Bart D. Ehrman's Blog, page 372

I am deeply touched and highly appreciative of the response to my request for donations that would allow readers who very much want to be members of the blog, but who simply cannot afford the membership fees, to have a one-year subscription. The outpouring of support was very gratifying and humbling. We have received $1800 in this appeal – enough for 72 memberships. Fantastic.

I am now about to announce the possibility in the public forum of the blog and on my facebook page. It will be very i...

In my post of yesterday I moved beyond the simple errors of Aslan’sZealotto discuss more substantive issues, taking his chapter “Zeal for your House” as both central to his argument (as he himself maintains) and highly problematic. Within the seven pages of this key chapter, I indicated that there are, by my count, six major problems, two of which I dealt with yesterday and the other four I will deal with here. Not only are some of the “historical” events that Aslan describes in this chapter...

In my post of yesterday I moved beyond the simple errors of Aslan’s Zealot to discuss more substantive issues, taking his chapter “Zeal for your House” as both central to his argument (as he himself maintains) and highly problematic. Within the seven pages of this key chapter, I indicated that there are, by my count, six major problems, two of which I dealt with yesterday and the other four I will deal with here. Not only are some of the “historical” events that Aslan describes in this chapte...

After his 70-page introduction to the history of first-century Palestine, which I enjoyed, even if it was skewed to set up his thesis of Jesus as another-one-of-those-zealots, Aslan sets the stage for his entire discussion of the historical Jesus, in Part II, with his Prologue, “Zeal for your House.” Aslan sees the set of stories relates in this chapter as paradigmatic for understanding Jesus’ message and mission. As he says, this story, “more than any other word or deed, helps reveal who Jes...

The post Aslan’s Key Chapter (For members) appeared first on Christianity in Antiquity (CIA): The Bart Ehrman Blog.

I have not completed my evaluation of Reza Aslan’s popular, interesting, and well-written account of Jesus, Zealot. To this point I have merely tried to show that despite his claims (e.g. in the Fox News interview) of being an expert who is qualified to write such a book, he is not an expert – in the ancient world, in the New Testament, in the Gospels, or in the historical Jesus. When I began this discussion I understand that a lot of readers thought that I was just being snooty and dismissiv...

As many of you know, thanks to a couple of generous donors, I was able to give out some free memberships to people who very much wanted to be on the blog but because of personal circumstances, could not afford the membership fees. I put out the offer on my facebook page, and within twenty minutes I had thirty requests –all from people who were eager to join but simply did not have the means to do so otherwise. I had to shut down the offer nearly as soon as I made it. This has made me suspect...

In my previous two posts I detailed some of the historical errors in Aslan’s interesting and readable bookZealot. In this post I’ll say some things about mistakes he makes about the New Testament. I’m not sure which kind of mistake is more troubling – the book is dealing both with ancient history and with the accounts of Jesus in the NT, so both history and the Gospels are of central importance. In any event, here is a sampling of the latter.

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The post Mistakes about the New Testament in Aslan’s Zealot (For members) appeared first on Christianity in Antiquity (CIA): The Bart Ehrman Blog.

I very much regret to report that all the free memberships that have been available by a generous donor have already been given out. So please do not send in a request if you have not received one. Hopefully we will be able to make more available in the future.

Thanks again to the anonymous donor: and to the recipients, I hope you enjoy the blog!!

The post Free Memberships Already Taken appeared first on Christianity in Antiquity (CIA): The Bart Ehrman Blog.