QUESTION: When it comes to the gospels, how do we define the ‘original text’? Do we define it as the original manuscript that was first penned by the author, or do we define it as the gospels in their most settled canonical form?   RESPONSE: As it turns out, this is a complicated and endlessly [...] The post How Can We Even IMAGINE an “Original” Text of the Gospels? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

I have recently been asked about how we know we have the originals of the books of the Bible.  By that, the questioner meant both how do we know the words we think the authors wrote were actually the words he wrote and how do we know the books we have are in the shape they were when [...] The post Two KINDS of Originals. How Do We Know We Have Either? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

A blog member recently commented on a radio debate I did on the Problem of Suffering many years ago; over the years I've forgotten a lot of my debates -- or at least what actually happened in them -- but not this one.  I found it completely infuriating.  So I thought I would repost it.  [...] The post A High-level Intellectual with an Infuriating “Solution” to Why There is Suffering appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

In this thread I have been talking about the role of women in the early church, starting with the ministry of Jesus, then in the churches of Paul (the first churches we have any real record of). In this post I continue by reflecting on Paul’s actual *views* of women; this strikes me as a [...] The post Did Paul Favor Gender Equality? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

In my previous point I talked about the traditions that indicated that Jesus associated with women publicly during his ministry – in an attempt to use established historical criteria to know whether the prominence of women in the earliest Christian communities may have had precedence in the life of Jesus himself. What about the contextual [...] The post Women in the World of Jesus appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

In my previous post I tried to show that women – contrary to what one might think – were quite prominent in the ministry and churches established by Paul. One naturally wonders why that might be, given the fact that women came to be silenced in later Christian traditions (continuing on in some rather notable [...] The post Jesus and Women appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

I have recently had some discussions with other scholars about the role of women in the early church.  I've dealt with that issue on the blog before, of course, but now that I look I see that my fullest discussion was a thread from over ten years ago.  Time to do it again!  These posts [...] The post Was Paul a Misogynist? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

Here is a final post dealing with the Quran.  Well, a post from years ago that dealt with the Quran and two other unrelated issues, in one of those rare moments some years ago where I decided to try a rapid-fire approach to questions I get.  They're all great questions!  Here's the repost: ****************************** Here [...] The post Does My Work on the Historical Jesus Confirm the Quran? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

My high school debate colleague (who later became a national debate champion as a sophomore in college...) use to always say:  "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity."  Boy did he ever get that right.  Here's another post connected with the Quran.  The post is NOT dealing with anything at all negative with Islam or [...] The post Fundamentalist Christians Are Not the Only Ones to Make Dumb Arguments… appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more

While I"m on the issue of Islam...  Here is a post of a question I still get at times, to my amazement. ****************************** READER COMMENT: I received a message on Facebook a couple of weeks ago from a person who has been proselytizing to me about the Muslim faith. This has happened a few times [...] The post Am I Converting to Islam? appeared first on The Bart Ehrman Blog ..read more