Höre Misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman

Seeing or hearing a Bible verse being pulled out of a hat to support someone’s argument is a common experience for many people. Homosexuality is wrong because the Bible says so. Satan is the bad guy because the Bible says so. Women should wear modest clothing because the Bible says so. But does the Bible say so? My guest today, Dr. Dan McClellan, is no stranger to engaging in biblical debates, and is here to talk about how and why the Bible is used in this way, and whether such arguments are ever valid or useful.

Demons and ghosts have specific, sometimes ambiguous, places in the modern imagination - demons tempt people to wickedness, but their incredible power can be harnessed by someone brave (or stupid) enough to bargain with them. Ghosts envy the living and can haunt and harm you, but can also be the comforting presence of a long-dead loved one. What role, though, did demons and ghosts take in early Christianity, and are those roles linked at all to our modern understandings of them? When you get right down to it, just who is Satan, and is God's adversary really a fallen angel? Dr. Travis Proctor joins me today to talk about all of this, and so much more!

With Easter fast approaching, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are on the minds of many Christians. While it has been a lynch-pin in Christian theology since the formation of the religion, Christians - both early and modern - disagree on how it happened, why it happened, and the implications it has for human life after death. Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman elucidates us all on early debates around the resurrection, why these debates happened, and what pagan authors thought about the whole thing.

Unless you have sworn off social media, you’re probably familiar with the existence of “tradwives” - women who live their lives according to traditional, conservative gender roles. They often describe themselves as living biblically, or having a biblical marriage, celebrating that they are subservient to their husbands. Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman provides insight into what the New Testament actually says about gender roles and marriage. Is this style of patriarchal living actually biblical, and how would women at the time have been expected to live?

It’s not every day that you get to talk about an exciting new discovery in biblical studies - the ravages of time mean that it’s rare for a text to survive, especially a complete text! Even rarer is a complete text that records an entire sermon given by Jesus. Well, I’m excited to say that today is one of those days! Dr. Bart Ehrman is with me to talk about his take on a fascinating new text discovered recently in Egypt!