Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman

Around 170 CE, a Syrian Christian named Tatian noticed what a lot of readers have noticed since: the four Gospels don't always agree. So he fixed it. Tatian wove all four into a single, seamless account of Jesus' life. And for roughly two hundred years, in the Syriac-speaking churches of the East, that harmony was the Gospel. Then the church came for it. Bishops collected copies and destroyed them. Tatian was condemned as a heretic. Today not a single copy survives in its original language — we know the text only through a commentary, some translations, and a sixth-century Latin Bible that still carries its shape. Bart unpacks what Tatian actually did to the Gospels, why the church found it so threatening, and what it means that an entire branch of Christianity once read a Bible we can no longer read.

Most Christians are used to reading four Gospels. But why are there four? Why not one? Or twelve? The early Church thinker Irenaeus fought hard to keep Christians reading all four gospels, but it wasn't a foregone conclusion. In this episode, Bart unpacks how a four gospel new testament came to be, and what could have been the alternative.

In a recent response to Wes Huff, Bart said the only eyewitness we know of who's converting people is Paul. A lot of people pointed out that Paul never met Jesus. Fair. But Paul is also the only person in the New Testament who tells us, in his own words, that he saw Jesus alive after his death. Everyone else reaches us secondhand. Bart unpacks what Paul actually claims to have seen, why Paul is the only person who claims to see a resurrected Jesus, and why the earliest firsthand evidence for the resurrection suggests visions.

For many religious people who deconvert, losing their faith leaves a giant hole in their lives. They can lose their community, their purpose in life, and their understanding of how the world works. What does life look like on the other side of deconversion, once the dust has settled? Today we're talking about how Bart lives without God. We also have our bonus segment at the end, which this week is listener's questions, where I'll be asking Bart - among other things - whether he uses early Christian art as a source for his research.

In the Old Testament, Satan is a minor figure at best, and one fully under the control of YHWH. He appears briefly in the New Testament, notably in the temptation of Jesus. How did Christianity take those minor references and end up with the lord of all evil?

Those familiar with Dr. Bart Ehrman's career trajectory will know that he attended Moody Bible Institute, where he received his early training in textual criticism - but what is a "bible institute", exactly, and why do people attend them?

Did you know that Jesus wasn't the only apocalyptic prophet traveling around Galilee during the 1st century CE? If the answer is "yes Megan, of course!", then you probably know something about John the Baptist. But what do we really know about him, and what impact did his teachings have on the historical Jesus?

Last year, Wes Huff was a relatively unknown Christian apologist. Then he went on The Joe Rogan Experience, one of the biggest podcasts in the world, and spent more than three hours talking with Joe Rogan about biblical manuscripts, the New Testament, the historical Jesus, and the case for Christianity. The interview exploded online. It now has more than 8 million views on YouTube alone, over 40,000 comments, and it essentially launched Wes into apologetics stardom overnight. Wes is smart, articulate, and clearly very knowledgeable when it comes to manuscripts and textual criticism. But as the interview goes on, there are several moments where manuscript evidence starts turning into much bigger claims about eyewitnesses, Gospel reliability, canon formation, and even evidence for the resurrection. Today, I'm joined by Bible scholar Bart Ehrman. We're going to watch some clips from the interview and ask an important question: where does solid scholarship end and apologetics begin? Welcome to the Misquoting Jesus Podcast with Bart Ehrman.

Did you know that Jesus didn't believe in the soul, heaven, or hell? As an apocalyptic Jew, these ideas would have been completely foreign to him. So where on earth did Christianity get the idea that a life well-lived would be rewarded with a place in paradise for your soul? Today, we're talking about where the idea of heaven came from.

Have you ever heard a Christian say something about the Bible and wondered exactly where they were getting their information from? Today we are talking about the most common claims Christians make about the Bible that are not actually based in reality.

Have you ever read something in the New Testament, maybe the Book of Revelation, and wondered why on earth it's included in the Bible? Why were these specific books included, and why are they considered inspired by God while the non-canonical writings are just the work of humans? Today we're talking about the formation of the New Testament, using listeners' questions.

Did you know that scribes made changes to all of the books of the New Testament? Some of them were accidental, but some of them were very deliberate. The gospel of John is no exception - but what was changed, and why?

Atheists often accuse people of religious faith of uncritically accepting a bunch of myths - but do atheists do the same? How closely do people actually examine their dearly-held views and beliefs, regardless of their religious persuasion?

In the gospels, Jesus' suffering is on a sliding scale - from sweating blood, to calmly accepting his fate. What did Jesus think about his own suffering, and is it even possible to answer that question from the evidence we have?

Ever wondered what the first Christian praise and worship service sounded like? Join us as Dr. Charles Cosgrove unveils the mystery of the Oxyrhynchus Hymn, the earliest known Christian hymn with musical notation!

The resurrection of Jesus is probably one of the most well known stories from the New Testament. But how do historians deal with this miraculous event? Should it be discounted in its entirety, or can it be investigated using the historical method? Today, we're talking about what historians can and can't say about the resurrection.

The Old Testament wasn't written in a cultural vacuum, but who and what influenced its writers. Today we're talking about the cultural background of the Old Testament and how the literature and societies of the surrounding cultures impacted its creation.

Love him or hate him, if you're listening to this podcast then you're probably familiar with some of Dr. Bart Ehrman's beliefs - but how familiar are you with the ideas he used to hold when he was an evangelical Christian?

The doctrine of the Trinity - that there's one single God who is father, son, and holy spirit - is central to modern Christianity. But is it even in the Bible?

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls shook the field of biblical studies to its core. But did they actually change how we view the Old Testament? Today we're talking about the Dead Sea Scrolls, what they are, what they can tell us about the editorial history of the Old Testament, and whether they really show the perfect error-free transmission of the Hebrew Bible.