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Is Christianity Responsible for Gender Equality and Consent?

Is the reason women are treated better in today’s society than virtually any time in human history (as often bad as it is now, oh boy was it worse in, say, 1950, or 950, or 50), because of the beneficent influence of true Christianity?   That is the thesis of the recent work of an evangelical Christian named Glenn Schriver, and I had a remote debate with him about it.  You can watch it here. It appeared on one of my favorite interview programs in the world (literally, since it’s in London), Unbelievable hosted by Justin Brierley.  Oh boy, that program regularly interesting.  Every week Justin regularly sets up discussions/debates, often between a well-educated evangelical Christian spokesperson and a decidedly non-evangelical / non-Christian — e.g., well, people like me. Justin is a terrific interviewer / moderator (he himself is a Christian interested in apologetics). I’ve done his show a bunch of times, and it’s always interesting.  Check out the webpage: https: www.premierunbelievable.com/shows/unbelievable This particular back and forth happened a couple of months ago.  I must admit, […]

• Bart's Debates
• Public Forum
• Sex and Sexuality in the Bible

October 2, 2022

What Do Professional Scholars Actually Do? Part 1: Introduction

I am constantly reminded (from emails and conversations ) that most people would have little way to know what professional scholars at research universities actually do.  That’s not surprising.  I, frankly, don’t really know (or much understand) what a hedge fund manager does, or a state lieutenant governor, or an industrial chemist.  I was thinking about the issue (my position, not the ones I don’t know about) last week and suddenly had a vague recollection that I discussed it at some point on the blog; I checked and, lo and behold, I devoted a number of posts to the matter over ten years ago.  I’ve decided to do it again.  This first post will repeat how I introduced the topic back then. ******************************        In some of the back and forth that I have been involved with over the past few weeks some blog readers have asked about whether “experts” in an academic field have any privileged standing when it comes to making judgments about the acceptability or force of evidence that is […]

• Public Forum

Tags: Professional Scholarship

September 28, 2022

What is it Like to Supervise PhD Dissertations?

Few people among us who are seriously interested in the life of the mind are actually professional teachers; few professional teachers teach at colleges or universities; few college or university teachers are at research universities (a big difference from, say, liberal arts colleges — not better or worse, just very different); and not all instructors at research universities direct PhD Dissertations.  Those of us who do usually find it to be a sacred obligation (it is the final step for a graduate student to her PhD), an honor, a privilege, and an ungodly amount of work. When I first published this series on what it is research scholars in academic position actually *do*, directing  it was the first thing.  That was because at that precise moment I was deeply entrenched in reading a dissertation.  Here’s what I said. ****************************** I have just now been traveling across country (I’m currently in an airline lounge in Chicago) and on the plane I have been reading a (very fine) doctoral dissertation, whose author will be “defending” (that is, […]

• Reflections and Ruminations
• Teaching Christianity

Tags: dissertations, Professional Scholarship

September 29, 2022

What Serious Research Projects Can Undergraduates Do in Early Christianity?

Here I continue to discuss some of the things professors in the humanities do in research universities — in part.  I’m telling this from just my own perspective, but I’d say that most of what I say could be said by nearly anyone in a similar position.  This is how I explained this aspect of it before. ****************************** In addition to my regular teaching, I often get asked to direct Independent studies – where an undergraduate student will pursue a research project of his or her own choosing, something that normally is not taught in a regular class that we offer – and senior honors theses. I rarely am able to do an Independent Study, I’m sorry to say, as I have so many other demands on my time. But some of my colleagues are able to do several a year. I do occasionally direct honors theses, though, especially when a student looks especially promising as someone who may be able to go on and do graduate work in the field. The honors thesis is […]

• Teaching Christianity

Tags: Professional Scholarship

October 5, 2022

How Serendipity Changed My Life: The Apostolic Fathers

I decided that it might be fun to talk about how serendipity completely shaped my academic career, maybe doing a post now and then on the topic.  I seem to have had more than my share of fortuitous moments that have changed my life in ways I never would have expected.  When I just now sat down to do a first post on it, I suddenly seemed to remember I did that once.  And lo and behold, I did!  Over ten years ago.  So I’ll start with this one and toss a new one in every now and then. Here’s what I said before: ****************************** It seems that much that has happened in my professional life has been because of serendipity.  Back when I was a believer, we called it Providence.  (!)   It’s how I got my first job at Rutgers in 1984; how I got my current position at UNC in 1988; how I got asked to write something other than a technical study involving the Greek manuscript tradition of the New Testament – […]

