Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 137

A Great Short Story in Scripture: The Book of Ruth

It’s been a long while since I’ve posted much of anything on the Old Testament, and it’s high time I did so!  As I have announced recently, in February I’ll be publishing a six-lecture course on the Pentateuch (the first five books) – one of the most influential collection of books in the history of [...]

Why Doesn’t Paul Say More about the Historical Jesus? Other Options.

In my last post I started giving the principal options, as I see them, for why Paul did not mention more about the historical Jesus.  Below are two other leading options.  As I’ve indicated, there are probably others, and if some occur to you, feel free to comment! ****************************** Option Two: Paul knew more of [...]

But Why Doesn’t Paul Say More About the Historical Jesus?

To this point I have enumerated everything that Paul explicitly says about what Jesus said, did, and experienced during his earthly life.  The driving question is the one that I turn to now and in the next post.  Why didn’t Paul tell us *more*?  I’ve long been fascinated by this question, and even though I’ve [...]

An Evangelical Apologist Who *Supports* My Book Misquoting Jesus!

In  October 2019 I was invited to a Christian apologetics conference in Chicago to give a talk. (click the link to see my post about it).  As you may know, "apologetics" is big in evangelical Christian circles; it is the attempt to demonstrate the intellectual reasonableness of the faith, to "defend" the truth of Christian [...]

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 [...]