Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 182

Sethian Gnostics and the Gospel of Judas

Soon after scholars had a chance to examine the Gospel of Judas it became clear that it embodied a form of early Christian Gnosticism known as “Sethian.”   Most descriptions that you find of Gnosticism are simplistic and do not actually reflect the mind-boggling complexities of the texts that embody it, to the extent that even if you master the basic descriptions you find, it is very hard to make sense of any of the texts.

That is certainly true of the Sethian writings! To say they are gloriousl...

Will “All Israel” Be Saved? Really? Guest Post by Jason Staples

Here now is the third and final post by Jason Staples connected with his dissertation and now to be published book on what Paul meant that “All Israel will be saved.”  It’s a big issue.  Isn’t Paul the apostles of the “gentiles”?  Doesn’t he attack Jews and Judaism?  Doesn’t he think God rejected them because they rejected him?   What could Paul mean by this?

 

Jason argues that Paul does not mean what scholars have long argued and regular ole lay folk have thought he meant (there are lots of op...

Apology to the Blog

I need to apologize to blog members.  Yesterday I posted a link to the Christian ministry that deals with people with disabilities, and I have received a complaint that the link includes a statement of faith that forcefully condemns gay sex and gay marriage.  By posting the link it may appear that I and/or the blog, concur, support, or even accept any such view.  Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m afraid I did not do due diligence by reading through the doctrinal statement before posti...

The Wheelchair Charity Mentioned by Robin Jones

A number of people have asked how they could get more information and make a donation to the ministry that Robin Jones mentioned in her post.  Recall, the name of the organization is Joni and Friends International (JAF).   The ministry that collects and distributes wheel chairs for those in desperate need of them is called Wheels for the World (W4W).

You can check it out at www.joniandfriends.org

Generate PDF

What Is Gnosticism?

I have been talking about how I came to learn about the Gnostic Gospel of Judas, the most significant Christian document discovered in modern times (since the 1940s).  Now I want to explain what the Gospel is.  I have just called it a “Gnostic” Gospel, and so to begin I need to say something about what Christian Gnosticism was.  It is a fascinating topic, but widely misunderstood.

The reading-public-at-large was *somewhat* introduced to it in the 1950s with the publication of the Gospel of Thoma...

Evangelicals Who Make the World A Better Place. Guest Post by Robin Jones

One of my biggest complaints against a lot of deeply committed evangelical Christians I know, and know about, is that they don’t live and act like Christians. They go to battle for issues not even addressed in their own Scriptures as if they were the most important things in the mind of God, and they completely ignore the moral imperatives Jesus himself did promote: active concern and love for those who are in need, whether they are of our own ethnic background, gender, country, socio-economic c...

A Very Odd Story about the Baby Jesus

Over the past few days I have been working on my syllabus for the graduate seminar I will be teaching this term, on Early Christian Apocrypha — that is, other Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses that did not become part of the New Testament.  As chance would have it, I was also just now browsing through some old blog posts, and came across this one, posted on this date seven years ago.  It is about one of the most historically influential and downright interesting Gospels from outside the N...

When Paul Says “Israel” Does He Mean “The Jews”? Guest Post by Jason Staples

Last week I posted the first of three interesting discussions by my erstwhile student Jason Staples, PhD in New Testament, currently teaching at North Carolina State University.  Here is the second post, with an even more challenging thesis that runs counter to what scholars have long said, but for which he makes a compelling case.  His fuller discussion will be found in the book he has coming out from Cambridge Press at the end of the year.

 

Jason will be happy to address your comments and que...

Seeing the Gospel of Judas for the First Time

In a couple of posts last week I talked about how I came to learn about the discovery of the Gospel of Judas through a phone call from a representative of National Geographic who wanted me to be on the team that established its authenticity, back in the fall of 2004.  I let her know that I wouldn’t be of any use in authenticating the thing, but I could talk about its historical significance.  I had agreed to find a Coptologist to come along to Switzerland and she was to find a scientist to perfo...

Why Do Are So Many Textual Critics Evangelicals? Readers’ Mailbag.

Here’s a good question about why so many New Testament textual critics (those who study the manuscripts of the New Testament) are evangelical Christians.

 

QUESTION:

Bart, is it fair to say that many textual critics chose their field of expertise out of a passion to find out just what did God really say? I’ve no axe to grind here, just wondering what you’ve observed working with so many in the discipline. It’s definitely something I considered ever since a street preacher pointed out my shiny ne...