Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 251

Was Paul a Misogynist?

Now I can consider whether Paul himself actually wrote 1 Cor 14:34-35 — a passage that tells women they are not allowed to speak in church — or if it was, instead, inserted into his letter by someone else later.  It’s an important issue: if Paul did write the passage, and if he also wrote 1 Timothy (widely thought to be written by someone else *claiming* to be Paul) then by modern standards, at least, he would not be considered to have a, well, liberated view of women.

I begin with a paragrap...

Paul and His Female Disciple Thecla

I’m in the middle of talking about whether Paul wrote the verses now found in 1 Cor. 14:34-35, or if they were later added to his letter by an editor/scribe.  To make sense of what I have to say next about the issue I need to provide just a bit more background, specifically about a legendary figure well known in the early church, but not widely known about today outside the realm of early Christianity scholarship.  This is a one-time-household-name: Thecla, supposedly a female disciple of Pau...

Paul’s Views of Women

In this week’s mailbag I take up a very interesting question about whether there are other passages in the New Testament that are found in all of our manuscripts but that appear not to have been originally written by the author.  That is, they were (possibly) passages inserted by a later editor, before any of our surviving manuscripts were made, so that they are universally attested, but probably not original.  That is what I argued for 2 Corinthians 6:14 (it’s a standard scholarly view).  An...

Pre-order Triumph of Christianity and Get Some Serious Perks!!

Preorder Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World, and get significant perks!

The book will appear in book stores on February 13.  But if you order it online before that, whether a member of the Bart Ehrman Blog or not, you can receive some hefty discounts.

FIRST: anyone who buys the book in advance online (e.g., at Amazon, or Barnes and Noble, or wherever) who is NOT already a member of the Bart Ehrman Blog will be given a FREE one-month trial membership, with full a...

Request for Help! Your Favorite Podcasts.

One month from today — on Feb. 13 — my new book will be published.  As many blog members know, over the years I have written (in broad terms) three kinds of books: academic books for hard hitting scholars in my fields of interest; college-level textbooks for undergraduates; and trade books for a broader audience of interested (and interesting!) people.

This new book The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World will be the thirty-first book I’ve published, my fifteenth...

My Long Favorite Pauline Letter: Philippians

There is one other book in the New Testament that may be a cut-and-paste job, and as it turns out, it is another one of Paul’s letters, Philippians.  Philippians was for a long time my favorite Pauline letter, back in my late teens when I was first starting to read the Bible.  It contains the first verse I ever memorized: “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (1:21); and it is the first book that, a couple of years later, I committed completely to memory, word for word.  Little did I...

January Dinner Full!

I’m pleased and sorry to say that the table for the Blog dinner in Naples Florida on January 24 is now full!   Sometimes people cancel, however, so if you would like to be put on a waiting list, I am happy to do that.   I’m looking forward to meeting those who have signed up.  For all others — next time!!

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February Dinner Full!

I’m pleased and sorry to say that the table for the Blog dinner in D.C. on February 9 is now full!   Sometimes people cancel, however, so if you would like to be put on a waiting list, I am happy to do that.   I’m looking forward to meeting those who have signed up.  For all others — next time!!

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Speaking Engagements and Blog Dinners for January and February

Here is a first-of-the-year update on my speaking schedule.  If you happen to be in the area where I’m giving a talk – come!   For two of the events (Jan. 24 in Naples Florida; Feb. 9 in D.C.) I’d like to organize a small Blog Dinner, if anyone will be there.

 

Blog Dinner?  Wednesday January 24, Naples Florida.  See the event below.  Is anyone interested in having dinner, either because you’ll be attending the event or because you just happen to be around?  My idea is to have 3-5 people and...

Is 2 Corinthians *FIVE* Letters?

In my previous post I tried to show why most critical scholars think that the letter of 2 Corinthians is actually two different letters that have been spliced together.   When I was back in graduate school, I learned – to my surprise – that there were scholars who thought that in fact 2 Corinthians was made up of five different letters, all spliced together.  At first that struck me as a bit crazy, but as I looked at the evidence I began to see that it made a good bit of sense.

I’m not comple...