iscariot or indicates that Jesus was betrayed by one of his own disciples. But couldn’t this verse contain a reference to Judas? It refers to the night on which Jesus was betrayed! One reason the question matters is that Paul says almost *NOTHING* about the events of Jesus’ lifetime. That seems weird to […]
April 10, 2022
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 […]
April 1, 2022
Did Nazareth Even Exist in the Days of Jesus? The Weird Claims of Rene Salm
Some people who claim that Jesus did not even exist argue that there never was a town of Nazareth. So hey, how could he be from there? It didn’t exist and he didn’t either. It’s all a myth. Really. They base this claim on a book written by a fellow named Rene Salm. I was asked about Salm’s book a couple of weeks ago, and remembered I had posted on the issue, and Salm’s book, in 2012 (!). Here’s the (current) question and my (previous) answer. QUESTION: Rene Salm’s 2008 book “The Myth of Nazareth: The Invented Town of Jesus (Scholar’s Edition)” makes an archaeological argument that Nazareth was not settled until after the First Jewish War, c. 70CE. It goes into great detail and appears to be quite scholarly, but I don’t know what to make of it. Bart, are you aware of this book or its author? ANSWER When I dealt with Salm’s book in 2012, it was because he presented a paper at the Society of Biblical Literature meeting and […]
April 16, 2022
Fabrication, Forgery, and Accusations of (Heretical) Christian Licentious Rituals!
Two weeks ago I was asked to lead a PhD seminar on the use of literary forgery in early Christianity for the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures in the Department of Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Cultures, at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. Thank God for Zoom. In preparation I reread parts of my book Forgery and Counterforgery and came across a section that I thought might be of interest to (some) members of the blog, dealing with Christian authors who fabricate stories and forge books to attack their heretical opponents. This will take two posts. TRIGGER WARNING: it involves rather scandalous sex acts (and worse) by an early Christian group. Or so our source tells us. And he indicates he has first-hand knowledge of it. Whoa. Here’s part one. ****************************** As a further example of a forger who perpetrated a fraud, we might consider the work of the doughty defender of the apostolic faith, Epiphanius of Salamis (late fourth century). Throughout his major work, the Panarion, an eighty-chapter refutation of all […]
April 12, 2022
Did Heretics’ Texts Describe Their Incestuous Rituals?
In my previous post I talked about the church Father Epiphanius’s attack on a heretical group of Gnostics called the Phibionites. They allegedly based their practices on a now-no-longer-surviving book the Greater Questions of Mary (Magdalene). Epiphanius indicates he knows the book. Did he? Did it actually exist. Here I conclude the discussion, from my book Forgery and Counterforgery. ****************************** The prior question is whether Epiphanius’s description of the activities of the group is at all plausible. Historians have long treated Epiphanius in general with a healthy dose of skepticism.[1] No Patristic source is filled with more invective and distortion; Epiphanius frequently makes connections between historical events that we otherwise know are unrelated, and he expressly claims to write horrific accounts precisely in order to repulse his readers from the heresies he describes (Pan. Proem. I. 2). His description of the Phibionites and their sex rituals, nonetheless, has been taken as historically grounded by a dismaying number of competent scholars. For Stephen Gero, the fact that other heresiological sources down into the Middle Ages mention […]
April 13, 2022
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!
April 14, 2022
More on Nazareth (Or: Why Non-Archaeologists Should Definitely Not Claim to Be Experts)
In my post yesterday I began to explain why René Salm’s claim that Nazareth did not exist in the days of Jesus is dead wrong and is rejected by every recognized authority – whether archaeologist, textual scholar, or historian; whether Jewish, Christian, agnostic, or other. Here is my second and final post on the subject, again, from my treatment in Did Jesus Exist? ****************************** Salm also claims that the pottery found on the site that is dated to the time of Jesus is not really from this period, even though he is not an expert on pottery. Two archaeologists who reply to Salm’s protestations say the following: “Salm’s personal evaluation of the pottery … reveals his lack of expertise in the area as well as his lack of serious research in the sources.” They go on to state: “By ignoring or dismissing solid ceramic, numismatic [that is, coins], and literary evidence for Nazareth’s existence during the Late Hellenistic and Early Roman period, it would appear that the analysis which René Salm includes in his review, […]
April 17, 2022
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 […]
April 5, 2022
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 […]
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, […]
Gold Members Q&A for April!
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Tags: Gold
April 13, 2022
Reminder: You can enter the Blogiversary Lottery!
Hey Fellow Bloggers, Here is a reminder that we have a lottery going on with prizes! Entry deadline is in FIVE days. Interested? Here is the original announcement, with all the details. ****************************** 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 […]
Early Christianity and War. Platinum Guest Post by Daniel Kohanski
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Tags: Platinum
May 20, 2022
Free Webinar!!! Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?
In celebration of our TENTH anniversary for the blog, I’m happy to announce a FREE webinar for anyone who is interested. No need to register, no need to pay, no need to donate, no need to do nada. Just come. It will be this coming Saturday, April 23, 5:00 EST. And GOOD news. If you can’t come, it will be recorded and I will make it available to the entire known universe. The topic. An unusually important one. “Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?” Well, does it? The lecture will deal with the issues of sex, gender, and same-sex relations in both Old and New Testaments. I will give a 50 minute lecture and then take questions for 25-30 minutes. Interested in coming? Below is the link. Just come to it. Want the recording? I’ll be posting it on the blog so no need even to inquire. Thanks so much for being part of the blog. I hope you enjoy the event! Here’s the link: ******************** Topic: Blogaversary Webinar! Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality? Time: […]
April 18, 2022
Reminder! A Free Webinar on Saturday on “The Bible and Homosexuality”!
Just a reminder in case you missed it the first time! Come one, come all! In celebration of our TENTH anniversary for the blog, I’m happy to announce a FREE webinar for anyone who is interested. No need to register, no need to pay, no need to donate, no need to do nada. Just come. It will be this coming Saturday, April 23, 5:00 EST. And GOOD news. If you can’t come, it will be recorded and I will make it available to the entire known universe. The topic. An unusually important one. “Does the Bible Condemn Homosexuality?” Well, does it? The lecture will deal with the issues of sex, gender, and same-sex relations in both Old and New Testaments. I will give a 50 minute lecture and then take questions for 25-30 minutes. Interested in coming? Below is the link. Just come to it. Want the recording? I’ll be posting it on the blog so no need even to inquire. Thanks so much for being part of the blog. I hope you […]
April 20, 2022