Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 48

What About People Who Come Back From the Dead in the Hebrew Bible?

In thinking about Sheol and death in the Hebrew Bible, it is worth reflecting on passages where the dead come back to life or are contacted by the living.  This does not happen much at all – a couple of instances of resuscitation and one of necromancy. Probably the most famous resuscitation – the bringing [...]

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More on Sheol: Was it an Actual Place?

The Jewish scriptures contain a variety of different views about what happens to a person at death.   Most commonly, a person who dies is simply said to have gone to “death” – a term used some thousand times in the Bible.   Better known, but far less frequent, a person’s ultimate destination is sometimes called “Sheol,” [...]

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Could Moses be Thutmose, the Overseer of the Borderlands? – Platinum Post from Serene

Here's a provocative post by your fellow Platinum member, Serene: can Moses be identified with another known figure from history, the Egyptian overseer of the Borderlands, Thutmose?  Read her case and let us know what you think!   ****************************** Could Moses be Thutmose, Overseer of Foreign Lands and Frontier Lands?   “…he changed his name [...]

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What Is Sheol in the Hebrew Bible?

I was recently asked what the Old Testament teaches about "hell" and whether that's what "Sheol" refers to.  If not (or if so), what it the view of the afterlife in the Hebrew Bible?   This is a topic I dealt with in my book Heaven and Hell (Simon & Schuster, 2020) and I posted on [...]

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Other “Unknown” Sayings of Jesus

Here are now some more “agrapha” (sayings of Jesus not found in any of the surviving Gospels; I say more about "agrapha" in the previous post).  These ones are found in writings of church fathers, who appear to have had access to Gospels unavailable to us, or at least to have heard non-canonical sayings of [...]

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April Gold Q&A: Ask Away!

Hey Gold and Platinum members, Time to jump in on the April Gold Q&A; my plan is to record it some time next weekend. If you have a question -- and I bet you do -- send it along!  To do so, do NOT reply on a comment here, but zap an email to Diane [...]

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Did People Have Time for Jesus? – a Platinum Post from Doug Wadeson, MD.

There is nothing better than a guest blog post that flat-out disagrees with me!  And here we have one.  Is it plausible that Jesus could have had large crowds gathering together to hear his preaching in rural Galilee?  I say: Not really.   Platinum blog member Doug Wadeson says: Oh yes! Here's his post.  What do [...]

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Ever Hear of an Agraphon? An “Unwritten” Saying of Jesus?

To my surprise, I've never talked about the "agrapha" of Jesus before on the blog.   It's about time I did!  This is an intriguing topic connected with the teachings of Jesus known to almost precisely No One!!  (I'd bet a case of fine French wine that your pastor -- if you've ever had one, in [...]

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Is the Paul of Acts at Odds with the Paul of His Own Letters?

Here I continue my few remarks on the differences between Paul’s proclamation as recorded in the speeches he gives in the book of Acts and the views he sets forth in his own letters.  Again, this is taken from my book Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene (Oxford, 2006).   ****************************** Further contrasts between what Paul [...]

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Is the Message of Paul in Acts the Same as the Message of Paul According to Paul?

In September I'm going to be hosting an online conference of Bible scholars discussing their work for laypeople at a level that most anyone will be able to follow easily.  This will be the second of our conferences, "New Insights into the New Testament" (if you don't know about the first one from this past [...]

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