Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 135

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. [...]

A Thanksgiving Reflection, 2021

I love Thanksgiving.  Absolutely love it.  For me it’s the best holiday of the year – family, friends, food, and football.  How good can it get?   (OK, a lot of my family and friends would drop the football.)  And it’s always a time for me actually to realize how much good there is in the [...]

Why Do Fundamentalists Support the State of Israel?

Have you ever wondered why fundamentalists are adamant Zionists?  (Did you know they were and historically always have been?)  It seems to outsiders a bizarre mystery: you love Israel but you hate Jews?  Well, OK, you say you love Jews, but how exactly do you show it?  By supporting Israel, I guess.  But Israel is [...]

A Rare Opportunity! Want to Read My Book on Revelation (before it’s published)?

Here’s an  opportunity.  Interested in reading the draft of my book on the Apocalypse of John (tentatively titled: Expecting Armageddon)?   I'm giving people the chance to do it as a fundraising effort for the blog. As most of you probably know, I’m now finishing up the book.  I've been working on it for about three [...]

Why Cynics Thought Being Poor Was Ironically Better

Isn’t it better to have no possessions at all than to have millions of them and then lose them?  According to ancient Cynic philosophy: Absolutely Yes! I’ve been discussing how this view comes to be embodied in Lucian’ of Samosata’s humorous dialogue Downward Journey, about a rich tyrant who abused his power and wealth and [...]

A Humorous Take on Wealth From a Great Satire of Antiquity

In my previous post I discussed the radical views of Cynic philosophy – to be happy you must give up everything that can be lost, including all your possessions and your attachments to them.  That was a set-up for what I really wanted to discuss, a “Journey to the Afterlife” (technical term: Katabasis) found in [...]

Must Jesus Divide Families? Part 2 of 2. Platinum Guest post by Douglas Wadeson

This is the second of two posts by Doug Wadeson on a divisive aspect of Jesus' ministry; there are comments in the Gospels that he would divide families.  How are we to understand that? Doug's first post o the matter was on October 21: Must Jesus Divide Families? Platinum Guest Post by Douglas Wadeson | [...]

Should You Give Up All Your Possessions to Be Happy? The Ancient Cynic View

In my forthcoming book Journeys to Heaven and Hell (Yale University Press; due out in April) I will be devoting a chapter to discussing how tours of the afterlife functioned sometimes in order to promote certain ethical views.  If you know what life after death is really like, it can be incentive for how you [...]

Announcement: Did the Christmas Story Really Happen? Upcoming All-Day Event! (VIDEO)

 Christmas is upon us already, and I have decided to do a tis-the-season all-day webinar on Sunday, December 5:  “Did the Christmas Story Really Happen?”  The webinar will not be connected with the blog per se, except to the extent that I’ll be doing it and that some of you might be interested in [...]