Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 159

You Call *This* a Heresy? The Views of Arius, In His Own Words

Here I resume my previous post about the biggest theological controversy in Christian history, which, to modern ears, sounds rather, well trivial.  It certainly sounded that way to some of the people who were dealing with it at the time.  Others thought it was a life and death matter.  It had to do with who [...]

A Heresy that May Not Sound Heretical to You: Arius of Alexandria

I am getting far along now in my discussion of how the Trinity developed.  A major development occurred in the fourth century that, remarkably, that many people still have heard about, seventeen hundred years later.  Unfortunately *what* they typically hear about it is completely wrong. This is the “Arian controversy,” which was the dispute that [...]

Got a Question for Me? Gold Q & A for April!

Dear Gold Members, As you know!  Gold-level members will receive a special 45-50 minute audio post every month, in which I respond to questions gold-level members have asked me. Have a question?  It can be on anything connected to the Bible, early Christianity, or anything else related even remotely to the blog.  Ask away!  We can [...]

Did Paul the Pharisee Learn about Christianity from his Relative, the Apostle Junia? Guest Post by James McGrath

Last week Prof. James McGrath, PhD in New Testament studies and long-time member of the blog, provided us a humorous guest post "50 Ways to Forge A Gospel."  And now he turns serious.  James has just published a book What Jesus Learned From Women, and one of the women he discusses is Junia, mentioned by Paul [...]

Did the Paul the Pharisee Learn about Christianity from his Relative, the Apostle Junia? Guest Post by James McGrath

Last week Prof. James McGrath, PhD in New Testament studies and long-time member of the blog, provided us a humorous guest post "50 Ways to Forge A Gospel."  And now he turns serious.  James has just published a book What Jesus Learned From Women, and one of the women he discusses is Junia, mentioned by Paul [...]

Do We Have Any of Jesus’ Writings? (The Answer May Surprise You!)

In my previous post I talked about whether Jesus could read.  I came out with a definitely answer: Maybe.   And that brought to mind a related question I often get asked: could Jesus write? I posted on this a few years ago, and thought it'd be relevant to do it again.  This will take a [...]

Two Live Lectures on Sunday: The End is Near!

The End is Near because we are nearly at the end of the semester, and thus nearly finished with these Sunday lectures.   (At least for now.)   It’s also Near because one of these two lectures is on the book of Revelation! The lectures will be this Sunday, April 25, live on Zoom for anyone who [...]

Could Jesus Read?

Here’s a question I have gotten repeatedly over the years:  was Jesus literate?  I received a form of the question in a comment recently:   QUESTION: My question is: Could Jesus read? I thought I had read in your books or heard in one of your videos that you thought he, along with his immediate [...]

How Could Christ Be Both God and a Human — At Once? The Unusual View of Origen

In this long thread on the Trinity I have been trying to explain how Christians came to the view that Jesus was God but that he was separate from God the Father – that both were God, but they were two different persons, and yet there was only one God.  I will have far less [...]

Nope. Jesus is Not Yahweh.

In my last post I pointed out that some conservative evangelical Christians (maybe others? These are the ones I know about) claim that Jesus, in the Bible, is actually to be understood as Yahweh.  I think that’s completely wrong, and in this post I want to explain why. Again, if someone knows better than I [...]