• Bart’s Biography
• Book Discussions
• Proto-Orthodox Writers

Tags: apostolic fathers

October 12, 2022

A Major Forgery in the Hebrew Bible? Guest Post by Platinum Member Dennis Folds

Members of the blog at the Platinum level have the opportunity to publish posts (just) for other Platinums, and after a number of these appear, the members vote on which should be posted on the blog itself.  Here is the most recent winner, an insightful and intriguing Platinum guest post by Dennis Folds.  Many of you on the blog are interested in Christian pseudepigrapha (= forgeries), especially those in the New Testament.  But what about the Old Testament?  Now *here* is a bold thesis!  Read it and remark! Being allowed to publish these posts is a very nice perk of the Platinum level of membership.  Another is that I do a a special platinum webinar every three months.   Are you interested?  Check out the various membership tiers and the perks that come with them all:  Register – The Bart Ehrman Blog. And now, check out the post! ****************************** Jeremiah Versus the Deuteronomist Forger   Dennis J. Folds, Ph.D. Given the interest in potential forgeries of NT books and other early Christian writings, I’d like to […]

• Forgery in Antiquity
• Hebrew Bible/Old Testament

October 6, 2022

What’s It Like to Teach at a Research University?

I continue here with my reflections on what a research scholar at a research university actually *does*.  This post covers the most important part of the work.  The main job of a professor, of course, is to teach. (!) Different colleges and universities have different requirements and expectations for their faculty. At many small colleges, professors teach four or even five courses a semester. Rarely can a person teach that much and still produce substantial (or much of any!) research, so that professors in those contexts are usually handicapped when it comes to publishing scholarship in the form of books and articles.  But many of them are in the job because they mainly LOVE teaching.   So do I.  But I’m in a different situation. Large research universities expect their professors to be at the cutting edge of scholarship, and so the teaching requirements are lighter (since the research demands are so much heavier). Faculty in research schools can never get tenure or promotion (or raises!) if they do not regularly and extensively publish in their […]

• Bart's Critics
• Teaching Christianity

Tags: Professional Scholarship, teaching

October 4, 2022

What’s It Like to Teach PhD Seminars?

In a previous post I discussed what it’s like to teach undergraduates at a research university.   Now I discuss teaching PhD seminars.  Again, these posts are from some years ago; some details are different now, but the essence is, not eternal, but at least, till now, pretty much the same. ****************************** In addition to my undergraduate classes, I teach one PhD seminar each semester.   We have a small but terrific graduate program in the Department of Religious Studies.  Students admitted each year are the cream of the crop.  Most of them come to us already with both an undergraduate and master’s degree, and we admit students (maybe 7-10 a year) in a range of fields: Islamic studies, Religion in the Americas, Asian Religions, Religion and Culture, Medieval and Early Modern Studies, and Ancient Mediterranean Religions. My area is Ancient Mediterranean Religions, which comprises religions of the Ancient Near East, Hebrew Bible, Graeco-Roman Religions (i.e., “pagan” religions), ancient Judaism, and early Christianity (which includes the New Testament).    We have probably 35 or so applicants a year […]

• Bart's Critics
• Teaching Christianity

October 11, 2022

Would I Be Personally Upset if the Mythicists Were Right (That Jesus Never Existed)?

Ever since I wrote my book Did Jesus Exist (where I argue that, well, yeah–whatever else you say about him, however much legend you think is in the Gospels, there certainly was a historical figure, Jesus), I have had people ask me if I have an axe to grind on this one or if it would be personally painful or professional ruinous to admit that the “mythicists” — those who claim that Jesus is a *complete* myth (never existed) were right. I don’t address this in the book, and I think it is a terrific question! The reason I do is this. I think every historian of religion who makes a case for one thing or another needs to be queried: what is at stake for you in the matter? Did Jesus Exist, Historically? For example, I have participated a number of public debates with conservative evangelical Christian scholars who have wanted to insist that they can PROVE, historically, that Jesus was raised from the dead. Now I should state with vigor and emphasis – […]

