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My First Scholarly Encounter with the Canon of the New Testament
So: I’ve started to work on my next book (or books, depending on how things go), on how we got the canon of the New Testament. Why these 27 books? Why not others? Who decided? When? On what grounds? etc. I started thinking about this issue already as an 18-year-old in Bible college, but at that point had the traditional theological answers for it that are still being published regularly by evangelical scholars as if they are “news” (!). We saw it as a divinely directed event with an inevitable outcome in which the inspired books were the ones that were included simply because they were the ones recognized as being inspired by God. When I went to Princeton Seminary, for my Masters and then PhD, it was primarily to work with Bruce Metzger, because he was the world leading expert on ancient Greek manuscripts of the New Testament. He was also the foremost scholar of the day on the formation of the canon of Scripture (and published the still authoritative account of it, over […]
September 10, 2025
Was Jesus Christ Two Beings, One Human (Jesus) and One Divine (Christ)?
Just to show how strange and, uh, detailed scholarship can be even in New Testament studies, I want to conclude this small thread on the five-chapter book of 1 John by discussing a textual variant in its text that I was obsessed with for years. It involves how different manuscripts word just one verse (1 John 4:3), and in fact just one word in that one verse, which is, as it turns out, only a four-letter word. Early in my career I wrote a 22-page article on this word. Ha! (I guess that’s over five pages per letter….) The word is [/mepr-show]
September 14, 2025
The Weird Textual Variant of 1 John 4:3: False Teachers Who “Loose” Jesus?
This post will be about a couple of intriguing textual variants in our manuscripts of the New Testament, including the use of a four-letter word (literally) in 1 John. To set the stage, let me remind you that in my previous post I discussed an early Christian understanding of Christ that I called “separationist,” because it divided Jesus Christ into two: the man Jesus (who was completely human) and the divine Christ (who was completely divine). According to most proponents of this view, the man Jesus was temporarily indwelt by the divine being, Christ, enabling him to perform his miracles and deliver his teachings; but prior to Jesus’ death, the Christ abandoned him, forcing him to face his crucifixion alone. This separationist Christology was most commonly advocated by groups of Christians that scholars have called “Gnostic.” As you may know, te term Gnosticism comes from the Greek word for knowledge, “gnosis.” It is applied to a wide range of groups of early Christians who stressed the importance of secret knowledge for salvation. According to most […]
September 16, 2025
1 John in a Nutshell
I move now in this “NT in a Nutshell” series to provide an overview of the epistle of 1 John, one of the General or Catholic Epistles. This short, five-chapter book is normally called a “letter” even though it does not have the standard features of an ancient piece of correspondence. Normally (not just in the New Testament, but in the ancient world generally) personal correspondence used several standard conventions (just as today you might write a letter to your IRS agent and begin with Dear Mr. Elliott, even if you are not endeared to him at all: it’s a convention). As a rule, letters had fairly fixed features at the beginning; e.g. the author names themselves, indicates to whom they are writing, extends some kind of greeting, often indicates a prayer being said for the person and/or a thanks to God for them. Then they get down to the business of what they want to say, and typically end the letter with some words of encouragement, consolation, or admonition, an expression of hope to […]
September 11, 2025
1 John: Who Wrote It, When, and Why?
In my previous post I provided a summary of the main themes and emphases of 1 John; now I can turn to the question of Who, Why, and When. They question of “who wrote it” has long been discussed, and almost always in relationship to the Gospel of John. Neither book mentions the name John; neither identifies its author; and neither refers directly to the other. Even so, as I pointed out in my discussion of John (see: https://ehrmanblog.org/the-gospel-of-john-who-wrote-it-when-and-why/ ), the Gospel was from early times said to have been written by John the son of Zebedee. And since 1 John (along with 2 and 3 John) seemed so similar in many ways to the Gospel, it was assumed to have been written by him as well. Hence the titles they received, as the Epistles of John. Among the shared themes of the Gospel and Epistles of John are the following:
September 13, 2025
2 John and 3 John in a Single Nutshell
In this post I continue my summaries of the books of the New Testament “In a Nutshell” by turning to the letters of 2 and 3 John. Because these are so brief, I will deal with them together in a single post, explaining their themes and emphases and exploring the question of who wrote them, when, and why. For a one-sentence, fifty word summary of the two together, how ‘bout this: 2 and 3 John are letters by an author called the “elder,” the first addressed to a community and the other to one of its prominent members, warning against believers who preach a false understanding of Christ and who refuse to welcome Christian travelers because they disagree with their views. I can now move on to a more extensive overview of these two books.
