Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 154

Why I Wrote my book Did Jesus Exist? Interview with Evangelical Scholar Ben Witherington

Ever since I started publishing books for non-scholars,  I've been attacked by evangelical Christians for my views of the Bible.  Then, somewhat ironically, about nine years ago I came under attack by the nemeses of evangelical Christians, the "mythicists," who claim that Jesus never existed.  And why did they attack me?  For my views of [...]

How Then Do Most Ancient Manuscripts Get Discovered?

I have been discussing documents from early Christianity that I would very much like to have see with my own eyes.  In my last post I mentioned the fact that documents that *do* tend to be discovered are either copies of books we already have (the Gospel of John, the book of Revelation, etc.) or [...]

The Issue of “Tenure” for Professors

You probably have heard about the extraordinary case of Nikole Hannah-Jones at my university (UNC-Chapel Hill).   Offered a prestigious chaired position in the Department of Journalism, a chair that has always brought with it “tenure,” the university Board of Trustees, comprised, of course, of people who are not academics with expertise in journalism, chose not [...]

Gold Q&A for June!

Dear Gold Members, It is that time again!   As you know, one of the perks of your elevated status as a gold member of the blog is that you are provided an audio Q&A once a month for gold members only.   You provide written questions, I answer as many as I can, and I release [...]

What Kind of Ancient Christian Books Might Be Discovered?

On and off of the past few months I've posted on which books from early Christianity -- from the time of the New Testament! -- I'd love to get my grubby paws on.  Here is a related question I received.  What are the chances? QUESTION: What do you think are the odds that a really [...]

Final Live Lecture on Jesus as The Christians Saw Him: SATURDAY!

This Saturday at 3:00 p.m. I will be giving a live lecture (via Zoom) on an intriguing topic that very few people I"ve ever met (including New Testament scholars) have ever delved into:  What did early Christians think Jesus was doing between the time of his death and his resurrection. This is the third and [...]

The Trinity! A Final Summation

I would now like to wrap up this rather long thread on where the Trinity came from.  When I started the thread, sometime back in the 19th century, I had imagined it would take three or four posts.  But then I realized that it would give me an opportunity to talk about all sorts of [...]

The Coming of the Holy Spirit in John: A Key to the Trinity

I’ve been talking about Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse,” the long five-chapter discourse that is Jesus’ last speech (virtually a monologue) in the Gospel of John.  In the previous post we saw that in the speech Jesus discusses how he relates to the Father: he is in the Father and the Father is in him, so that [...]

Confusing Messages about Jesus and the Father: John 14

The Gospel of John is extremely important for understanding where the doctrine of the Trinity came from.   I should stress: the Trinity does not appear in the Gospel – nowhere does the Gospel say that there are three persons, all distinct from one another, all of them equally God, and yet there is only one [...]

Jesus’ Final Speech in John: A Lead-up to the Coming of the Spirit

I have very much enjoyed doing this mini-thread on the Holy Spirit in the biblical tradition as part of the larger thread on the question of where the Trinity came from.  I’ve never written on this before (the biblical views of the Spirit) or even thought about it systematically, though I have, of course, thought [...]