Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 10

Can You “Lose Your Salvation”?

Does the New Testament teach that a person can lose their salvation?  It depends whom you ask.  And possibly which New Testament books you read. I have been discussing the letter to the Hebrews, an a couple of passages there are some of the key texts for discussing the issue.  First, some background: Since the [...]

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Does the Book of Hebrews Indicate Jesus Ever Came To Earth? A Response to Richard Carrier.

In an earlier post I indicated that I have difficulty responding to writings of mythicists, largely because they often say things that I think are dead wrong, but it would take so much time and effort to explain why.  This morning I did think I should at least give one example of the sort of [...]

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August 2025 Gold Q&A

Hey Gold & Platinum Members, It’s that time again—our monthly Gold Q&A is coming up, and Bart’s ready to take on your burning questions. The August Q&A will take place on Wednesday August 20th at at 7 PM Eastern. Have something you’ve been dying to ask? Send your question to: ehrmanblog@gmail.com (Please don’t drop it [...]

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The Letter to the Hebrews: For Further Reading

Here is a list of readings of relevance to the book of Hebrews.  Some of the books, as you will see, are just on Hebrews itself; more are on the broader topic that Hebrews addresses, the relationship of Jews and Christians in early Christianity.  This is a fraught topic: the first two on the list [...]

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The Book of Hebrews: Who Wrote It, When, and Why?

Now that I have discussed the overarching themes and emphases of the letter to the Hebrews, I can turn to the historical question of who actually wrote it, when, and why.   ******************************   The authorship of the book has been debated for nearly as long as the book has been in circulation; and part [...]

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The Letter to the Hebrews: In a Nutshell

I now return to my long “Nutshell” thread, explaining each book of the New Testament in brief terms, with one post laying out its major themes and emphases; another discussing what we can know about who wrote it, when, and why; another that provides suggestions for further reading; and at least one (and sometimes more) [...]

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A Hiatus in My Responses

Dear Fellow Bloggers! I want to let you know that I will not be able to respond to comments this week (or a bit more: July 21-28).  BUT, the blog itself will be going along swimmingly.  I've queued up all the posts for the week , you can make all the comments you want as [...]

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The Death of Peter

In my previous post I discussed the legendary account (the earliest we have) of the martyrdom of Paul.  In it I mentioned as well the martyrdom of Peter (also legendary, though better known) (many people have heard he was crucified “upside-down”), and realized I may as well post on that as well, since I’ll certainly [...]

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The Death of Paul

I sometimes get asked (once just a few days ago) about what we can say about Paul's death. We don't have any historical records (i.e., historically reliable accounts), but there is one relatively early reference to it and an intriguing legend from about a century after the event, whenever and however it happened. [...]

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Some Readers’ Questions and Responses

Here are some of the intriguing questions I have recently received from blog members.  The first one includes a reply to my response and my response to that reply.  Enjoy!   QUESTION: Have you considered the angle that Jesus may have been a revolutionary Essene?  This would explain his outward orientation instead of inward.  I [...]

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