Loading...I continue to get excellent questions from readers of the blog. I can’t devote a post to all of them (I do answer all the ones I get in the comments section), but I do like to address a few of them publicly for everyone to see, every week or so. Here’s a current outstanding batch.
QUESTION:
Re 2nd Thessalonians: If it was written a few years after First Thessalonians couldn’t Paul have changed his mind on how imminent the end times were?
Also, if he asked Timothy to write to the Thessalonians and use 1st Thess as a template so they know its from Paul, and Paul would sign it at the end – wouldn’t that explain things just as well as a later forger?
RESPONSE:
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Hello Bart. Hope you are well.
If The Rich man and Lazarus story was told by Jesus and is a parable wouldn’t it be worrying that Jesus only warned about this horrific immediate after death intermediary state only once in the Bible? Also traditionalists could say and be correct to say that Jesus equally would not have told us and warned us sufficiently about eternal conscious torment being true either sufficiently and that he would have used death, perish, destroy to describe such a fate (ECT) which they believe the Bible tells us anyhow.
(god forbid).
Yup, that would be odd. My view is that Jesus himself taught annihilation — the words he uses are “destruction” and “eternal punishment.” Never eternal torment. Annihilatoin is an “eternal” punishment because it will never be reversed.
Also Dr Ehrman I am fascinated by your conclusion about the story of the Rich man and Lazarus. I thought it was brilliant analysis and then the confidence to put it out their. The way you think Jesus didn’t tell it and that it was one of the later books and that Luke was amongst the Greek gentiles and that it contradicts what Jesus thought etc. Their are poor humans in mental institutions who have completely gone insane because of the fear and concept of hell.
About all we can say is that Revelation was written by *someone* named John. But who that was is anyone’s guess.
Any book or theories out there about John of Patmos, John the Revelator being the unknown naked kid in Mark 14:52? An apocalypse, revealing, and being stripped nude are all the same word/thing in Greek i think.
I imagine so. There are so far 793 theories about who that naked guy is… Seriously, one of the traditional views was that it was John the beloved disciple. But there’s nothing that connects him to the author orf Revelation. (I don’t think “apocalypse” means “being stripped nude”)
“About all we can say is that Revelation was written by *someone* named John.”
Is it not equally possible that it was written by someone of unknown name who attributed it to “John” so that readers would assume it had been written by Jesus’ disciple of that name?
It’s possible, but (a) it appears to have been addressed to Christians of Asia Minor who knew the author; (b) John was a common name, and if he wanted his readers to think he wsa “that” John he more likely would have made the identification clear/unambiguous; (c) there are passages that seem to disavow an authorial claim to be one of the apostles: the 24 elders before the throne worshiping God for eternity are often thought to be the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles, and it would seem unlikely that the author was seeing himself.
Thanks!
Pardon if you’ve addressed this elsewhere. If not, I’d like to ask if you’d write one or more posts about the chief theological and philosophical differences between the Western and Eastern Orthodox traditions. I know little about the latter. But I find it intriguing—in part because Dostoevsky is a favorite author. As you know, he had nuanced views on Christianity and many resonated with those expressed by Nietzsche. Yet he remained a believer notwithstanding and despite the personal suffering, mock execution, etc., that he endured. I read your reflection in God’s Problem on Ivan’s view in the BK. I’m an atheist and agnostic, as you’ve defined those terms, but suspect that if I were a believer, I’d likewise hasten to respectfully return the ticket. If you’re inclined, please share any further reflections on Ivan’s discourse, the Grand Inquisitor, or Christian themes in D’s other works. But I don’t mean to ask (only) narrowly about D or theodicy. I expect you may find the latter exasperating by now. I’d like to better understand the core differences between the Western and Eastern traditions w/r/t big picture issues. Please consider taking up one or more such issues in future posts. Thanks.
Ah, I wish I were qualified to address the issue competently. My expertise dies out around 400 CE, long before the split!
