Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 134

My New Great Courses Offering, Just Out!

I was pleased a couple of weeks ago to see that my new course for the Great Courses (formerly called the Teaching Company; now called Wondrium [??]) “The Triumph of Christianity” has now seen the light of published day.  This is my ninth course for them and is obviously based on my book of the [...]

What We KNOW about Jesus. Platinum guest post by Dan Kohanski

I am pleased to post this offering from Dan Kohanski, who was inspired by my posts on Bill O'Reilly's book, Killing Jesus, to come up with a discussion of what historians can "actually* know about Jesus. What do you think?  Things to add to his list?  Not convinced by some?  Would change some others?  Feedback [...]

Blog Platinum Webinar! For You Platinums Only!

It's time for another Platinum webinar; as you know, this is a four-time a year event, for Platinum Members only.  Given the season, I've decided to do a "Christmas topic" that I've never done before. The date:  Saturday December 18; noon (Eastern Time).   No need to register; just show up. The topic:  Six Views of [...]

Did Paul Know What Jesus Taught? More Reflections

I have been talking about Paul’s knowledge of the historical Jesus, and yesterday began a discussion of what Paul clearly knew about Jesus’ teachings.   That’s where I will pick up here.  Again, I have taken the discussion from my book Did Jesus Exist?, so the orientation of what I have to say is toward showing [...]

Are You Willing To Donate Blog Memberships to Those Who Can’t Afford It?

For some years now we have taken Christmas donations to provide a membership to those who would very much want one but cannot afford it.  Blog members who want to make it possible donate the fee and we put memberships on offer.  It's a nice holiday tradition. I will post on my social media (Facebook [...]

An Article about Religious Studies by One of My Undergraduate Students

      I have a number of unusually interesting students this semester.  My undergraduate course is called "The Birth of Christianity," and deals with an entire range of historical issues about how Christianity emerged in the world, from Jesus to just past Constantine (with a focus on the second and third centuries).  This is [...]

What Paul Says about Jesus’ Teachings

So far I have been discussing what Paul says about the historical Jesus in his surviving seven letters.  For the next couple of posts I’ll indicate what he says about the teaching of Jesus.  Once again there are two observations to make.  The first is that he obviously knew that Jesus taught some things.  The [...]

What Paul Knows about Jesus’ Death, and What Led Up to It

In my last post I began to enumerate the things that Paul said about Jesus.  *Most* of what he says about Jesus has to do with the significance of his death and resurrection.  But what if we wanted to know about the *life* of Jesus – the things that Jesus said, did, and experienced between [...]

My Final Exam This Semester! The Birth of Christianity.

The Birth of Christianity, Reli 208 Final Exam Questions   Your final exam is scheduled for Thursday Dec. 9 at (ugh…) 8:00 a.m.  It  will consist of ten short answer identification questions and two essays. The exam will be closed book, closed notes, and open mind.   The Identifications   The i.d.’s will be terms [...]

Did Paul Know Much about the Historical Jesus?

In my graduate seminar this semester we had an interesting and intense discussion about Paul and Jesus.  In particular, we delved into the issue of what Paul knew about the historical Jesus and whether he knew more than he said and if so why he didn't say more and if not how that could be. [...]