Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 122

Wanna join this month’s book club reading? Check it out!

Our COO and organizer of all things blog, Diane Pittman, has sent along this annoucement of teh upcoming Book Club event, a two parter that sound unusually interesting.  If it's interesting, are you interested?   Here it is! *************************** It's BACK...It's BOLD...It's BIGGER than ever...(Well, not really, but it'll be as much fun as it usually [...]

Understanding the Old Testament! Joshua – 2 Kings as the Deuteronomistic History

I recently received a question about the books of Joshua and Judges: when were they written?  They are fascinating books -- flat out GREAT stories in them -- and need to be place in the historical context of their author to be understood.  But when was that, and what ideas were guiding his narrative? I [...]

If Revelation is All Symbolic, Why Would the Violence *Matter*?

I've been presenting a lecture I gave to a regional meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature recently on the violence of the book of Revelation.  In my previous post I talked about a passage that strikes me as excessively ugly, which discusses Jesus' treatment of the prophetess Jezebel (a Christian leader/teacher) from the church [...]

A LOTTERY!! To CELEBRATE the Blog’s 10-Year Blogiversary!

I am very pleased to announce that the Blog's ten-year anniversary is on April 18!   We have been going at it this whole time, ten years, non-stop!  HA!   Tempus is fugiting.... We are celebrating the upcoming date in a variety of ways.  There will be at least one celebratory event,  special announcements, reposting of favorite [...]

A LOTTERY!! To CELEBRATE the Blog’s 10th year Blogiversary!

I am very pleased to announce that they Blog's tenth year anniversary is on April 18!   We have been going at it this whole time, ten years, non-stop!  HA!   Tempus is fugiting.... We are celebrating the upcoming date in a variety of ways.  There will be at least one celebratory event,  special annoucements, reposting of [...]

Do Textual Critics Have to be Radical Skeptics? Guest Post by Kurt Jaros

Here now is the sixth and final video post by Kurt Jaros, connected to my views of Textual Criticism.  As you know, Kurt is a conservative evangelical apologist who, unlike some others, is openminded about issues of biblical scholarship.  May his tribe increase.  Here he argues that the fact we have different manuscripts of the [...]

The Most Violent Passage in Revelation, in My View:

From where I sit, the harshest most violent passage in Revelation is not one that dispenses with a third of the human race in one verse or describes a horde of locusts that will sting everyone on earth except God’s close followers and cause unbearable physical agony for five months that cannot be relieved and [...]

Two of the Most Violent Passages in Revelation

I continue here with my discussion of the violence in the book of Revelation as taken from a recent lecture I gave.  As is clear, I find it incredible that so many well-meaning scholars want to insist that its not *actually* violent.  OK, then.   As I've indicated, chs. 6-16 are a three-part series of [...]

Does Paul Condemn Slavery? The Surprising Answer–Paul and Philemon

This past week I received a question from a reader about the book of Philemon.  The last time that happened ... well, actually, I think it has happened only once before in the history of the blog!   And now that vibrant and widespread interest has been raised, it is a good time to address  it [...]

What Do You Think? Is There a Reason to Be Religious If There Is No Afterlife?

I’ve enjoyed getting readers’ opinions on topics over the past few months, and now I’d like to hear what you think about another, which strikes me as unusually important.  It has to do with the afterlife. The traditional Christian belief, of course, is that when a person dies, their soul either goes to heaven to [...]