Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 94

Watching Notes for Jesus of Montreal! (My Favorite Jesus Movie!)

A number of you have signed up to come to our Blog Movie Club discussion this Sunday, January 22, 4:00-5:30 EST, to discuss my favorite Jesus Movie of all time, "Jesus of Montreal."   Some of you who have not yet signed up may be interested in coming once your learn what the movie is about. [...]

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What About Translations of Other Ancient Christian Writings?

I've been talking about translations of the Bible -- especially the King James Version -- and I'd like now to move to a broader issue.  EVERY text from the ancient world needs to be translated in order to be made accessible to a modern audience.  Hey, we're not back in the 19th century when going [...]

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Do All Modern Translators of the New Testament Translate the Same Greek Text?

If someone translates the New Testament today into English, French, Arabic, or Swahili -- what exactly are they translating?  They must have access to some kind of Greek text.  But what?  Are there lots to choose from out there?  Are they wildly different from one another?  I pointed out in my previous post that the [...]

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Armageddon! My New Book on the Revelation of John.

I’m excited to say that my book on the Apocalypse of John (a.k.a. the Book of Revelation) will be published and available on March 21.  The End is Near!     Here is a brief synopsis of what it’s about: ****************************** The Apocalypse of John (Book of Revelation) is the most mystifying and misunderstood book [...]

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Do Public Debates Do Anyone Any Good? What Do You Think?

Do public debates on controversial topics do anything other than entertain, stir up the blood, and make people more entrenched in their views?  It there any sense of speaking of a “winner” in a debate in which virtually all listeners already have opinions?  Is there any substantive reason to have these events, other than to [...]

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Paul and the Gospels: Platinum Guest Post by Ryan Fleming

One of the very big issues of New Testament studies is the relationship between the teaching of Paul and the preaching of Jesus.  Are these basically the same?  Irreconcileably different?  Weirdly unalike?  Understandably similar?  Something else? Here in this Platinum Guest Post, Ryan Fleming provides an intriguing approach to the question, which raises lots of [...]

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Famous Passages that Are Not Original: How Do Modern Translators Deal with Them?

In my previous post I indicated that the King James Version includes verses in some places that are almost certainly not “original” – that is, passages that were not written by the original authors but were added by later scribes.  I chose three of the most outstanding and famous examples: the explicit reference to the [...]

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Problems with the King James Version: What Were the Translators Translating?

I’ve mentioned several problems with the King James Version in previous posts.  Arguably the most significant set of problems has to do with the text that the translators were translating.  The brief reality is that in the early 17th century, Greek editions of the New Testament were based on very few and highly inferior manuscripts.  [...]

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Can We Trust the Bible? The First Published (as opposed to Printed) Greek New Testament

In this thread on Bible translation, I have been talking about what it is translators of the New Testament actually translate.  In order to answer the question, I have had to explain how we started to get printed editions of the Greek New Testament, including the first to come off the printing press, the Complutensian [...]

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My All-Time Favorite Jesus Movie. Wanna Discuss It With Me?

Here's a reminder about a first-time-ever blog event, coming soon.  Interested?  Here's the original announcement. ************************* People often ask me what my favorite “Jesus Movie” is, and they  almost never expect my answer.  For me it’s hands down.  A clear forerunner.  A movie most people have never heard of, but in my opinion, the best [...]

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