Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 20

Dear Gold & Platinum Members, It's time for another monthly Gold Q&A.  You ask the questions, Bart answers them.  Have any questions you've been itching to get answered? Submit them to: [email protected] (Don't ask them in the comments of this post – they won't be included!) Remember, short, to-the-point questions will be given preference. We [...]

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Everyone says that the Gospel of Luke was written by … Luke!  Do we know if that’s true?  Whether Luke or not, do we know when he wrote it?  And why did he want/need to do so?  Now that I’ve summarized the major themes and emphases of the Gospel we can delve into these equally [...]

The post The Gospel of Luke: Who Wrote It? When? And Why? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

If you already have Matthew and Mark, why would you need Luke?  Aren't they all the same? Nope. Next question:  do you know these Gospels very well?  If not, AOK:  Keep reading!  If so – see if you can summarize the themes and emphases of Luke in one sentence (say, 50 words) in a way [...]

The post The Gospel of Luke in a Nutshell appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

In my previous posts I have pointed out that the Gospel of Mark  (unlike the other Gospels) portrays Jesus as trying to keep his messiahship a secret.  He doesn’t allow the demons to identify him when he casts them out; when he heals people he strictly instructs them not to tell anyone; he teaches his [...]

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Now that I’ve devoted two posts to the major sine qua non of the Gospel of Mark – one that lays out its major themes and emphases, the other that deals with who wrote it, when, and why, I can provide a bibliography of important works, written by scholars for non-scholars. You may find one [...]

The post The Gospel of Mark: For Further Reading appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Who actually wrote the Gospel of Mark?  When?  And Why? In my previous post I laid out the major themes and emphases of Mark’s Gospel, and now I want to turn to some of the key historical issues about it.  I begin with the author. The two most important things to note are (1) every [...]

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How could Jesus be the messiah?  Wasn’t the messiah to be a powerful figure sent from God to overthrow the enemies of the Jews and establish a new kingdom on earth?  How could a person publicly humiliated and tortured to death by his enemies be considered the Mighty One to Come?  That is the question [...]

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This is now my 40th year of teaching at a university, 36 of the years at UNC Chapel Hill and 4 before that at Rutgers as a 28 year old.  It very nearly didn't happen at all.  Life is so strange. I was on the job market while I was writing my dissertation.. And even [...]

The post The Flukes of Life: How I Almost Never Became a Professor appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

My previous posts were dealing with the themes and historical context of the Gospel of Matthew, along  with a list of suggested readings for those who want to go deeper. I would like to go deeper myself by returning at greater length to one of the most puzzling features of Matthew, its relationship to Judaism.  [...]

The post Was (the author of ) Matthew Really a Jew? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

Now that I’ve devoted two posts to the major sine qua non of Matthew’s Gospel – one that lays out its major themes and emphases, the other that deals with who wrote it, when, and why, I can provide a bibliography  of important works, written by scholars for non-scholars.  You may find one or more [...]

The post The Gospel of Matthew: For Further Reading appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.