September 17, 2025
1, 2, and 3 John: For Further Reading
Now that I have discussed the themes, emphases, authors and occasions of the “Johannine epistles” (1, 2, and 3 John) I can provide some suggestions for further reading. These are all important works written by scholars for non-scholars. I have given brief annotations for each book to give you a sense of what it’s about and so help you decide which, if any, might be worth your while. I have divided the list into three sections: Books that provide important discussion of one or more of these Catholic epistles, and of the problem of persecution dealt with in 1 Peter. Commentaries that give lengthy introductions to all matters of importance about the book of Acts and then go passage by passage to provide more detailed interpretation (that’s where you can dig more deeply into “what does this particular word actually mean?”; “what is the real point of this passage”; how does this passage relate to what Luke says elsewhere in his two-volume work or to what we can find in other parts of the New […]
September 18, 2025
Approaching the New Testament Historically
Now that Christmas has ended it is a good time to reflect more broadly on the difference between reading the Christmas story, and in fact, the Bible as a whole, for its religious significance — which, of course, is how and why most people read it in the first place — and trying to consider it historically. Is there any easy way to make the distinction? Here’s how I explain the difference at the at the beginning of my textbook on the Bible, to explain the difference between a theological (or confessional) approach to the Bible and a historical approach. ***************************** EXCURSUS Most of the people who are deeply interested in the Bible in modern American culture are committed Jews or Christians who have been taught that this is a book of sacred texts, Scripture, unlike other books. For many of these – especially many Christian believers – the Bible is the inspired word of God. In communities of faith that hold such views, the Bible is usually studied not from a historical perspective by […]
December 26, 2024
Did Jesus Come to Bring Peace?
Was Jesus’ birth meant to bring peace into the world? One of my favorite Christmas carols is Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,[i] which includes among its memorable lines, “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace, Hail the Sun of Righteousness.” The carol is celebrating the announcement of Jesus’ birth to the shepherds “in the fields by night” in Luke 2:
December 30, 2024
A Matching Grant for our End of the Year Giving 2024: Consider the Blog and Its Mission!
The End is Near! At least the End of 2024…. We are trying very hard to make this the most momentous year of the Blog’s existence (we started in 2012) — and by that I mean the one that exceeds all others in our primary mission, to raise funds for charities that help those among us who are in desperate need. For the occasoin I want to make a direct end-of-the-year-giving ultimate year-end-appeal, connected with our already-announced Year-End Appeal (Special Webinar Announcement: Ehrman Blog Annual Appeal). Many of us make a last-day yearly donation somewhere or another (I’m thinkin’… taxes….). And here in These Last Days I am happy to announce that the Blog has just received a matching grant offer. An anonymous donor has agreed to chip in $5000 if we can match the funds between now and midnight December 31. All donations will go toward the match. How’s ’bout it? Can you chip something in, like $5 / $50 / $500 / or, hey, if the powers of the universe move you, $5000? Every […]
December 28, 2024
Finding Value in Writings You Don’t “Believe” (In response to my Newsweek article on Christmas)
Last week, the final two reprints of my favorite “Posts of Christmas Past” reproduced an article I had written over a decade ago for Newsweek about the Christmas stories of the New Testament. I received a good bit of blow-back from the article itself, from various directions; that led me to write post explaining my views of a broader issue. Is there anything to appreciate from a narrative that “didn’t happen that way” or that we simply don’t believe? Here is what I wrote.
January 2, 2025
Was Jesus from “Israel”? Did Jesus “Pre-exist”? Answers to Readers Questions
I’ve received a number of interesting and important questions from readers over the past couple of weeks, and would like to devote a couple of posts to airing my answers to everyone. QUESTION: I have a question for Bart. Every year right before Christmas we get numerous claims that Jesus was a Palestinian or a Palestinian Jew. As far as I know it’s not true but if you have academic evidence it’s true I will change my mind. RESPONSE: It’s a tricky business. The areas of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea were together renamed “Palestine” in 135 CE. In Jesus’ day they were called by their separate names. They were not called “Israel.” In two of the Gospels, Jesus is born in Bethlehem of Judea; does that make him a Judean? Normally yes. But he is raised and ministers in Galilee. Does that make him a Galilean? Normally yes. Today we usually refer to both areas as Israel, as it was originally called. Should he be called an Israelite?
January 4, 2025
Was There No Room in the “Inn” or in the “Guestroom”? And Doesn’t Caesar Augustus Himself Describe His Census? More Questions from Readers
Here are some more particularly interesting and significant questions I’ve received from readers, with answers for all here to check out. QUESTION: Dr. Ehrman: I find it interesting how the understanding of the Greek translation might affect such a crucial NT story. Also, it is in Luke’s narrative that we get the “no room in the inn” comment. I have read one commentary that the Greek original literal translation is more like “the travelers shelter was not for them”. Do you have any thoughts on the Greek original of Luke 2:7?
January 5, 2025
Did Christians Invent the Idea of “Atonement” / “Vicarious Suffering”?
My textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings is now out in its 8th edition, co-authored with my colleague Hugo Mendez. One of my favorite features of the book since I first wrote it in the mid 90s is the use of side-bar “boxes” that deal with issues that are – to me – particularly interesting but not directly related to what I’m talking about in the chapter. As a rule I use these boxes to deal with highly relevant but more “human-interest” kinds of things. For a long time I’ve thought about the Christian idea that Jesus’s death was a “vicarious atonement” for sins. It’s an unusual view, when you think about it. Why does God need someone else to die for you to forgive what you’ve done? Can’t he just forgive you? In one of the boxes in the book I point out that Christians were not the first to come up with the idea. Here’s what I say there in a box in my chapter 16. ****************************** […]
January 7, 2025
Do You Understand the Entire New Testament? Announcing My New Blog Thread
Most readers of the blog are interested – either passionately, intently, deeply, moderately, or somewhat – in, well, the New Testament. But many do not actually know much about it as a whole. You may well be the exception! But hey, all of you are exceptional. My view is that anyone who claims to be a New Testament aficionado should be familiar with the basic contents of each book and know the essential facts about it – both its major themes / emphases and its basic historical context – when it was written, by whom, and for what reason. On the most basic level, that would mean being able to state what any of the 27 books is about in ONE SENTENCE. How many of you can summarize the major themes and emphases of the Gospel of Luke in one sentence? Or, well, 2 Thessalonians? 1 Peter? Ephesians? My guess is: very few indeed. Or how many can explain what we know about the author of any of these books (without looking it up!)? Exactly. […]
January 11, 2025
Getting the Bible Digitally (by Jeffrey Siker)
In my textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings (now in the 8th ed., co-authored with Hugo Mendez), another feature I rather like are several “excursuses” on key issues I chose not to deal with in the text itself. A couple of these were written by other scholars in the field, including this important one on Digital Bibles by my friend and occasional blog-contributor Jeff Siker. Jeff is on the blog, and will be willing to answer any questions you have. ****************************** The changing technology of writing and reading has always played a major role in the transmission and interpretation of the New Testament; from papyrus rolls to parchment codices to Gutenberg’s printing press; and, finally, to our modern digital age. We are still learning how a digital screen, rather than a printed book, affects the way we read and understand. This applies to the Bible more than any other book, since no other has held (and continues to hold) the special place of the Bible within Christian tradition and Western […]
January 8, 2025
Other Critical Approaches to the New Testament (by Prof. Shaily Patel)
Most of my textbook approaches the New Testament from a historical and traditional literary point of view. But there are many other approaches that one can take to the Bible or any other writing. In recent decades other theoretical forms of analysis have developed and fruitfully employed by scholars. I decided to say something about these theoretical approaches in my book so students would be informed about them, even though I do not employ them in the book itself. Since critical theory is not my long suit, I asked my then graduate student and now Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Virginia Tech, Shaily Patel (who is deeply familiar with various kinds of theoretical discourse) to write up a short summary for me. Here is the Excursus she produced, now in the textbook. ****************************** Methods of Ideological Criticism By Shaily Patel
January 9, 2025
What Is The New Testament? Can You Actually Say?
What exactly is the New Testament? If someone standing behind you in a long line in the grocery store should lean over and out of the blue ask: “Hey, can you tell me what the New Testament is”, what would you say? (This happens to you every day, right?) This person wants it in one sentence. Well – come up with something. What would you say? (Try to formulate something before reading any further.) I’m not sure what I would say, but I would have a ton of options in my head, depending on what I thought she wanted really to know and on what kind of mood I was in (probably a foul one, if I’m in a long line). But among the options, here would be a relatively decent one: “The New Testament is the collection of twenty-seven books thought to be written by the apostles of Jesus that came to be considered Christian Scripture.” If she wants either clarification or more information, I or you could go from there.
January 12, 2025
Rambling Meditations on What It Means to Exist…. What Do You Think?
I sometimes feel like a pestiferous terrier who goes after someone’s ankles and just won’t stop. There are some issues (among the “Big Questions”) that I repeatedly come back to and just can’t let drop. I suppose that’s because they seem both really important and completely incapable of being figured out. Hence my occasional return to them on the blog. I’ve mentioned before that I have a daily meditation practice, which does wonders for my stress levels and mental/emotional/psychological well-being, though it does sometimes leave me puzzled.. This morning I did one of those “go deep into your mind” sessions where you just dig deep into your conscience and try to understand who/what you are as a living being. As often happens when I do that,
January 15, 2025
The New Testament Gospels in a Nutshell
Before I can talk about the Gospels individually, I need to say something about them as a group. How would YOU summarize the most important things to say about the Gospels in a single sentence? Try it. See how you do. There are roughly 34 million ways to put it. Here’s one of them. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the four Gospels of the New Testament, are our earliest surviving accounts of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God sent for the salvation of the world. And now to unpack that in a single post: The term “Gospel” translates a Greek word (EUANGELION; from which we get the word “evangelist”) that literally means “Good News.” Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are Gospels because they narrate Jesus’ life not only to provide information about what he said and did, but also to proclaim the authors’ faith that he was the messiah sent from God to bring salvation to those who accept his message. Scholars have long realized these books are not […]
January 14, 2025