Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 207

Resurrection from the Dead: Were Jews Influenced by Zoroastrianism?

I often get asked if ancient Judaism was influenced by Zoroastrianism or other kinds of Persian thought – especially when it comes to the specific doctrine of the “resurrection of the dead” and, more generally, the whole category of “apocalyptic thought.”  I used to think so!  Now I’m not so sure.  At all.

I’ve talked about apocalypticism and resurrection on the blog before.  Here I’ll discuss where these ideas came from, before, explaining more fully what they ended up looking like.  This di...

Learning New Things

I am constantly awed by some fellow scholars,who have not just enormous range of knowledge about so many things but also an inordinate, almost insatiable curiosity.   There aren’t many people like that, but I know some.   At the same time I am regularly puzzled by people who simply have no curiosity about much of anything, who have strong opinions about lots and actual knowledge about little, who just don’t have any real curiosity or drive to find answers to anything.

I’m not talking about th...

Blog Dinner for NYC Full!

I am pleased  to say that the table for the blog dinner in NYC for August 27 is now full.  At this point I will start a waiting list, in the event that someone backs out, as often happens.   So let me know if you want to be on it.

And as other opportunities come up, I’ll be sure to post them.

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Join Me In Egypt? Tour in October 2020!

 

I am (very) happy to announce that I will be giving lectures on a tour to Egypt on October 16-29, 2020.  It’s not too early to start planning!  On the contrary: the trip hasn’t been seriously advertised yet, and already four people have signed up!

The trip is sponsored by the University of North Carolina General Alumni Association, BUT — big point here! — you do not need to be an alumna/alumnus to come.   It’s going to be a terrific trip.  The final brochure is not ready yet, but you can ge...

Do You Need a Free Membership?

Thanks to the incredible ongoing generosity of members of the blog, I am happy to announce that there are still some free one-year memberships available.   These have been donated for a single purpose: to allow those who cannot afford the annual membership fee to participate on the blog for a year.   I will assign these memberships strictly on the honor system: if you truly cannot afford the membership fee, but very much want to have full access to the blog, then please contact me.

 

Do NOT r...

How Views of the Afterlife Changed

I’ve been explaining how the tours to heaven and hell – both of them Near Death Experiences – in the Acts of Thomas are meant to show the Christian alternatives to Greek and Roman views of the afterlife.   For early Christians it would not be a dull and boring, powerless and mindless existence for all eternity, as it is depicted in the oldest Greek sources, and it would not require hundreds of years of “purging” where the stains of wickedness are washed out through painful cleansing (e.g., th...

Who Has The Answer For a Happy Afterlife?

A few days ago I gave the opening part of the paper I read at a conference of New Testament scholars a couple of weeks ago, on the accounts of the afterlife in the Christian apocryphal book called Acts of Thomas (an account of Thomas’s missionary adventures in India), one of them involving a near death experienced that revealed the glories of heaven and the other a near death experience of the horrors of hell.

Most of the paper involved contrasting those two visions with comparable journeys t...

Last Minute (well, sort of): Another Blog Dinner Option. NYC, August 27

OK, this is a bit unexpected.  But I’m going to be in New York (Midtown Manhattan) for a few days (that part was expected) and it turns out I’ll have an evening free, August 27.  And so if anyone’s interested I can do a blog dinner.  Given the location, it might be kind of pricey, but … well, if you’re interested, wanna come?

As per my custom:  the table will be limited to eight, of which I will be one.  That means seven spots are available.  First come first served:  please do NOT response h...

An Ancient Author Trying to Justify His Deceit

Yesterday I talked about one Christian forger who got caught red handed who had to explain himself.  Well, justify himself.  Well, bend over backwards to make himself look innocent.  We’ve been seeing a lot of that these days.  It goes way back.  Humans are humans.

Here is my assessment of the situation, not in terms of our own front-page news but in terms of this obscure little controversy, which highlights my obscure little academic point: in the ancient world, readers simply did not *like*...

Yesterday I talked about one Christian forger who got cau...

Yesterday I talked about one Christian forger who got caught red handed who had to explain himself.  Well, justify himself.  Well, bend over backwards to make himself look innocent.  We’ve been seeing a lot of that these days.  It goes way back.  Humans are humans.

Here is my assessment of the situation, not in terms of our own front-page news but in terms of this obscure little controversy, which highlights my obscure little academic point: in the ancient world, readers simply did not *like*...