Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 92

Am I About To Become Muslim?

I often get asked about the Qur'an (on which I have zero expertise) and my views of Islam (which I admire as one of the great religions of the world with lots of problems involving how it sometimes gets interpreted and used, just like every other great religion of the world).  I was just thinking [...]

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Was the Roman Soldier Pantera Jesus’ Father? His Cousin? Platinum Guest Post by Omar Abur-Robb

I am pleased to publish this unusually controversial and interesting Platinum guest post of Omar Abdur-Robb.   Lots to think about here!  What do you think? ******************************   A Summary of an article: Discussing the conclusion of James Tabor related to the relationship between Jesus Pantera and Abdes Pantera, and presenting a new model for this [...]

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Finally: The Martyrdom of Polycarp as a Clever Christian Forgery

Here now I bring this thread on the Martyrdom of Polycarp to an end, arguing yet further reasons for thinking the account was forged, and explaining the “truths” the author was trying to advance by not telling the truth about his real identity.   (From my book Forgery and Counterforgery, Oxford University Press, 2013). ****************************** Problematic for [...]

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January 2023 Gold Q&A (Video)

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January 2023 Gold & Platinum History of the Devil Bonus Lecture

Hey Gold and Platinum members, Here is the video of our recent webinar on the History of the Devil.  We're sending it out to everyone at the gold and platinum levels, those who were able to come and those not. It was a blast doing -- and apologies for the occasions that occasioned it (being [...]

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Evidence of Forgery. More Reasons the Martyrdom of Polycarp Was Not Written by Someone There

In my previous post I began to lay out my case that the Martyrdom of Polycarp, our (allegedly) first full narrative account of a Christian martyr, who died 155 CE, written (allegedly) by an eyewitness, in fact was written decades later, by someone who wanted his readers to think he was an eyewitness and to [...]

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Do Eyewitnesses Prove Miracles? Can They Be Faked? The Martyrdom of Polycarp

For over two hundred years scholars of antiquity have worked diligently to determine which ancient writings by pagans, Jews, and Christians were actually produced by their alleged authors and which are by authors merely claiming to be some other famous person, as well as which originally anonymous writings were wrongly ascribed to one famous author [...]

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Recreational Drugs in the New Testament? Platinum Guest Post by Douglas Wadeson

Here now is promised part II of Doug Wadeson's discussion of drugs in the Bible....  It's way out there, man. What do you think? ***************************** In the previous post I discussed evidence of psychoactive drug use in the Old Testament.  What about the New Testament?  Jesus’ mentor was John the Baptist who seemed to follow [...]

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Can We Take the Martyrdom of Polycarp at Face Value?

I continue here my discussion of the Martyrdom of Polycarp as found in my book Forgery and Counterforgery.  This will get in the weeds a bit, but hey, it can be good for your soul!  I've always thought that it's useful for layfolk to see how scholars in one field or another argue among themselves, and [...]

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Is the Martyrdom of Polycarp an Authentic Account?

In my previous posts I have talked about the Martyrdom of Polcarp, our first full account of a Christian martyrdom (outside the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 8).  But is it an authentic account?  It claims to be written by an eyewitness.  Was it? I did not begin to investigate that question seriously and deeply [...]

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