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Jesus Sweating Blood: Transcriptional Probabilities


I’ve been discussing the kinds of evidence that textual critics appeal to in order to make a decision concerning what an author originally wrote, when there are two or more different forms of the text – that is, where a verse or passage is worded in different ways in different manuscripts.  And I have been using the passage found (only) in (some manuscripts of) Luke of Jesus’ bloody sweat as an example.  Yesterday I discussed one kind of “internal” evidence.    Remember: external evidence deals with figuring out which manuscripts have which reading: how many manuscripts (not so important), age of the manuscripts, geographical distribution of the manuscripts, and (something I didn’t discuss) quality of the manuscripts.   And recall that internal evidence is of two kinds, the first of which is “intrinsic probabilities,” which seeks to establish which form of the text is more likely to have been written by the author himself. The second kind of internal evidence is a kind of flip side of the coin, and it’s called “transcriptional probabilities.”   With arguments/evidence of […]

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October 17, 2014

The New Discussion Forum!!! Soon Up and Running.


A new day is dawning.   We have decided to establish a Discussion Forum for the blog.  It will be up and running very soon, probably later today.  Many thanks to Steven Ray, my assistant in all things technical and technological, for all his hard work in getting this set up. The forum is designed to provide an outlet for members of The Bart Ehrman Blog: The History & Literature of Early Christianity to have discussions *among themselves* about issues of interest to them.   The one major proviso is that these interests need to be related to the concerns of the blog – the history of early Christianity (including the historical Jesus and the NT, up through the fourth century or so) and related topics (such as the Hebrew Bible).   Now, instead of simply making comments on my own posts – which will continue at the same rate as before, i.e. 5-6 / week – you can talk with one another about related topics. I will not be participating directly in the Discussion Forum as a […]

October 19, 2014

Introduction to My Introduction (to the NT)


I have decided to add an “Introduction” to my textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.  I is very similar (indeed!) to the introduction that I have now in my Introduction to the entire Bible.  The whole idea is to get students to see why taking an academic course on the NT is very important.   Here is the new Introduction, in full: ****************************************************************************************************************** Introduction Why Study the New Testament? The New Testament is the most commonly purchased, widely read, and deeply cherished book in the history of Western Civilization.  It is also the most widely misunderstood, misinterpreted, and misused.  These facts alone should make it worth our time to study it.   But there are other reasons as well – religious reasons, historical reasons, and literary reasons. Religious Reasons Most people who study the new Testament do so, of course, for religious reasons.  Many people revere the Bible as the word of God, and want to know what it can teach them about what to believe and how to live.   In […]

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October 20, 2014

The Bloody Sweat and Historical Plausibility


QUESTION: The following question was raised by a reader on the blog, based on my discussion of the so-called “bloody sweat” passage of Luke 22:43-44, which I maintained was not originally part of Luke’s Gospel (or any Gospel) but was added by later scribes.  Here’s the question Even if this event of Jesus sweating, as it were, great drops of blood was in the original manuscript, one must wonder how the author knew of it. Luke 22:41 tells us that Jesus left his disciples and went off on his own to pray. Then, after his agony and the angelic assistance, he rises up and goes back to his disciples only to find them sleeping (v.45).  And, according to V.46, “while he was yet speaking” he was betrayed by Judas and arrested. How then, did the author know what had happened? When I was a believer, such questions never occurred to me. They do now. A lot.   RESPONSE: This is a great question.  It reminds me that with any passage in the New Testament, there […]

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October 22, 2014

Who Changed the Bible and Why? Diane Rehm Show


When my book Misquoting Jesus came out, I had a number of radio and television interviews, including this — one of my favorites, on the The Diane Rehm Show (December 5, 2005).  The show is produced at WAMU 88.5 and distributed by National Public Radio, NPR Worldwide, and SIRIUS satellite radio. This episode was called “Who Changed the Bible and Why?” In the interview I talk about how scribes copying the NT made both mistakes and intentional changes, and how some of these changes involve widely held beliefs about the divinity of Jesus, the Trinity, and the divine origins of the Bible itself.  Other issues were raised as well, including, for example, homosexuality as understood in Jesus’ time and the Christmas holiday. Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition:

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November 3, 2014

Can My Students Believe in the Inerrancy of the Bible?


