Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 141

Christian Stereotypes of “the God of the Old Testament.” Marcion is Alive and Well and Well and What To Do About It. Guest Post by Marc Zvi Brettler

An important book on understanding the Bible recently appeared: The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christian Read the Same Stories Differently, by Marc Zvi Brettler and Amy-Jill Levine.  I have asked both authors to provide a guest post or two, and here is the first.  Marc Brettler has long been a prominent scholar [...]

How Becoming an Agnostic Affected My Personal Life

I was just now looking through some old posts on the blog (there are lots of them!  If you join, you have full access!), and came upon this one from almost exactly four years ago.  It involves a question I get asked a lot by people who have left the faith or find themselves moving [...]

Jewish Indifference to Jesus and the Problems It Caused: Platinum Guest Post by Dan Kohanski

  Here now is another stimulating and learned post by Platinum member Dan Kohanski, on an unusually important topic.  Any comments?  He's happy to answer them. I'm running low on Platinum posts!  Do you have something you'd like to offer?  Let me know. ****************************** Why did only a fraction of one percent of all Jews [...]

Was Peter Crucified Upside Down?

I few days ago I started answering a question about Peter that came to me in two parts:  was Peter the first pope and how did Peter actually die (crucified upside down)?   I've taken two posts to deal with the first question and will deal with the second -- more of a human interest story, [...]

An Impromptu FREEBIE. A Zoom Lecture Tomorrow Morning!

Because of some weird circumstances, I will need to record a lecture for my undergraduate class tomorrow morning, September 21st.  As some of you know, I hate recording a lecture to an empty room.  I prefer an audience.  Are you free to come? The lecture will be on "The Early Christian Apologists."  It will take [...]

Then Who WAS the First Bishop of Rome (if not Peter)?

In my previous post I addressed question from a reader whether Peter was really the first bishop in Rome (that is, the first Pope).   I guess I could have just answered the question with one word: no.  But it took a post to explain.  Now I want to move to the obvious corollary.  If not [...]

Was Peter the First Pope?

Several people have recently asked (in reference to that pop quiz I gave to my class this semester) whether it is in fact right that Peter was the first pope.   I dealt with the question a few years ago, along with another interesting tradition about Peter.  Here's the question I got and my response.   [...]

Working as a Secretary for the New Revised Standard Version

Here I continue with some reminiscences of my work with my mentor Bruce Metzger. ****************************** When I was still a graduate student in the PhD program at Princeton Theological Seminary, Metzger invited me to serve as a secretary for the committee that was producing the new revision of the Revised Standard Version translation of the [...]

Jesus’ View of Salvation: Who Can Have Eternal Life?

Jesus believed that destruction was coming for some people, and salvation for others.  So did the author of Revelation.  So what’s the difference? Big difference.  In modern terms, Jesus' views of who would be saved were non-discriminatory.  That is, they were not based on who a person was, but what she did.  It did not [...]

Jesus and the Coming Destruction: Who, Why, and How?

In my book on Revelation, one of my goals (once I start to write it) will be to contrast its view of judgment with that of Jesus himself.  I think the differences are stark and telling.  BUT, that is not because I think Jesus imagined that God was simply a God of love who would [...]