Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 81

Did Jesus Really Cleanse the Temple?

In all the Gospels Jesus enters into the temple in Jerusalem and becomes enraged by what he sees there.  He overturns tables and drives merchants out and shuts down the operation.  Could this actually have happened?  Or is it an exaggerated – or completely invented – account?   [[RECALL, in case you haven’t been reading [...]

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Away from life for a while

     I'm sorry (well happy) to say that I'm on a meditation retreeat this week, until June 24, in a remote part of Merry Ole, walking (aka hiking) and thinking deep thoughts. I will be almost entirely incommunicado as I reflect on reality and try to figure out my life....      I've set up posts [...]

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Did the Triumphal Entry Really Happen?

Did Jesus really come into Jerusalem on a donkey to the acclamations of the crowd welcoming him as the coming messiah?  Or is that a distorted understanding of what happened?   [[In this thread of posts I’ve been trying to show how experts in the phenomenon of “memory” can help us reflect on the Gospel [...]

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June Gold Q&A

Dear Goldies & Plats, Our monthly Gold Q&A is coming upon us.  DEADLINE for your question(s):  Friday, June 23, 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 a [...]

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The Bart Ehrman Movie Club Presents: Life of Brian

Every year I teach an undergraduate course called “Jesus in Scholarship and Film.”  In the class, students study about a dozen gospels (canonical and non-canonical), see what historians say about the historical Jesus, and watch/evaluate Jesus movies.  The point is that every portrayal – ancient literary, modern scholarly, cinematic – has a slant and a [...]

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Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate: Some of the Distorted Memories of the Gospels

In my previous post I discussed some of the important differences between our four Gospels in their accounts of  Jesus' trial before Pilate.  Just read them, carefully, compare them in detail with one another, and see for yourself!  I continue with that discussion here, and then look to see what we can say are (certainly? [...]

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Jesus’ Trial Before Pilate: What Can We Actually Know?

In this post I shift from a general overview of what we can know about Jesus’ last days/hours to a specific instance.  What can we actually know about his trial before Pontius Pilate, that led to his crucifixion?    Do we know the details?  Can we get the gist?   Is there *anything* that is (relatively) certain?   [...]

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The Radical Teachings of Jesus–And Why No One Follows Them

This is the title I’d like for my next book.  Of course, I may change my mind (it happens all the time) and of greater moment, what I propose to my publisher as a title book often ends up having little effect or influence on the actual title.  Publishers have the final say on that, [...]

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The Events Leading up to the Death of Jesus: What Can We Know and Not Know?

Now I’d like the rubber to meet the road.  If we think we can know a good bit of the gist of Jesus’ life, what can we say with relative certainly about how it ended?  What do scholars who look at all the evidence basically agree on?  And what (and how much!) is basically up [...]

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If We Can Know the “Gist” of What Jesus Said and Did … What’s the Gist?

I’m going to be discussing soon some of the things that appear to be “misremembered” about Jesus in our early sources, but first it’s important to emphasize some of the hugely critical positive things about memory – like, that most of the time we get it basically right.  Depending, of course, on what “basically” means! [...]

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