Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 40

Was Christianity Bound to Take Over the Ancient World?

In retrospect, it may seem that that it was inevitable that the Christian religion would take over the western world, more or less destroying the many Greek and Roman religions that had been around for time immemorial.  Was it?  And was this Christian take over actually a "triumph" to be celebrated? I continue my thoughts [...]

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Losing Your Religion: Today and in Antiquity

Many of us have agonized over leaving the faith we held dear and clung on to for long periods of our life.  Most of us have never thought about what it would have been like for ancient peoples to leave *their* religions, not to move to agnosticism or atheism, but because a *different* religion was [...]

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Did Jesus Have Secret Disciples Among the Elite?

Here's an intriguing question I got a while back, with my response. QUESTION: What do you think of the idea symbolized by the Joseph of Arimathea character that there may have been closeted sympathizers or even fellow travelers of the Jesus movement among members of the Sanhedrin? RESPONSE: It’s a good question.  My sense is [...]

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A (Modern-Discovered) Gospel That Shows Jesus Was Married With Children?

Recently I've talked about "recently discovered Gospels" (e.g.,The Secret Gospel of Mark); and just now I remembered a tempest-in-a-tea-pot breathless announcement made ten years ago about a "new Gospel" that had been discovered that showed Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married with children.  This is NOT the gnostic Gospel of Philip I've talked a number [...]

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Jesus’ Followers in History and Legend

I continue here describing my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene  (Oxford University Press, 2005), with a final excerpt from the Introduction.  In my previous post I discussed how historical accounts and literary fictions mix in the accounts we have of these three key followers of Jesus.  I pick up from there: ****************************** [...]

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My Book on Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene

The only book I've written because I wanted to use the title is Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene: The Followers of Jesus in History and Legend.  It was a blast to write.  One could argue that in one respect or another these three were historically the most significant followers of Jesus (whether they were in their [...]

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My Edition of the Apostolic Fathers

Since I often get asked about topics I've written about, I have been doing a long thread discussing the various books I've published.  For the next several posts I'll talk about my edition of the "Apostolic Fathers Volume 1" and "Apostolic Fathers Volume 2" for the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press, 2003).  The "Loeb" [...]

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The Reliability of Eyewitnesses and Abraham Lincoln’s Watch

A post from 2012 that I had completely forgotten! ****************************** A fascinating news item has appeared in the Smithsonian Magazine. At first it may not be obvious how it connects to Christianity in Antiquity. But I think it does. It is about a watch owned by Abraham Lincoln. Here is the link to the full [...]

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How I Almost Published “Lost in Transmission”

I can't end my discussion of my book Misquoting Jesus without telling one of my favorite publishing stories.  OK ... without *repeating* it.  I've given it on the blog before, but it's been some years.  It was originally a response to a question about how trade books get their titles, and my explanation that "Misquoting [...]

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July 2024 Platinum webinar video

https://vimeo.com/995436438/27fdd2efe...

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