Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 75

Did Pilate Allow Jesus to be Buried Because He Had “Learned his Lesson”?

I think there is almost no historical figure that Craig and I disagree on more than the Roman governor of Judea at the time of Jesus’ death, Pontius Pilate.   I see him as a cruel, vicious, hard-headed, insensitive, and brutal ruler; Craig portrays him as an efficient but wise and rather sensitive aristocrat who could [...]

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Gold Q&A for August!

Dear Goldies, It's time for another Gold Q&A.  You ask the questions, I answer them.  My plan is to record the event this coming weekend; if I'm able to do it at a decent time (other things are hanging fire), I'll announce it a bit in advance so people can come and listen in if [...]

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How Accurate Are Orally-Transmitted Reports? A Platinum Post From Imran M. Usmani

In this guest post, Imran Usmani challenges my views about distortions in oral traditions, basing his contrary perspective on the work of an ninth-century Muslim scholar tracing the reports in circlation about the prophet Muhammad. Take a look!  What do you think?  Do you find it convincing?  Why or why not?  Let us know!   [...]

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Was Pilate Sensitive to Jews and their Customs (such that he would allow decent burials for crucified victims)?

When I was in high school I was active on the debate team, and really loved it.  The team as a whole was really good, but I was nowhere near being the best member.  My colleague and another fellow on the team ended up debating together in college and won the national championship as sophomores.  [...]

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Why Critical Scholarship on the Gospels Helps *Believers* in the Bible!

In my two previous posts I’ve been trying to explain that the historical-critical view of the Gospels, in which they are recognized not always to represent historically accurate information about Jesus, is not necessarily a view that “trashes” them.  Instead, it is a view that tries to understand what they really are instead of insisting [...]

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We Have Crucifixion Nails! Isn’t that Evidence for Jesus’ Burial?

I have mentioned a couple of times that at the end of this thread I will be discussing the two arguments that Craig Evans marshals that strike me as interesting and to be taken seriously.  These are (1) the general claims in a couple of passages of Josephus and (2) the discovery of the skeletal [...]

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Serious Discount on my Book!

I'm pleased to announce that it is now possible to purchase a hardback copy of my recent book Armaggedon: What the Bible Really Says about the End at half price from Barnes & Noble, either in a store or online, as part of their annual Book Haul promotion.  The sale goes till Sept. 4.  Interested?  [...]

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A Proposition That Ramesses-the-Sixth (Ramesses VI) Was the Pharaoh of the Exodus by Omar Robb

Another Platinum Post from Omar Robb--as always, intriguing! ****************************** Omar Abur-Robb omr-mhmd.yolasite.com I did discuss this subject in some comments here in the blog, but I prefer to put it in a formal post. We are going here to argue that the non-metaphysical data related to the exodus can be fit with the history of [...]

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Is Critical Biblical Scholarship Valid? What the New Testament Itself Indicates!

In my previous post I argued that critical scholars who insist that the Gospels are not historically accurate accounts of what happened in the life of Jesus – even though they do contain some historically accurate information, which needs to be carefully and cautiously ferreted out of their narratives – are not trashing the Gospels.  [...]

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Hey, Stop Trashing the Gospels!

I am going to take a brief break from my response to Craig Evans’s critique of my view of Jesus’ burial.  There are more things that I need to say – and I have not yet gotten to what I think are his two best arguments.  But my sense is that some people are getting [...]

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