Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 101

What Would the Apostle Paul Think of The Trinity? Platinum Guest Post by Joel Scheller

Now here's an intriguing question about early Christianity, posed and answered by Platinum Blog member Joel Scheller in a guest post for all you other Platinums.   One way to put the question is this: Would the apostle-Paul have been considered an arch-heretic in the fourth century?  A good case can be made!  Read on. And [...]

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The Mind-Body Problem As My Personal Dilemma. What Do YOU Think?

Is there an I in me? For several years now, I have been increasingly fascinated by the brain as an organ, and by consciousness as a phenomenon.  These are not topics you can figure out simply by taking some time to muse about them – although I strongly advocate taking time to muse about them [...]

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December Gold Q&A

It is time to schedule the Gold Q&A for December!   My plan is to record it this weekend -- which means I need your QUESTIONS. So you have something to ask?  It can be holiday related, non-holiday related, and anything-related-to-the-blog related.  Go for it!   I'm more likely to answer questions that are relatively short and [...]

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A Truly Great New Testament Scholar: E. P. Sanders in Memoriam

I am dedicating this blog post to the memory of E. P. Sanders, one of the truly great scholars of the New Testament in modern times, who died November 21, 2022, age 85.  I was heavily influenced by his scholarship, already during graduate school, and I always considered him as the kind of massively learned [...]

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What about Forgeries IN the New Testament? Is it Possible?

I’ve been talking about some of the early Christian forgeries, books that Christian authors published claiming to be apostles when they were … someone else.   Could we have such things actually in the New Testament?  That is the topic I discuss in my book Forged (HarperOne: 2011).  I give extensive arguments and evidence throughout the [...]

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Forgeries in the Names of the Apostles: Some of the Most Interesting

As I pointed out in my previous posts, taken from the Preface of my book Forged (HarperOne, 2011), we still have numerous forged documents that emanated from the early church, numerous Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses (these are the four literary genres of the New Testament) all of them claiming to be written by apostles.  [...]

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Writing Forgeries to Show the Truth

In my previous post I pointed out a major problem that confronted the earliest Christians, as I discuss in the Preface to my book Forged  (HarperOne, 2011).  From the beginning the followers of Jesus insisted that they had the “truth” and that it was only by accepting the “truth” about God as revealed by Jesus [...]

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Are You Interested in an End-of-the-Year Donation Opportunity? Blog Challenge Grants!!

Many of you are now thinking about your end-of-the-year giving plans.  Here’s an option I would like to ask you to consider. The Blog has received two challenge grants that between them total $25,000.  That is to say, to meet the challenge, we need to raise $25,000 ourselves.  When/if we do so: whammo – that’s [...]

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Is It A Sin To Be Transgender? Platinum guest post by Douglas Wadeson MD

Fellow Platinum Blog member Doug Wadeson, MD, is not afraid to take on the difficult questions.   Here's one I've never thought of posting on!  And one that is as important as it is interesting. As you know, these guest posts are by Platinum members for Platinum members; and occasionally we vote on one to be [...]

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Can Christianity Be Seen as “Objective” Truth? Modern and Ancient Views.

In a previous post I pointed out that for over the past century modern evangelical and fundamentalist Christianity has been unusually focused on knowing the “objective” truths that can be “proved” about Christianity.  In recent times, some have argued evangelical Christianity has become far more focused on social and cultural issues than theological doctrines (when [...]

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