Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 101

Do Church Fathers Show What the Authors of the NT Actually Wrote?

What other resources do we have to figure out what the authors of the New Testament originally wrote, if we don't have their actual writings themselves? In this post I move into a very brief discussion of one other area of evidence for the text of the New Testament, the Patristic sources.  The term “patristic” [...]

The post Do Church Fathers Show What the Authors of the NT Actually Wrote? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Was Paul Thinking about Committing Suicide?

A blog reader recently asked me about an intriguing passage in Paul's letter to the Philippians where he says that “To live is Christ, to die is gain” (1:21) and then goes on to say that he is not sure "what to choose" -- to "depart to be with Christ" or "to remain in the [...]

The post Was Paul Thinking about Committing Suicide? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

What Are Ancient “Versions” of the New Testament?

Do we know the original wording of the New Testament?  Here I continue! When scholars try to establish what an ancient author wrote, they can do so only on the basis of the surviving evidence.  That seems, well, rather obvious, but the reality is that most people have never thought about that.  It just seems [...]

The post What Are Ancient “Versions” of the New Testament? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

What Charities does the Blog Support?

  I sometimes get asked to provide specifics about the charities we support on the blog.  To date, in ten and a half years, we have raised a total of $1.8 million.  Our efforts are becoming increasingly productive: on Oct. 22 this year surpassed our entire total  disbursed funds from our banner-last-year (which came in [...]

The post What Charities does the Blog Support? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Trying to Make Scholarship Interesting

I've long been interested in thinking about how to make boring subjects interesting.  I've become especially attuned to the issue recently as I've begun to read a lot more scholarship in fields completely unrelated to mine.  Some scholars have a gift in being able to reach low level mortals like me.  My own field is [...]

The post Trying to Make Scholarship Interesting appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

New Testament Manuscripts: Good News and Bad News

In my previous post I started talking about the different kinds of manuscripts of the New Testament we have.  I now want to give some more information about these manuscripts and how they can help us figure out what the authors of the NT originally wrote (and why they pose problems for us to that [...]

The post New Testament Manuscripts: Good News and Bad News appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

On a couple of personal notes…

These aren't related to the blog per se, but, well, to me.  In case you're interested.... 1. As many of you know, I'm starting a podcast, Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman.  In fact, it's starting tomorrow.  We will be debuting with two episodes, the first that explain the title and a bit of why we [...]

The post On a couple of personal notes… appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Is it Possible Jesus Didn’t Teach the Golden Rule?

Did Jesus actually teach the Golden Rule?  Or was it foisted on his lips after his death by later followers? I have already written a couple of posts on the Golden Rule in the two places it occurs in the New Testament, Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31 (see: Little-Known Aspects of The Golden Rule as Found [...]

The post Is it Possible Jesus Didn’t Teach the Golden Rule? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament

I have begun to explain the field of “textual criticism,” the academic discipline that tries to establish what an author actually wrote if you don’t have his original but only copies made from later times. In this post I begin to summarize some of the most important information about the textual “witnesses” to the text [...]

The post The Greek Manuscripts of the New Testament appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

The Strange World of Textual Criticism

I've been asked a good bit lately by readers of the blog and random emailers how we can know, or if we can know, what the authors of the New Testament actually wrote -- if we don't have their original copies.  By far my best selling book (Misquoting Jesus) is about that, as is my [...]

The post The Strange World of Textual Criticism appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.