Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 354

More Background on Oral Traditions

Up until the 1920s, critical scholars who were deep into questions of New Testament studies had focused a lot of their attention (not all of it, obviously) on questions of textual criticism (how do we know what the “original” text was?) and source criticism (what are the written sources lying behind the New Testament – especially the Gospels?). The former was a matter of concern largely because it was thought that the words of Scripture were inspired by God – so it was important to know what...

More Background on Oral Traditions (For members)

You need to be logged in to see this part of the content. Please Login to access.

Background to the Interest in Oral Traditions

Just to give a bit of background to the work I’ve just started doing on the question of the oral traditions about Jesus in the years before the Gospels were written, some initial points:

1) I am not, decidedly NOT, the first scholar to think this might be of some interest! On the contrary, it has long been intriguing to scholars, and there are a number of important books that have appeared in recent years, for example, James Dunn,The Oral Gospel Tradition(just last year!) and, even better know...

Background to the Interest in Oral Traditions (For Members)

You need to be logged in to see this part of the content. Please Login to access.

My Other Next Book

In my previous post I indicated that I am debating over my next trade book (for general audiences. The one I described there has to do with how Christians appropriated the Jewish Scriptures for themselves, leading to (and being implicated in) the rise of Christian anti-Judaism. It’s a fascinating topic, and I’m definitely planning on writing the book. But something else has come up that is driving my research right now instead, and Isuspectthis will be the next book. But I’m happy to hear you...

My Other Next Book (For Members)

You need to be logged in to see this part of the content. Please Login to access.

My Next Books

QUESTION:

I now have a half dozen questions, but I won’t ask them at this time because I have a better idea for your time: a book on Paul. I would Love that. If that is not your plan, would you give us a hint about what your next book will be about?

RESPONSE:

I have had a number of people ask if I was planning on, or willing to, write a book on Paul. The answers are no, and probably no. There are already lots of good books out there on Paul for both scholars (my favorite classic is by my former...

My Next Books (For Members)

You need to be logged in to see this part of the content. Please Login to access.

Interview for The Skeptic Fence Show

On April 20th, 2014, I did a Skype interview for The Skeptic Fence Show, in which we discuss my personal background in the faith, talk about some of my debates, and, especially, deal with questions related to my book, “How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee.”

The interviewers were Joe, TJ, Paul and Drew. The main website for the show can be found at http://www.skepticfence.com/

+ + + + + + + + + + + + +

Please adjust gear icon for 720p High-Definition:

Other Options for Paul and Jesus

In my last post I started giving the principal options, as I see them, for why Paul did not mention more about the historical Jesus. Below are two other leading options. As I’ve indicated, there are probably others, and if some occur to you, feel free to comment!

*************************************************

Option Two: Paul knew more of the traditions of Jesus, but considered them irrelevant to his mission. This option relates closely to the one preceding, with a major difference. In this...