Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 81

How Can We Get Behind “False Memories” of Jesus to the Historical Facts?

I'm discussing how in both the ancient and modern worlds people have constructed "false memories" of who Jesus really was.  In this post I give a brief explanation of how scholars became increasingly aware of the problem and, for a time, thought they had found a solution:  Mark's Gospel is the unembellished version and so [...]

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Did Early Christians “Invent” Memories of Jesus?

I've been talking about how we remember things -- or misremember things, or make up memories of things -- as a way of getting to the question of how, in our heads, we think about what Jesus said and did.  This is all part of my larger project that came incarnated (inletterated?) in my book Jesus [...]

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Jesus’ Resurrection: A Challenging Hypothetical. Guest Post by Ryan Fleming

And now *here* is an interesting way to think about whether someone was raised from the dead!  This is a Platinum Guest Post by Ryan Fleming.  It is begging for responses.  What do you think? ****************************** A short story: Suppose you are a French-resistance fighter in Nazi-occupied Paris during World War II. One of your [...]

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The Father and the Son. A Platinum Post by Omar Abur-Robb

A Platinum post for fellow Platinum members from Omar Abur-Robb:   ****************************** The Father and the Son omr-mhmd.yolasite.com   When and how the people of the Christian faith started to refer to God as “The Father”? Jews today refer to God as Adonai, Hashem, or Elohim. Karaite Jews do refer to God as Yahweh, but [...]

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How Can We “Remember” Someone (say, Jesus) We Never Knew?

A number of readers on the blog have objected to my understanding of memory, specifically to what a memory is, that is, to what constitutes a memory.  As a rule, these readers have argued – some with considerable force and conviction! – that a “memory” is a mental recollection of something that one has personally [...]

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In What Sense is a Made-Up Story about Jesus a False *Memory*??

In the past, when I've said that the Gospels sometimes contain “false memories” of Jesus people have objected:  these may not be memories at all, but simply stories the Gospel writers made up for their own reasons.  In that case Jesus isn’t being “remembered” in these ways.  Someone’s just making up stuff. In response to [...]

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Dr. Bart D. Ehrman, Apostle to the Atheists. A Platinum Post by Robert Droney

Here is a Platinum guest post by Robert Droney where he objects (rather vigorously) to my self-idenfication as a "Christian atheist."   As always, he has a reasoned set of arguments!  I won't be replying here, but, well, what to *you* think? And remember, you too can write a Platinum guest post for other Platinum members, [...]

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Blog Announcement: Comments!

Just so you know!  Tomorrow I'm heading to the Galapagos and will not have reliable wifi for about a week.  That WON'T affect the blog posts -- I've got them all lined up and ready to roll.  BUT, I won't be able to respond to comments. But feel free to make them at will.  I [...]

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Creation Stories of the Ancient World (Part 2): An Ancient Egyptian Account

Was the account of creation found in Genesis comparable to (or even borrowed from?) other ancient accounts in scattered throughout the world at the time? Last month my colleague Joseph Lam, an expert in the Hebrew Bible and the languages and literature of the Ancient Near East provided us with a guest post about some [...]

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May Gold Q&A: Submit your questions!

Dear Goldies, Our monthly Gold Q&A is coming upon us.  DEADLINE for your question(s):  this coming Friday, May 19, midnight your time.    Interested in anything I can deal with?   Now's your chance: Ask away! I'm more likely to answer questions that are relatively short and to the point than those that go on for [...]

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