Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 2

For the first time since roughly the Pleistocene Age, I am teaching a new and different undergraduate course at UNC this semester.  It's a course I taught in a very different form when I was just starting out at Rutgers, in probably 1986 or so; I haven't taught it since, and actually don't remember how [...]

The post The Bible and Suffering: My NEW Course at UNC This Term appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Here is my second post on the use of secretaries in the ancient world, in which I discuss the issue of whether illiterate people (like Simon Peter, or John the son of Zebedee) could have had someone else write their books for them – so that 1 Peter *could* in some sense actually be by [...]

The post So Did Secretaries Write the Apostles’ Letters for Them? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Over the 13+ years of this blog, every time I have talked about whether Peter (or any of Jesus's other disciples) probably did or even could write one of the books attributed to him, since he (and they) were Aramaic speakers who were almost certainly uneducated and illiterate, but the books are written in highly [...]

The post Couldn’t 1 and 2 Peter Have Been Written By Peter’s Secretaries? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Now that I’ve devoted several posts to summarizing the themes, emphases, authors, and occasions of the three Catholic epistles, I can provide some suggestions for further reading: important works written by scholars for non-scholars.  I have given brief annotations for each book to give you a sense of what it’s about and so help you [...]

The post For Further Reading on James, 1 Peter, and 2 Peter appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Now that I have provided a summary of the major themes and emphases of the letter of 2 Peter, I can move to the question of who actually wrote it.  It claims, of course, to be written by Simeon (i.e. Simon) Peter, Jesus disciple.  But it is widely thought in fact to be pseudonymous, more [...]

The post 2 Peter: Who Wrote It, When, and Why? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

In this “nutshell” series that summarizes each book of the New Testament in canonical order, we now come to the second letter that claims to be from the pen of Jesus’s disciple Peter.  Here is my one-sentence, fifty-word description of the book. 2 Peter is a short letter written in the name of Peter to [...]

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Golds & Platinums, Our next Gold Q&A with Bart is coming up on Sunday, September 14 at 2 PM Eastern and it’s your chance to ask whatever’s been on your mind. Have a question you’ve been waiting to ask?Email it to Jen at: [email protected] Quick tips for getting your question answered: Keep it clear and [...]

The post September 2025 Gold Q&A appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

We recently shared part one of a post written by Platinum blog member, Mark Reichert. You can find the first part here. Here now is the second part of his two-part reflections in which he offers his own reconstruction of what might have happened after the crucifixion. So what do I think really happened? There [...]

The post Platinum Repost: The Death and Afterlife of Jesus: A Historical Reconstruction Part II – Guest Post by Platinum Member Mark Reichert appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Here are some of the more interesting questions from readers over the past few weeks, and my responses:   READER’S QUESTION Have you considered the angle that Jesus may have been a revolutionary Essene? This would explain his outward orientation instead of inward. I mean he fits right in with being a disciple of John [...]

The post Jesus, Essenes, Bible Translations, and 2 Thessalonians: Readers’ Questions and Answers appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

In my previous posts I've been showing that 1 Peter does not embrace the views and priorities known to be held by Peter, but endorses views and adopts the language and concerns of Paul.  And I've asked why an author would write a book like that.  Here I give my solution, as found in my [...]

The post Why An Author Claiming to Be Peter Wanted to Sound Like Paul appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.