Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 107

Did the Apostles Use Secretaries to Write their Books?

Here is the third (and last) post on the use of secretaries in the ancient world, in which I discuss the issue of whether illiterate people (like Simon Peter, or John the son of Zebedee) could have had someone else write their books for them – so that 1 Peter *could* in some sense actually [...]

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Why Christians and Conservatives Should Accept Evolution: Blog Anniversary Guest Post by Michael Shermer (part 1)

I have been publishing guest posts in celebration of the blog's tenth anniversary, and am pleased to conclude the series now with two posts by Michael Shermer, whom many of you will know from his writings and media appearances discussing (especially) religion and science.  Michael was a one-time committed fundamentalist turned outspoken skeptic.   Here is [...]

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Vote on your favorite Platinum Post: The Next Round!

Dear Platinum members, It's time again again for you to vote on one of our Platinum guest posts, to see which one will be posted on the blog at large.  Take a look.  It's a wide range and all very interesting.   To vote, just send a quick note to Diane at ehrmanblog@gmail.com  Your deadline:  this [...]

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Did Ancient Writers Use Secretaries?

In my previous post I tried to show that the disciples of Jesus were almost certainly not literate.  Yet we have books allegedly written by them.  Is it possible that people like Peter, John, James, and Jude used a secretary to write their books for them?  So that the apostles in the ultimate sense were [...]

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How Many People Were Literate in Antiquity?

Over the past month I have received a number of questions on the blog about whether it was possible that some of the apostles used "secretaries" to write their books -- so that when 1 or 2 Peter, say, claims to be written by Peter, it actually was written by Peter in a sense.  Peter told [...]

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Studying the New Testament in Graduate School

My favorite professor in graduate school once told me he thought that PhDs in New Testament were over-trained for what they had to do.  I had finished my degree at the time and was heading off to an on-campus interview at Notre Dame, which was looking for a faculty member who was an expert in [...]

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Did the Romans Stage Jesus’ Crucifixion? Platinum Guest Post by Ryan Fleming

Here is now the third platinum guest post by Ryan Fleming.  As you might expect, it does not get any less controversial!  Do you have a reaction?  Let's hear it! ****************************** This third in a series of three posts proposes a theory that Christianity was born from Roman manipulation of the religious heart of Jewish [...]

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Did Jesus Believe in Armed Resistance to the Romans?

Here's a post from long ago that deals with an issue that has come up among some blog members recently.  Was Jesus in favor of armed resistance?  Were he and his disciples armed?  Was he killed for insurrection because he actually *was* an insurrectionist?   Here is the question in one of the forms I have [...]

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The Canon of the New Testament: Why It Matters

With this post I conclude my thread on how we got the canon of the New Testament.  In the last post I began to talk about how having a canon affected the way people read the books of the New Testament.  Even though there are important *differences* among the various books, when they are all [...]

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Did Jesus Collaborate with the Romans to Produce His Movement? Platinum Guest Post by Ryan Fleming

Here now is the second of Ryan Fleming's posts arguing that the Jesus movement emerged from a collaboration with the Romans. It is for you Platinum members only.  Are you interested in coming up with a post?  It can be on any topic related to the blog.  It does not have to be scholarly.  It [...]

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