Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 11

1 Thessalonians. For Further Reading

Here is a list of readings on 1 Thessalonians, most of which are relevant to all the undisputed Pauline epistles, with a couple of commentaries specifically on this significant, short letter.  One benefit of serious commentaries is that they always begin by discussing major critical issues in understanding a book: authorship, date, historical context, major [...]

The post 1 Thessalonians. For Further Reading appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

1 Thessalonians: Who, When, and Why

Now that I have given an overview of the major themes and emphases of 1 Thessalonians, I can say a few more things about what we know about its authorship, when it was written, and why. The book, of course, is always called “Paul’s” first letter to the Thessalonians but as you’ll notice, the opening [...]

The post 1 Thessalonians: Who, When, and Why appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

1 Thessalonians in a Nutshell

I now move on in my “New Testament in a Nutshell” series to the letter of 1 Thessalonians, which for-roughly-ever has been one of my favorite books of the New Testament.  It is not one of the most widely read as a rule, but I think it is both unusually important and interesting.  For one [...]

The post 1 Thessalonians in a Nutshell appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

June 2025 Gold Q&A

Hello Gold & Platinum Members, It’s that time again—Bart’s monthly Q&A is just around the corner! Have a burning question about the history of early Christianity? Curious about a blog post or topic we’ve covered recently? This is your chance to ask Bart directly. He’ll respond to as many member-submitted questions as possible during a [...]

The post June 2025 Gold Q&A appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Interesting Questions from Readers

Here are three interesting questions I've recently received, and my attempts to answer....   QUESTION: I’ve been wondering about the passage in Romans where Paul expresses his fear about returning to Jerusalem on account of opposition because he wanted to take the money that he raised there before leaving for Spain. I used to couple [...]

The post Interesting Questions from Readers appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Colossians: For Further Reading

Here is an annotated list of books on Colossians, most of them relevant to all the Deutero-Pauline epistles (that is, the letters that are assigned a “secondary” standing in the New Testament collection of Paul’s letters because scholars doubt they were actually composed by Paul himself) with a couple of commentaries specifically on Colossians.  One [...]

The post Colossians: For Further Reading appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

The Book of Acts “At a Glance” and Controversial Questions

In addition to my nutshell summaries of each book of the New Testament, I have been providing a post that gives additional materials I present in my New Testament textbook.  These are (a) rapid fire summaries of each book that I call “At a Glance” and (b) a set of study questions that challenge students [...]

The post The Book of Acts “At a Glance” and Controversial Questions appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Did Paul Write That Letter? Getting Into the Weeds…

A few days ago I published a post trying to show why many critical scholars do not think Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians even though its author claims to be Paul.  It's pretty easy to put the matter in simple, easy-to-understand terms for non-experts: all you have to say is that hte writing [...]

The post Did Paul Write That Letter? Getting Into the Weeds… appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

The Letter to the Colossians: Who, When, and Why?

Now that I have summarized the major themes and emphases of Colossians, I can talk about who wrote it, when, and why.   The book, as we have seen, claims to be written by Paul.  But there are good reasons for doubting it. In a number of ways, this letter does look very much like [...]

The post The Letter to the Colossians: Who, When, and Why? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

The Letter to the Colossians, in a Nutshell

We continue in this series that explains each book of the New Testament “in a nutshell” by turning to the letter to the Colossians.  This is a book that claims to be written by Paul, but as we will see in the next post, there are very good reasons for thinking Paul himself did not [...]

The post The Letter to the Colossians, in a Nutshell appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.