Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 125

John of Patmos and the Passion for World Domination

I move on now to discuss Revelation’s view of ruling the world.  If at the end of time God destroys everyone other than his followers, whom will they rule?  I begin by picking up my final question in the last post. ****************************** Where does the book of Revelation stand on the morality of domination?  There [...]

Reminder: My Debate on Saturday. Did the Resurrection of Jesus Really Happen?

This is just a reminder that on Saturday I'm holding a day-long  (!) debate on Saturday on whether Jesus was actually raised from the dead.  Tickets are still available. Here was the original announcement, in case you're interested. ************************** I would like to announce a major public debate that I will be having with the [...]

O Frabjous Day, Callou Callay

I'm chortling in my joy.  Today is a big day for me!  At last my academic study of guided tours of the afterlife came out:  Journeys to Heaven and Hell: Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition.   As many of you know, this is the scholarly monograph that is roughly similar at least [...]

Revelation and Ancient Views of Dominance

In my previous post I discussed whether the fact that Revelation is filled with symbolism and not to be taken literally should affect our evaluation of its presentation of violence and domination.  Now I move on to ask whether its views reflect those of Jesus himself.   I resume where I left off: ****************************** To say [...]

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 [...]