Millions of believing Christians, as well as theologians and historians, are convinced that the earliest faith in Jesus’ resurrection had to do with the assertion that his dead body was revived in a tomb–and that he walked out of that tomb on the third day after his death, as a…
Just a quick announcement that my new course titled: “The Quest for the Historical Paul: Apostle or Apostate,” is out at last. I will be launching a wider wave of publicity later this week but wanted you all to have the link first, if you are ready to dive in.…
This is a continuation of the topic I explored in the previous post. The assumption of many scholars is that Paul, even in his preaching of what he calls “his Gospel” to the Gentiles, was just reflecting a more open version of the core message of Jesus, the Twelve, and…
I gave this short overview lecture recently to a group of my students and patrons members and wanted to share it with all of you. It explores the possible break between Paul and his “Gospel” and that of the Jerusalem followers of Jesus led by James the Just. You may…
This is an unedited “outtake” from a wide-ranging interview from 2007, hosted by Ted Koppel. Simcha Jacobovici and James Cameron had just released their documentary on Discovery Channel “The Lost Tomb of Jesus ” available Youtube. Don’t Miss this One! It was right out of the gate. https://youtu.be/R9WSQYvp88c For an…
I have had quite a few people send me emails asking if I recommend Barth Ehrman’s newly released “Biblical Studies Academy.” I now have much more information as to the details and I do recommend this for those of you who have the time to take advantage of what is…
I learned this single CORE idea from Jonathan Z. Smith, the greatest historian of religion of our time, during the first week of the first class I had from him at the University of Chicago called simply “Hellenistic Religion.” It remains the case that very few in my academic field…
Here is an much expanded version of some of what I presented at the Ehrman NINT conference on Paul over the weekend. it is quite long and goes deeply into many important texts, tailor made for a group such as ours, made up of those who have searched the historical…
Perhaps many readers are familiar with the work of Gary Habermas on what he calls the “Minimal Facts” argument for proving that the resurrection of Jesus on Easter is a verifiable historical fact. In this extended two part interview with Youtube host Thomas Westbrook ( @HolyKoolaid ), we explore our earliest…
As many of you know, I have highly recommended the upcoming September virtual conference on Paul and his letters sponsored by Bart Ehrman. There was an “early-bird” price that ended last Saturday at midnight. But guess what? I was able to get a special CODE that will continue to give…