QUESTION: Do you ever get a student in your class who doggedly insists upon the inerrancy of the Bible? If so, and if they write their term papers in support of Biblical inerrancy, is it possible for them to get a passing grade in your class?   RESPONSE: HA!  That’s a great question! So, part of the deal of teaching in the Bible Belt is that lots of my students – most of them? – have very conservative views about the Bible as the Word of God.    A few years ago I used to start my class on the New Testament, with something like 300 students in it, by asking the students a series of questions, just for information.  I would ask: How many of you in here would agree with the proposition that the Bible is the inspired Word of God (PHOOM!  Almost everyone raises their hands) OK, great: Now, how many of you have read the Harry Potter series? (PHOOM! Again, almost everyone raises their hand). And now, how many of you have […]

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October 24, 2014

Misquoting Jesus Interview on WPSU


On March 15, 2007, I had an interview with Patty Satalia for a Pennsylvania State University on Demand Program called “Pennsylvania Inside Out,” on my book “Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why” . In the interview I discuss how the modern Bible was shaped by mistakes and intentional alterations that were made by early scribes who copied the texts. I also explain how realizing this led me to shift my way of thinking about the Bible. We also get into the question — then very pressing still — about Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code.  It seems so long ago now that everyone was talking about it! Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition:

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May 2, 2015

What Is Different in My Textbook?


I have nearly finished making all the revisions for the sixth edition of my textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.   It has taken me a lot longer than I thought it would, much to my chagrin.  But it is soon over.  I hope to have it sent off next week. Several readers have asked what I’ve changed this time around.   Here is (part of) my new Preface, that explains how I originally imagined the book and what I’ve done differently in this iteration. ********************************************************** Preface When I started doing research on the first edition of this textbook, twenty years ago now, I had very clear ideas about what I wanted it to be.   First and foremost, I wanted to approach the New Testament from a rigorously historical perspective.   It is not that I had any difficulties at the time, either professionally or personally, with introductions that were more geared toward theology, or exegesis, or literary criticism.   But I wanted my book to be different.   I wanted to situate the […]

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October 27, 2014

New Boxes: Oral traditions and the Dates of the Gospels


For the sixth edition of my New Testament textbook I have written twelve new “boxes.”   These are side-line discussions of interesting and relevant (if a bit tangential) issues of some importance for various aspects of the study of the New Testament.   I will post several of these, including these two here.  If these generate any questions, let me know, and I can follow up on them. The two are about the Gospels: the first has to do with the ongoing nature of oral traditions (which did not stop with the writing of the Gospels!) and the second with how scholars have determined the dates of the Gospels. ************************************************************** Box 5.2  Another Glimpse Into the Past The Church Father Papias and the Ongoing Oral Tradition  Oral traditions about Jesus did not cease to circulate as soon as the Gospels were written.  On the contrary, we have solid evidence that the traditions continued to thrive for a very long time indeed.  Hard evidence comes in the writings of a second-century Christian named Papias, the author of a […]

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New Boxes on Jesus as God in the NT


Here are two more “boxes” that will now appear in the sixth edition of my New Testament textbook.   If you’ve read my recent book, How Jesus Became God, you’ll see that both of these boxes are based on views that I develop at length there.   One of the tricks in writing a textbook is figuring out how to say something in a way that is succinct and interesting, when there is not much space to cover a topic fully  (so, my first box here covers in 326 words what I take an entire chapter to develop in my book!)   The problem is that sometimes the coverage is so succinct that it is no longer accurate and / or interesting.  It’s always a balancing act. In any event, here are the two boxes. *******************************************************  Box 19.2  What Do You Think? Humans Exalted to Heaven at the End of Their Lives  What do you imagine the early Christians would think had happened to Jesus once they came to believe that he had not only been raised from […]

