Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 51

Fundraiser for Sudan With James Tabor

I am very pleased to announce a fund-raiser for the Bart Ehrman blog on May 1, a special event in which I interview fellow New Testament scholar and social commentator Dr. James Tabor on a topic sure to be of interest.  James, as you may know, is a retired professor of Religious Studies at the [...]

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Major Ways to Compare and Contrast the Quran With the New Testament

In my previous post I announced the new course I'll be doing on May 4 and 5, with scholar of Islam, Javad Hashmi, in which we both apply rigorous historical methods to analyzing the NT (me) and the Quran (Javad).  To register for the course, go to  https://ehrman.thrivecart.com/biblean.... For a $5 blog member discount, simply [...]

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The Bible and the Quran: Their Historical Problems. A New Course!!

Most Muslims argue that the Quran is absolutely perfect in every way: it represents God's words, accurately recorded, with no contradictions, and no textual changes by scribes.  Most fundamentalist Christians argue the same thing about the New Testament.  Is either one true? I'm pleased to announce that I will be hosting a special event on [...]

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“Lovemaking” in the Song of Songs – Platinum Post From Dan Kohanski

The Song of Songs is the most, well, sexy book of the Bible, a book that translators and interpreters have a difficult time with since its literal rendering sure creates problems for traditional Jewish and Christian sexual ethics. But if you've read it recently, you may not have seen the half of it.  Here are [...]

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What’s It Like in Sheol?

In the previous post I began discussing the intriguing story of 1 Samuel 28, where the king of Israel, Saul, illicitly consults a medium in an attempt to communicate with his now-dead advisor and predecessor, the prophet Samuel.  This is the only case of necromancy in the entire Bible.   In this post I want to [...]

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We Need An Experienced Fundraiser!

Do you have fundraising experience? Are you a fan of the mission of this blog--to disseminate scholarly knowledge of the New Testament and the earliest periods of the Christian church to a non-scholarly audience, and (most importantly) to raise funds for charity? The blog has raised over $2,000,000 for our charities (The Urban Ministries of [...]

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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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