Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 31

How Not To Be Bothered When Bad Things Happen: The Stoics

Here I continue trying to explain the ancient philosophy of Stoicism, and to show how it related to their views of ethics – especially with respect to questions of altruism. It is a little difficult for many moderns to get their minds around the Stoic idea that “reason” is a divine quality that infuses the [...]

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Does this World Make Any Sense? The Ancient Stoics

From my earlier posts on altruism in the ancient world before Christianity, a number of blog readers have asked me to say some things specifically about ancient Stoics.  Didn’t they urge altruistic behavior?  Once again, the answer is, well, yes and no.  This will take several posts to explain. Stoicism was by far the most [...]

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Platinum Webinar for December: Topic TBD

Dear Platinum Members, It's time for our Quarterly Platinum Webinar.  We have it scheduled for Thursday, December 5, 2023, at 8:00pm ET. The topic is TBD, but we will update you with that information ahead of the talk. For now, we wanted to give you the date, time, and link so you can mark it [...]

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Intriguing Questions and Attempted Answers!

Here are a couple of the tricky and interesting questions I have received lately on the blog, along with my answers to them.  They seem important enough to me to share more broadly for everyone’s benefit.  As you’ll see, they cover a range of topics.   ****************************** QUESTION: I was wondering if in Paul’s letters [...]

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December 2024 Gold Q&A – Get Your Questions Answered!

Hey Gold & Platinum Members, Bart will be recording the December Gold Q&A on Sunday December 1st at 4pm Eastern Time. Have any questions you've been eager to ask him? Ask anything related to the blog and Bart will do his best to answer. (Bonus points if you can stump him!) Send your questions over [...]

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Isn’t It Good Enough to Help Family, Friends, and Community?

I’ve been discussing Aristotle (really, it’s interesting!) and what he thought it took to be “happy” – not the giddy fleeting emotion but have a satisfying sense of contentment and fulfillment in life.  For him, it means having the most “excellent” life you can and that requires being the most “excellent” person you can and [...]

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How Can We Be Happy? An Age-Old Question.

In my previous post I began explaining why I’m calling the teachings of Jesus the “origins of altruism.”  Aren’t people naturally altruistic to some extent?  Didn’t ancient Greek (and then Roman) cultures – the context in which Christianity emerged -- understood how we ought to behave to others, and insist people needed to be “good [...]

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New Interview on Agnosticism

Last week, Bart joined Mindy Todd on The Point for a fascinating conversation about agnosticism. The discussion also featured insights from scholar of religion Stephen Prothero and Reverend Nell Fields of the Waquoit Congregational Church. If you’re curious to hear what Bart and the other guests have to say on the topic, you [...]

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What Do You Really Want in Life? And How is that Related to Altruism?

Some readers have wondered why I’m calling my book “The Origins of Altruism: How the Teachings of Jesus Transformed the Moral Conscience of the West.”  (At least I’m calling it that at this point).   Are you saying Jesus invented altruism?  What??  Hasn’t every ethical teacher from the very beginning stressed that we have to balance [...]

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Brief Reflections on Time and the Meaning of Life. What Do You Think?

For a long time I’ve thought a lot about time.  Usually about how I don’t have enough of it, how I wish I had more of it, how I can use what I have most efficiently, how I can possibly get done what I have to do and … And, over the past couple of [...]

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