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October 28, 2014

New Boxes on Problematic Social Values in the New Testament


I have been posting some of the new “boxes” that will appear in the sixth edition of my textbook.  These boxes are meant either to raise interesting historical issues that are somewhat tangential to the main discussion or to broach complex issues without easy solution that are meant to force students to think for themselves.     I include two such boxes here in this post – the first is a new one for the sixth edition, but I thought it would be interesting to pair it with a somewhat related topic drawn from a post already in the fifth edtiion.  Both boxes have to do with the New Testament and social realities of its day – the early Christian approbation of the institution of slavery and Jesus’ teachings that run precisely contrary to what today we might think of as solid family values. ****************************************************************  Box 22.12  What Do You Think? The New Testament and Slavery  Many people who read the book of Philemon simply assume that Paul writes the letter in order to urge Philemon to […]

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October 30, 2014

New Boxes Related to Literary Forgery and the NT


Here are two more new boxes in my new edition of The New Testatment: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.    Both of these deal with issues that I cover in my book Forgery and Counterforgery: The Use of Literary Deceit in Early Christian Polemics and, to a lesser extent, in my trade book, Forged. **************************************************************** Box 25.2  Another Glimpse Into the Past The Secretary Hypothesis For a very long time there have been scholars who have argued that the reason books like 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastoral epistles are so unlike Paul’s other writings – both in writing style and contents – is that in these instances Paul used a “secretary” and that this other person, his secretary, actually did the writing for him, after Paul gave some instructions about what to say.  This is a view that I myself was taught in graduate school.  It is still widely taught today.   The problem is that there is almost no evidence for it. By that I do not mean that there is […]

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November 1, 2014

Why I’m To Be Pitied for Having Been the Wrong Kind of Fundamentalist


Several readers of this blog have pointed me to an article in the conservative journal First Things;  the article (a review of a book by the  evangelical scholar Craig Blomberg) was written by Louis Markos, an English professor at Houston Baptist University.  The title is called “Ehrman Errant.”   I must say, that did not sound like a promising beginning. I had never heard of Louis Markos before – had certainly never met him, talked with him about myself or my life, shared with him my views of important topics, spent time to see how he ticked and to let him see how I do.   I don’t know the man, and he doesn’t me.  And so it was with some considerable surprise that I read the beginning of his article. “I feel great pity for Bart Ehrman.” So, from someone I don’t know, that’s a bit of a shocker.   I can understand why a friend of mine might feel some (but not great?) pity for me at some points of my life – when I had […]

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A New Box on Why A (Christian) Author Would Lie About Who He Was


This will be the last of my posts giving new “boxes” from the recently finished (and now sent to the publisher) edition of my textbook, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings.   This box tries to explain how there could be “forgeries” in the NT, that is, books whose authors claimed to be a famous person, knowing full well they were someone else.  In the ancient world, these books were called “lies” (pseudoi) or “books inscribed with a lie” (pseudepigrapha).   But why would a Christian author lie about who he was?  How could he live with himself?  To set up the box, I will first quote a paragraph from my book Forged, about the author of Ephesians, who claimed to be Paul (lying about it), even though he placed such a premium on the “truth.” It is striking that in his instructions about the Christian “armor” the author of Ephesians also tells his readers to “fasten the belt of truth around your waist” (6:14).  Truth was important for this writer.  Early […]

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November 3, 2014

Why Would Christian Authors Write Forgeries?


In my previous post I cited the box in the new edition of my textbook that explained how Christian authors may have justified themselves in writing “literary deceits,” that is, books that claimed to be written by someone else, for example, a famous apostle such as Peter and Paul (as is almost certainly true of Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, and 1 and 2 Peter, e.g.).   Several readers have asked me, though, why a Christian author would *do* such a thing as commit forgery.   It’s one thing to indicate how an author would justify such a deceit (the point of my last post); but why would he engage in the deceit in the first place? In my books on forgery(both the trade book Forged and the scholarly monography Forgery and Counterforgery) I indicate a number of motives that ancient authors (for example, Jews and pagans) had for producing their forgeries: some did it to make money, some did it to attack a personal enemy, some did it to authorize a philosophical […]

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November 4, 2014

Discussion Forum (Please read to the end)


