Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 89

Is the Gospel of Mark in Papias Our Gospel of Mark?

Can we trust a source such as Papias on the question of whether our Gospel of Matthew was written by the disciple Matthew and that our Gospel of Mark was written by Mark, the companion of the disciple Peter? It is interesting that Papias tells a story that is recorded in our Matthew but tells [...]

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Who Wrote the Gospels? Our Earliest (Apparent) Reference

I have begun to discuss the evidence provided by the early church father Papias that Mark was actually written by Mark.  He appears to be the first source to say so.  Does he?  And if so, is he right? Here’s how I begin to discuss these matters in my book Jesus Before the Gospels (edited [...]

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Did Mark Write Mark? What the Apostolic Fathers Say

Did Mark write Mark?   A couple of weeks ago I did an eight-lecture course on the Gospel of Mark for my separate (unrelated to the blog) venture, a series of courses on “How Historians Read the Bible” (the courses are available on my website: www.bartehrman.com).  It was a blast.  One of the things I loved [...]

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Vote for your favorite Platinum Post

Dear Platinum Members, It is time to vote on your favorite Platinum guest posts to go on to the blog at large.  We've had some dandy submissions over the past two months.  Here are the four options. To vote, send the name of your choice to Diane, at ehrmanblog@gmail.com.  Your DEADLINE:  Saturday midnight (your time), [...]

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The End of the World Means the End of Sex. Guest Post by Daniel Kohanski

Here now is the third post by Platinum blog member Daniel Kohanski, based on his recently published book A God of our Invention.   This one should grab your attention!   **************************** From its beginnings, Christianity has had theological difficulties with human sexuality. In this edited excerpt from my latest book, A God of Our Invention: [...]

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Do We Suffer Because We Have “Free Will”?

In my previous posts I discussed a class I once taught at Rutgers University on how the various biblical authors deal with the problem of suffering – the problem of how there can be such horrible suffering in a world that is said to be controlled by an all-loving and all-powerful God (who therefore wants [...]

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Why Would Evolving Beliefs about Sin Lead to the Idea of an Afterlife? Guest Post by Daniel Kohanski

Last Week I published the first of three guest posts by blog member Daniel Kohanski, based on a book that he recently published that will be of interest to many blog readers.  Here now is the second post. ******************************             Apocryphile Press has just published my latest book, A God of Our Invention: How Religion [...]

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Exciting Lecture: Archaeological Finds (Artwork!) in an Ancient Galilean Synagogue

Now *this* will be a great event. My UNC colleague Jodi Magness is one of the premier archaeologists of ancient Israel in the world.  She started her career on a dig at Masada (the Roman army camps!) and for the past twelve years has run a dig in a village in Galilee called Huqoq.  Her [...]

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Seeing the Problem of Suffering as a PROBLEM

In my previous post I began to talk about how thinkers in the Jewish and Christian traditions have wrestled with the problem of suffering.  I indicated that the technical term for this “problem” is “theodicy,” and it is often said to involve the status of three assertions which all are typically thought to be true [...]

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Is Suffering a “Problem” for Believers?

This past week I had a long talk with one of my bright undergraduates, a first-year student who had been raised in a Christian context but had come to have serious doubts driven in large part by the difficulty she had understanding how there could be suffering in a world controlled by an all-knowing and [...]

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