Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 29

Albert Schweitzer and the Apocalyptic Jesus

In the current thread I’m trying to establish that Jesus believed he was the messiah.  I have pointed out that his followers would not have considered him the messiah because they believed he had been raised from the dead (since the messiah was not supposed to die and rise again) unless they had already considered [...]

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Jerusalem Through the Ages! Interested in an Expert Discussion?

Are you interested in the amazing and important history of Jerusalem, from the ancient world till today?  I am!  I am pleased to announce a special event being put on by my Department of Religious Studies. a panel discussion of the new book by my colleague Jodi Magness: Jerusalem Through the Ages: From Its Beginnings to [...]

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An Imagined Dialogue for the Dispute Between Paul & Barnabas in Acts Part 4 by Angus Nisbet

We come now to the final post by Angus Nisbet on the dispute recorded in the NT between Paul and Barnabas, in which he tries to reconstruct what may have really happened (covered up by the NT reporting).  Is it possible that Barnabas actually lashed seriously into Paul and became his enemy?  Is it possible [...]

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What Would an Apocalyptic Jew (Jesus!) Mean By Calling Himself Messiah?

In this thread I am trying to argue that Jesus understood himself to be the messiah.  So far I have made one of my two main arguments, with the understanding that *both* arguments have to be considered in order to have a compelling case.  So the first prong doesn’t prove much on its own.  But [...]

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Can We Know What Jesus Said About Himself?

Do we know what Jesus said about himself? Yesterday I started my two-prong argument for why Jesus probably considered himself the messiah.  The first prong is that Jesus must have been called the messiah during his lifetime, or it makes no sense that he would be called messiah after his death. Even if there were [...]

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Take My New Testament Pop Quiz!

A blog member recently asked me if I could post the pop quiz that I used to give t0 my New Testament class on the first day of the semester.  I say "used to" because I have stopped teaching the course, after doing so for 35 years (!), yielding it over to the capable hands [...]

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November Gold Q&A: Ask Your Questions!

Hey Golds and Platinums: Mark your calendars – we've got a monthly Gold Q&A coming up on Sunday November 17th at 7pm Eastern. If you can, join us for the live session—it’s a chance to dive into your burning questions and catch the conversation as it unfolds! Can’t make it live? Not to worry; the [...]

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An Imagined Dialogue for the Dispute Between Paul & Barnabas in Acts Part 3 by Angus Nisbet

Now we come to the third of four posts by Platinum member Angus Nisbet on the dispute between Paul and Barnabas recorded in the book of Acts, where he maintains that Mark (as in John Mark, allegedly the author of the Gospel!) was a spy who ratted Paul out.  And it involves a connection with [...]

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Island Hopping with History: Join Our Greek Odyssey this May!

I will be giving lectures on another glorious tour to some of the Greek Islands this coming May 14-26. This will be fantastic. Some blog members came with me on a similar trip last year, but to different islands. It was life-long-memorable. If it’s humanly possible, think about joining up! Space will be limited – [...]

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Would the Resurrection Make Anyone Believe Jesus Was the Messiah?

I have been talking about the early Christian understandings of Jesus as the messiah.  Not just the messiah, but the “crucified messiah,” a concept that would have seemed not just unusual or bizarre to most Jewish ears in the first century, but absolutely mind-boggling and self-contradictory.  I’ve been arguing that it was precisely the contradictory [...]

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