• Historical Jesus
• Mythicism
• Reader’s Questions

Tags: mythicism, the historical Jesus

October 8, 2022

When Did Jesus Die? Dating Jesus’ Death by the Earthquake

Finally, a scientific dating of Jesus’ death.  I was trolling through old posts and came across this one.  Whoa!  Really? ****************************** Geologists claim now that they have established the date of Jesus’ death. It was April 3, 33 CE. Here was the headline: Jesus ‘died on Friday, April 3, 33AD’, claim researchers, who tie earthquake data with the gospels to find the date http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2149750/Jesus-died-Friday-April-3-33AD-claim-researchers-tie-earthquake-data-gospels-date.html For those who don’t know, the date of Jesus’ death has long been in dispute. The reality is, we are not sure when Jesus was executed (i.e., what year). It almost certainly happened during a Passover feast during the reign of Pontius Pilate as the Prefect of Judea. His rule lasted between 26-36 CE. All of our early Gospel accounts agree that the crucifixion happened on a Friday. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this Friday was the day after the Passover meal was eaten and so, technically, it was still “Passover Day (see Mark 14:12). According to John the Friday was the day before it was eaten – on the day […]

• Canonical Gospels
• Historical Jesus
• Religion in the News

Tags: earthquake, the historical Jesus

October 9, 2022

Getting the PhD in New Testament Studies

I continue here my series from long ago about what it’s like to be a research scholar at a research university.  In this post I described what it takes to get the qualifications in the first place.  (The only thing I would probably change today, ten years after writing this post, is that university positions in the humanities are so difficult to find these days that you REALLY REALLY need to love doing the graduate work, because in many cases it will not lead to a career option.  Still… it *does* happen!), Here’s how MY PhD in New Testament Studies happened. ****************************** I sometimes get asked what it takes to become a professional scholar in the field of New Testament/Early Christian studies. The answer, in short, is the same as for any academic discipline. It takes years of intense training. My own training in the field of New Testament studies was nothing at all unusual, but rather was fairly typical for someone in the field. What is unusual is that I knew that I wanted […]

• Bart’s Biography
• Teaching Christianity

October 13, 2022

Publishing in Academic Journals

The most obvious activity that professional scholars engage in is research, and the most obvious way research becomes known to a wider public is through publication. In some fields of inquiry (most of the sciences), the academic journal is the principal area of significant publication. In other fields (most of the humanities), academic books matter even more. But even in the humanities scholar typically publish in both venues. Books take a lot longer to write, but articles play an extremely important role both in disseminating knowledge – the results of research – and in providing grounds for a scholar’s academic tenure and promotion. The articles that scholars write – when they are writing as research scholars – are not the sort of thing that you would find in Time Magazine or Newsweek. Every field has its own set of academic, peer-reviewed journals (there are a large number in biblical studies in the U.S. and Europe); and every scholar who is active in his or her field or research publishes in them. These are not journals […]

• Bart’s Biography
• Teaching Christianity

October 15, 2022

Interesting Topics in New Testament. My Weekly Writing Assignments for Undergrads

Below is Part 1 of the handout I give them, the opening instructions and then the specific directions for each week’s paper.  (Part 2 will do the same for the rest of the semester’s weekly sessions) So hey, go at it yourself!  But, well, I won’t be grading yours…. (NTHI =  my textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings)    INSTRUCTIONS FOR POSITION PAPERS Reli 104   For basic instructions on Position Papers (purpose, grading, etc.) see the syllabus. Please double-space your paper, in size 11 font, and submit it on “Assignments” before the recitation begins. NOTE: On occasion you will want to make a reference to a passage of the New Testament.  There is a standard format for doing so.  When referring to a biblical passages, first give the name of the book (or an abbreviation of it), then the chapter number, followed by a colon, and then the verse number.  A semi-colon is used to separate one chapter and verse reference from another; a comma is used to separate […]

• Christianity in the Classroom
• Teaching Christianity

October 16, 2022

More Interesting Topics in New Testament Studies. Other Writing Assignments for my Undergrads

Here are more intriguing topics in New Testament studies!  This is part two of the writing assignments that I give to my undergraduate course, “Introduction to the New Testament.”  Every week students write a two-page paper based on the instructions, and then in their small group discussions (recitations) they discuss their views, as guided by the graduate student Teaching Assistant. So hey, go at it yourself!  But, once again, I won’t be grading yours…. Note: every student is required to participate in one of the three debates, on a two-four person teacm arguing either the affirmative of negative side of the resolution.  They are expected to prepare together individually and as a group, and everyone on the team is required to give a formal statement (opening statement of their teams position and arguments for it, rebuttal of the other team’s argument, or summary at the end) (NTHI =  my textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings)                                […]

• Christianity in the Classroom
• Teaching Christianity

October 18, 2022