Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 126

Forgery for a General Audience

Last week I tried to show the contrast between my trade books for general audiences and my academic books for scholars, by posting the very beginning of my book Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife (Simon & Schuster, a tradebook, 2020) and the beginning of my book Jouneys to Heaven and Hell in the Early [...]

Ask Bart Anything! Blog Event March 6

On Sunday March 6, 4:00 - 5:15 EST we are holding a blog event which will be a two-way affair: I will have the pleasure of trying to answer questions participants have and participants will have the pleasure of stumping me with questions I can't answer.  And a good time will be had by all! [...]

How Would We Know If We Found an “Original” Manuscript?

A reader recently asked a question I had dealt with on the blog many years ago.   When originally asked it, I responded by saying I had never thought about it before. (!)  Below is the question and my initial reflections.  My views haven’t matured much during the past seven years (and they ain't the only [...]

Platinum Webinar! March 8. Why Is the Apocalypse of Peter Not in the New Testament?

It's time for another Platinum webinar; as you know, this is a four-time a year event, for Platinum Members only.  I'm devoting this one to a question that almost none of you will have asked yourselves -- one of those questions you don't realize is amazingly interesting until you realize the issues!   Why is the [...]

What If Damascus Was In Arabia? Solving a Dilemma in the Life of Paul. Platinum Guest Post by Gregory Hartzler-Miller

One of the unusually puzzling comments Paul makes about his life comes in Galatians where he says that right after he had his vision of Christ and converted he went to "Arabia" and spent three years there.  For many years I thought he meant he was out meditating in the desert someplace.  Then I came [...]

Must Jesus Divide Families? Guest post by Douglas Wadeson

As you know, Platinum members on the blog are allowed to compose blog posts for one another, and I choose one every month or so to publish on the blog at large.   Here is a particularly interesting one by blog member Doug Wadeson, based on a careful and interesting reading of the Gospels.  It's dealing [...]

Did I Have an Errant View of Inerrancy? (!) Guest Video Post by Kurt Jaros (#5)

This fifth installment of a six-part video thread by Kurt Jaros, an evangelical Christian apologist, considers my views of Scripture back in my hard-core conservative evangelical days and their (possible?) impact on my later decision to leave the faith altogether.  My ears are tingling! ****************************** In this video, I look at the young Bart Ehrman’s [...]

February Gold Q&A: Ask your Questions!

Dear Gold Members, It is time for our monthly Gold Q&A.  Have a question?  Ask it!  Anything related to the blog! To enter your question on to the list: send it to Diane at ehrmanblog@gmail.com DEADLINE for your question. Midnight EST this Friday, Feb. 25.  I will make the recording that weekend, and it will [...]

Heaven and Hell at the Scholarly Level (for comparison)

In this short thread I'm trying to explain the difference between a trade book for a general audience and an academic book for scholars, through example.  In my  previous post I gave the beginning couple of pages of my trade book with Simon and Schuster, Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. The academic [...]

Heaven and Hell at the Popular Level

I often get asked about the difference between my trade books for general audiences and my academic monographs for scholars.  Three times in my career I have written on the same topic for a popular and a scholarly audience.   The first was one on the manuscripts of the NT.  The popular book was Misquoting Jesus:  [...]