Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 103

December Platinum Webinar!

Hey Platinum members!   I'm pleased to announce that our net Platinum Webinar for the blog will be on Thursday, December 8, at 8:00 pm ET. Topic TBA.  But I'll do my best to choose something interesting, and will let you know what it is anon. Here's the link: https://unc.zoom.us/j/97717226646?pwd... Any questions or concerns, let us [...]

The post December Platinum Webinar! appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

How Changing a Single Letter of a Single Word Can Change the Meaning of a Passage

Now that I have discussed the purpose of 1 Thessalonians I would like to discuss a scribal change of the text - a change that involves just a single letter of a single word.  Which did Paul originally write?  The word *with* the letter or the word *without* it?   How you decide the question [...]

The post How Changing a Single Letter of a Single Word Can Change the Meaning of a Passage appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

A Challenge Grant to the Blog! Can You Help Match It?

Holiday Season Donation Challenge! I am very pleased to announce that we have received a $20,000 challenge grant from an anonymous donor on the blog.   For the challenge to be met, we need to raise another $20,000 among us.  C’est possible?  One can always hope! I am posting this request for gifts to meet the [...]

The post A Challenge Grant to the Blog! Can You Help Match It? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

What Is Paul’s First Surviving Letter All About? 1 Thessalonians

In my two previous posts I discussed a textual variant that could be explained either as a scribal accident or as an intentional change.   I thought it might be interesting to point out a few other variants that also could go either way.   These are all intriguing problems in and of themselves, and by talking [...]

The post What Is Paul’s First Surviving Letter All About? 1 Thessalonians appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

How To Leave the Faith and Not Destroy the Family: Thanksgiving Reflection 2022

My beloved mom died last week.   She lived a long and good life; she brought a lot of good into the world and made many people very happy; and she died a good death – peaceful, in comfort, in the presence of family.  How good can it get? There are many things I have long [...]

The post How To Leave the Faith and Not Destroy the Family: Thanksgiving Reflection 2022 appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Religion and the Wrecking Ball of Truth

In my last post I began to discuss the importance of "truth" to conservative evangelical Christianity, through a bit of autobiography.  You don't need to have read that post for this one, so I begin here with the final paragraph that I left off with there.  This is from my book Forged. ****************************** One of [...]

The post Religion and the Wrecking Ball of Truth appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Me and the “Truth”: A Bit of Autobiography

I decided recently to reread my book Forged: Writing in the Name of God; How the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are  (which, in my view, has one too many titles....).  It was a surprise: I really didn't remember a good bit of the opening part.  And oh boy, I liked it better [...]

The post Me and the “Truth”: A Bit of Autobiography appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Why Would Scribes Mess with Mark’s Very First Verse?

In yesterday’s post I discussed a textual variant in Mark 1:1 that could be explained either as an accidental slip of the pen or an intentional alteration of the text.   We’re plowing into some heavy waters here, but it involves some intriguing stuff that I can say with assurance you didn't ever learn in Sunday [...]

The post Why Would Scribes Mess with Mark’s Very First Verse? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Do We Know How Mark Began His Gospel? Another Scribal Change

I have been talking about different kinds of changes made in our surviving New Testament manuscripts, some of them accidental slips of the pen (that’s probably the vast majority of our textual variants) and others of them intentional alterations.  One of the points that I’ve been trying to stress is that at the end of [...]

The post Do We Know How Mark Began His Gospel? Another Scribal Change appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Did God Mock Jesus on the Cross? A Scribal Change?

I've started to show that scribes sometimes changed the New Testament texts they were copying in ways that certainly seem “intentional” (in addition to making many more simple, accidental, slips of the pen).  I last gave an example from the beginning of Mark's Gospel that appears to be a case where scribes altered a text [...]

The post Did God Mock Jesus on the Cross? A Scribal Change? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.