  I am happy to say that the membership forum – where people can interact with each others’ ideas, thoughts, claims, arguments, and perspectives directly, without any interference from me – is going very well.   We started off slowing, with just a couple of people posting questions, comments, and responses.  It slowly has been building.  And it is getting to be more and more every day.  I want to encourage you to consider contributing – and to tell others about it as a way to increase membership on the blog. (As you know, blog membership is, for me, what this entire enterprise is about, because I do the blog as a way of raising money for charity.  As far as I’m concerned, the more money raised, the better we’re doing.   Please encourage friends, colleagues, family members, neighbors, and others to join!) It is very easy to participate in the Forum.   Simply click the tab from the homepage that says, yes, “Membership Forum.”  And go from there. To this point the posts and responses have followed […]

November 5, 2014

My New Discussion of Gnosticism: Introduction


One other major change that I have made in my textbook on the New Testament is that I have completely rewritten my description of early Christian Gnosticism.   I’ll be presenting in a few posts what the section now looks like, and will explain why I made the changes.   To make sense of the new portion, I first need to give the introductory discussion (dealing with our sources of information, including the Nag Hammadi Library), which I did not change drastically from the earlier version.  Here it is: ********************************************************** The Problems of Definitions, Sources, and Dating Over the past fifty years scholars have engaged in heated debates over how to define Gnosticism. These debates are intimately related to the problems that we have with the ancient sources that describe Gnostics or were written by Gnostics. Until about a hundred years ago, our only sources for understanding Gnosticism were the writings of its most vocal opponents, the proto-orthodox church fathers of the second, third, and fourth centuries. In our discussion of the Johannine epistles, we have already […]

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November 6, 2014

My New Summary of Gnosticism


Yesterday I mentioned on the blog that I had rewritten my description of early Christian Gnosticism for the new edition of my textbook.   Here is what the major part of that discussion now looks like.  The first part tries to give a general overview of what different groups of Gnostics had in common; the second part describes the views of one of the most prominent Gnostic Groups:   ****************************** Major Views of Various Gnostic Groups Despite the many differences among the various Gnostic groups, most of them appear to have subscribed to the following views. (1)    The divine realm is inhabited not only by one ultimate God but also by a range of other divine beings, widely known as aeons.   These aeons are, in a sense, personifications of the ultimate God’s mental capacities and/or powers (some of them were called such things as Reason, Will, Grace, and Wisdom). (2)  The physical world that we inhabit was not the creation of the ultimate God but of a lower, ignorant divine being, who is often identified with […]

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November 7, 2014

A Better Kind of Fundamentalist


In today’s post I’d like to go back to that intriguing little article by Louis Markos in the journal First Things, which he entitled “Errant Ehrman.”   If you’ll recall from my post last week, Markos starts the article by indicating that he felt “great pity” for me because I was the wrong kind of fundamentalist back when I was a conservative Christian.   My problem, he indicates, is that I applied modern standards to decide whether the Bible was inerrant.  Here are his words: He [Ehrman] was taught, rightly, that there are no contradictions in the Bible, but he was trained, quite falsely, to interpret the non-contradictory nature of the Bible in modern, scientific, post-Enlightenment terms. That is to say, he was encouraged to test the truth of the Bible against a verification system that has only existed for some 250 years….. And so, as I pointed out last time, the right kind of true believer is obviously one who does not “test the truth of the Bible” by modern standards using modern criteria, but only […]

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November 10, 2014

Some Other Gnostics


As I was indicating last week, I have rewritten the section in my New Testament textbook that discusses early Christian Gnostics.  I have already devoted two posts on the matter, and here will be my third and final one.   This one deals with another famous group of Gnostics, the Valentinians; it also gives two of the “boxes” that I will be including in the chapter, taken over from the earlier edition, on interesting side issues (my view in general is that the “boxes” in my chapters are the most interesting parts!) ****************************** Valentinian Gnostics A second group that was very important in the history of early Christianity is known as the Valentinian Gnostics.  Unlike the Sethians, the Valentinians were named after an actual person, Valentinus, the founder and original leader of the group.  We know about the Valentinians from the writings of their proto-orthodox opponents beginning with Irenaeus and by some of the writings discovered among the Nag Hammadi Library that almost certainly derive from Valentinian authors, including one book that may actually have been […]

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November 12, 2014