Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 147

Sin and Divine Punishment As a Dominant Theme of Scripture

In this discussion of God’s wrath, I want to emphasize that it is not an isolated view of this or that biblical author in the Hebrew Bible.  It is a highly pervasive view.  God punishes those who disobey him, and he destroys anyone who might lead his people astray into disobedience. Here is how I [...]

Israel’s Conquest of the Promised Land: Did Any of That Happen?

I have been discussing the book of Joshua and its descriptions of violence inflicted on others on orders of the God of Israel -- massive military campaigns and massacres (is there any reason NOT to call it a genocide of the inhabitants of Canaan?).  I have wanted to cover this material as background to the [...]

Destroy More Others! The Israelites’ Conquest of the City Ai

In my previous post on the narratives of the Old Testament, I talked about God’s complete intolerance with the “other” – the non-Israelite who might influence his people to worship other gods and not obey his laws.  The other had to be destroyed in order to preserve the purity of his people.  It did not [...]

Fund Raiser for Afghanistan: This Sunday!

Whatever our political positions, most of us are distraught about the situation in Afghanistan.  It will almost certainly get worse.  As a result of the crisis, relief agencies there are under enormous pressure, more than in a very long time. One of the charities supported by the blog is Doctors Without Borders, one of the [...]

God’s Destruction of the “Other”: Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

  In this thread I have been discussing the wrath of God as manifest in the writings of the Old Testament, in preparation for a later discussion of the divine judgments meted out in the New Testament book of Revelation. In a number of Old Testament narratives God asserts his raw divine power not because [...]

What Do YOU Think? A Matter of Life and Death

A NEW BLOG FEATURE! I’ve decided to try something new on the blog today.  I’d like *your* view about something, your honest opinion based on serious expertise or complete non-expertise. For this new feature, which I’m calling “What Do You Think?”, I will NOT be responding to comments/questions, I’ll simply be posting them, without making [...]

When / If you have a blog problem!

I regularly get comments on one of my posts from a member who is having some kind of technical problem -- for example, only part of the post shows up for them, or they can't seem to access something etc.  (Other people have problems with what I actually *say*, but that's a different matter....).   Sometimes [...]

Platinum Members! Vote for your Favorite Platinum Post to Go To the Blog!

Dear Platinum Members,   It is time to vote for the next Platinum guest post to become a blog guest post!  The winner's post will go to all blog members for reading and comment.   The winner this past month was a big success: Frederick Ackun's post, "The Essence of Religious Literacy" appeared on the blog [...]

Interview on Lost Christianities: “What If Project” Podcast

It's always a pleasure to do an interview with someone who knows a lot about the topic and asks the right questions.  This wide-ranging interview with Glenn Siepert was one of those.  Glenn runs a podast called "What If Project" and he's had a lot of interesting guests on it.  Here's my interview.  

Jesus as a Healer: “First: Do No Harm” Platinum Guest Post by Douglas Wadeson

I have very much enjoyed these guest posts by Doug Wadeson, who spent his long career in medicine, reflecting on Jesus' healing miracles in light of contemporary medical knowledge.  This final post is unusually thought provoking.  Did Jesus sometimes do more harm than good? Let Doug know what you think. [[And if you have a [...]