Yes, Doestoevsky remains a mystery to mean, when it comes to religion. The problems he captures in the Brothers Kin in the chapter “Rebellion” strikes me as insurmountable. Still, one of the many brilliant things about him is that he pulled no punches in presenting an alternative position to his. In a very different mode, but at about the same time, so too with Kierkegaard. Today it almost never happens that someone presents a diametrically different view fairly and compellingly. Caricature is the name of the game. (And, I suppose, has almost always been)
Hey Bart! Question of a different sort: Did you ever save any sermons you gave at Princeton Baptist? I know they were taped for the radio the following day so I would think there’d be a bit here or there. I like your candor when you deliver lectures for the public so I’d be interested in what you were like behind the pulpit. Nobody has charisma these days..
Ha! I did. Some of them. They’re handwritten on (oriinally) yellow lined paper. And I’m not going to be distributing them. 🙂
Hello Dr.Bart Erhman
A lot of christians say that you are a very good texual critic but on the bases of the historicity of Jesus you are not qualified. What do you think?
I suppose they don’t about my education and training? I never had a PhD course or graduate exam in textual criticism. (I did it on my own, with guidance from Bruce Metzger). On the contrary, in my graduate career I spent the bulk of my amount of my time (courses, exams, and research) on the New Testament (especially the Gospels), and other early Christian writings, from literary and historical perspectives. My special concern from my first year in graduate school was the historical accuracy of the Gospels. I don’t think there are any ancient sources of relevance that I haven’t read intensely and repeatedly in their original languages as well as the scholarship on them. So I’m not sure exactly what they’re saying? (Though I think it’s obvious what they’re implying!) Thdisabledupes{5aa24423b91a532593bfc335026502da}disabledupes
Hi Mister Ehrman,
I’m very indebted to you, because I was totally ignorant of scriptures , as a former catholic who had never read the bible. Your teaching is really very valuable, and I’m following “misquoting Jesus”. But right now, I’m reading Marcus Borg, and his view of the historical/theological Jesus is very interesting, the notion of pre and post-Easter Jesus; I would like to know your opinion on this topic and the late M Borg’s work. Thanks in advance.
Hello Bart, have any of you scholars released AI on the Bible yet, I think it be very interesting and entertaining to see a non human bias interpretation of the holy book.
I”m not sure how AI represents non-human bias yet? A chatbot programmed with an algorithm that provides an interpretation by predicting with a high degree of accuracy what the next word will be (and the next and the next…) based on millions and millions of (human produced) data is not a form of probative interpretation. Once we hit AGI maybe?
Hi Bart,
I have a question involving Paul that I’ve always wondered about. In Phillipians 3:5 he says he’s of the tribe of Benjamin. Did jews at that time still self-identify as members of the 12 tribes other than Judah?
I assumed that subject to exceptions such as Levi, tribal affiliation was largely lost when Israel fell to Assyria. Although I suppose Benjamin was unique in that it continued to exist along with Judah.
Any knowledge or insight you have on the issue would be greatly appreciated.
✨ A Mystical Vision of Christ and Reality ✨
I do not engage with Christianity as a literal historical narrative. Instead, I embrace it as a symbolic and mystical vision of reality—a sacred metaphor for the human journey and the divine mystery.
Christ represents the divine presence that suffers with humanity, fully immersed in the material world.
The Father symbolizes transcendent reality—beyond form, beyond duality, the source of all being.
The spiritual path is a movement from fragmentation toward unity, from suffering toward transformation.
This is not a rejection of Christianity, but a reimagining—one that draws from the deep wells of Vedantic non-duality, Buddhist emptiness, and panentheistic mysticism. I believe that:
The divine is both immanent and transcendent—within creation and beyond it.
The suffering of the world is not outside God, but within God’s own experience.
This vision answers the problem of evil not by denying suffering, but by affirming that God suffers with us—and leads us through that suffering toward wholeness.
I see Christ not as a historical figure bound by time, but as a universal symbol of divine compassion, transformation, and unity. The crucifixion is the descent into matter; the resurrection is the ascent into spirit. Together, they form a cosmic rhythm that echoes across all traditions.
Hello Bart. I am excited about this years conference and am curious if there is a way one can gain access footage of the conferences in past years. Thank you.
Yup, go to http://www.bartehrman.com and you’ll find them. (Well, I just looked and only 2024 is there for some reason; I’ll get the other one on there too. Very weird).