Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 299

Why I Have Moved to a New Publisher

In my previous post I began to talk about how I have now changed publishers. This past book Jesus Before the Gospels, was my last with HarperOne, and now I have a two-book contract, for the next two books (obviously), with Simon and Schuster. A couple of readers have inferred that I have left Harper because I did not like the way they had handled my most recent book. That’s not the case at all. I made the decision before they even *started* handling the book.

And let me stress, I have had a w...

The New Edition of My Textbook: Reader’s Mailbag April 10, 2016

Here is this week’s Reader’s Mailbag (well, last week’s; I took yesterday off from work) (and it was glorious!). This time around I will be dealing with just one question, about the new edition of my New Testament textbook

QUESTION:

You say you first published your textbook on the New Testament about 20 years ago. I see that it is in its 5th edition (or more?). You’ve studied a lot, published a lot, no doubt learned a lot

RESPONSE:

Actually, as it turns out, this past year I published the...

Publishing with HarperOne

Now that I’m in the deep throes of research for my next book, I thought it would be a good time to devote a thread to it. It’s what I’ve been thinking about day and night — and reading voraciously on – since this past August! To explain it all, I need to provide a bit of personal background.

The point of this post: I have decided to change publishers. The book that just came out last month, Jesus Before the Gospels, is my seventh book with HarperOne, which is an Imprint of HarperCollins, one...

Evaluating My Debate on the Book of Acts

I have now completed my posts on the debate I had with myself in front of my New Testament class on the question of whether the New Testament book of Acts is historically reliable. If you want to see the whole debate, just read the posts in sequence: the affirmative speech arguing Acts is indeed reliable; the negative speech arguing that it is not; the negative rebuttal of what the affirmative side said; and finally the affirmative rebuttal of what the negative side said. In class I delivered...

Is Acts Historically Reliable? The Affirmative Rebuttal

I have been (intermittently) discussing the debate that I had with myself in front of my New Testament class on the resolution, Resolved: The Book of Acts is Historically Reliable. So far I have indicated what the Affirmative side argued in favor of the resolution; what the Negative side argued against the resolution; and what the Negative side said in its rebuttal to the first Affirmative speech. NOW, at last, I can indicate what the Affirmative side said in its rebuttal to the two Negative...

Our Fourth Anniversary!

Yesterday marked the fourthanniversary of our blog. We began this little venture back on April 3, 2012. Happy anniversary to us!

In thinking back on the past four years, I have lots of things to reflect on, as this blog is a rather complicated affair.

For every single week over these four years I have made 5-6 posts, on average 1000 words in length; I have read and added comments made by readers (I post almost all the comments, deleting only those that are not related to the concerns or the b...

Our Third Anniversary!

Yesterday marked the third anniversary of our blog. We began this little venture back on April 3, 2012. Happy anniversary to us!

In thinking back on the past four years, I have lots of things to reflect on, as this blog is a rather complicated affair.

For every single week over these four years I have made 5-6 posts, on average 1000 words in length; I have read and added comments made by readers (I post almost all the comments, deleting only those that are not related to the concerns or the b...

HNN News Story on Jesus Before the Gospels

Below is an article that I published for the History News Network, based on my recent bookJesus Before the Gospels. Enjoy!!

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Historians/History article featured on HNN (History News Network) posted 3-18-16:

Are the Stories in the Bible About the Last Days
and Hours of Jesus True?

by Bart D. Ehrman

The season of Lent has come upon us, the time when Christians focus their devotional attention on the last days and ho...

The Letters of Paul: Mailbag April 1, 2016

In today’s Readers’ Mailbag, I will be answering questions connected with the writings of Paul: what is the earliest manuscript of his letters; did the author of Acts know Paul’s letters; and is Paul described as a heretic in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

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QUESTION

Bart, early in your book Misquoting Jesus (p. 4) you wrote a sudden, shocking surprise (to many born-again Christians) when you said “As we learned...

Is Acts Reliable? The Negative Rebuttal

What follows is the “negative rebuttal” of the speech given by the “first affirmative” in its support of the resolution, “Resolved: The Book of Acts is Historically Reliable.” If you need to refresh yourself on what the affirmative team argued, you can find it on the March 24 post, here: http://ehrmanblog.org/is-acts-historically-reliable-affirmative-argument/ In the first negative speech (yesterday’s post) the negative team argued its case, without direct reference to the affirmative side. T...