Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 32

Is there actually any evidence that Jesus existed?  Are there reasons for thinking he was completely made up?  That  Jesus of Nazareth is actually a myth? I have been providing a series of posts connected with the various books I’ve written for general audiences over the years and now I’ve arrived at my book Did [...]

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Here is the second post by Robyn Faith Walsh, challenging what the majority of scholars think and teach about the relationship of Paul and the Gospels, and the implications for early Christianity.  Again, this is related to her book, which you can find here: The Origins of Early Christian Literature. ****************************** Paul makes sense as [...]

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I am happy to publish two guest posts by Robyn Faith Walsh, Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Miami, based on her book The Origins of Christian History. She stakes out some controversial claims here about the Gospels, contrary to what you often hear.  What do you think? ****************************** Studies [...]

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Hey Golds and Platinums: It's that time again — the moment you've been waiting for: the September Gold Q&A is just around the corner! If all goes according to plan, I'll be recording it next weekend. Got a question on your mind? Whether it’s big, small, or somewhere in between, send it my way and [...]

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Here's a set of questions I get asked a lot, expressed here with particular clarity by someone on the blog a while back. QUESTION: What are presuppositions? Why do we all have them? And how do we make sure we have the right ones, or at least good ones. Having come out of Fundamentalist circles [...]

The post Can We Get Rid of Our Presuppositions? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

  For some reason I don't understand (maybe someone can explain it to me), one of the most frequently watched lectures I've ever given was on "Jesus, the Law, and the New Covenant."   This was keynote address for the Mendenhall Symposium, in honor of the eminent scholar of the Hebrew Bible, George Mendenhall, on October [...]

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That's the KEY question I address in my book Jesus Interrupted (2010).  Here is an excerpt from the Intro where I press it head on : ****************************** One of the most amazing and perplexing features of mainstream Christianity is that seminarians who learn the historical-critical method in their Bible classes appear to forget all about it [...]

The post Why Don’t Pastors Teach What They Know about the Bible? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog.

I’ve been excited about this coming weekend’s conference (New Insights into the New Testament) for eight months now.  If you haven’t signed up yet, here’s your chance. You can sign up here:  https://www.bartehrman.com/new-insigh... This annual conference is not directly connected with the blog per se, except to the extent that I do both and both [...]

The post New Insights Into Paul! Conference this Weekend! Wanna Come?? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman...

In my previous posts I've dealt with some of the critical problems with the New Testament that many students have to grapple with (often for the first time) when they take seminary courses on biblical studies during their ministerial training.  One of the big questions I address in my book Jesus Interrupted (HarperOne, 2009) is why [...]

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What's it like for a devoted seminary student to be confronted with critical problems of the Bible for the first time?  Here I continue the discussion with an excerpt from my book Jesus Interrupted (HarperOne, 2009). ****************************** For students who come into seminary with a view that the Bible is completely, absolutely, one hundred percent without [...]

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