Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 74

Did Jews Always Bury Their Dead on the Day of their Death? Was Jesus Buried Then?

I have not covered all of the points that Craig Evans makes in his essay “Getting the Burial Traditions and Evidences Right,” which is his response to the position I stake out in How Jesus Became God.  My view is that Jesus probably was not given a decent burial on the day of his death [...]

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August 2023 Gold Q&A (video)

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Premarital Sex in The Song of Songs: A Platinum Post by Dan Kohanski

       The Bible has numerous passages that would be shocking to many readers if they read them without pious assumptions.  Of none is that more true than the Song of Songs (sometimes called the Song of Solomon).   And so I welcome this guest post by Platinum members Dan Kohanski, who takes on this [...]

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The Evidence of Josephus for the Burial of Jesus

I have devoted a large number of posts to going carefully through the main arguments that Craig Evans makes in his critique of the position I take in How Jesus Became God with respect to the burial tradition, in his essay, “Getting the Burial Traditions and Evidences Right”  (in How God Became Jesus; check it [...]

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Why Do Some (Many?) Scholars Not Treat the Bible Like Other Ancient Sources?

As I was thinking today about the need to be consistently critical with all of our sources – not just the ones we want to be critical of (this was the topic of yesterday’s post, with an ultimate view of what I want to say about Josephus as a possible witness to the practice of [...]

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How To Be a Consistently Critical Historian, In the Good Sense

I know that by now I’m supposed to  be citing Craig Evans’s best arguments that Jesus was probably given a decent  burial on the day of his crucifixion by Joseph of Arimathea, rather than being left hanging on the cross for a few days in accordance with standard Roman practice.  But I’ve realized that before [...]

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Did Jesus Believe the End Would Come Within his Lifetime? Maybe Not! Platinum Post by Rizwan Ahmed

Did Jesus (wrongly) preach that the end of the age and history as we know it was to come in his own time?  It's one of the hottest topics in NT studies.  I'm pleased here to include a guest post by Platinum member Rizwan Ahmed on the question, in which he argues that my views [...]

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Corpses Left on Roman Crosses? Penalties for Removing them Early? A Humorous Story (?!) from Antiquity

There's been a lot of interest on the blog in the question of whether Romans left bodies on crosses or allowed same-day burials.  No need to take my word for it.  Just look up the references I give, e.g., in How Jesus Became God.  Even better, I'll give one of them here from the first [...]

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Does Jesus Call Himself God in His Trial Before the Sanhedrin and the High Priest Caiaphas?

I was recently asked about my claim that Jesus never calls himself God/a divine being in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Some people have asked me about what they think might be an exception: his trial before the Sanhedrin headed by the high priest Caiaphas in Mark 14, where he is accused of blasphemy.   Isn't the [...]

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Was “King of the Jews” Really the Charge Against Jesus, Leading to his Crucifixion?

Why did the Romans kill Jesus?  Was it really because he was calling himself "King of the Jews"?  Was that really what he was calling himself?  How would we know?  I've been asked these questions several times in connection with my posts about Jesus' (death and) burial.  Here is what I've said about the matter [...]

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