I love the idea this man spent his entire life educating himself, doing research and writing so i can get all that knowledge on a free pod cast. Saved me a good 20 years. Thank you sir!
@@kwill1911 Well, 1) he is a "six-time New York Times best-selling author" (as is mentioned at the beginning of each podcast), travels worldwide to deliver classes, seminars and speeches at prestigious institutions, has a youtube channel with 166K subscribers....there's just a few clues. And 2) I never said there was anything wrong with it. He put in the hard work, and luckily is now reaping the rewards for what I imagine once seemed an unlikely cash cow (i.e. Jesus).
I was raised in a fundamentalist church and was shocked and liberated after receiving my MDIV at Howard University School of Religion. Listening to your blog reminds me of my professors lectures. Thank you for your rigorous scholarship and teaching...very enjoyable.
Dr Ehrman, I just binged like 5 hours of your teachings in a weekend. I went to a Christian college and took several courses such as the synoptic gospels and have never heard the gospels taught the way you teach them. Thank you for sharing your teachings with us!
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm. What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules. I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
What I find so wonderful about Mark’s language is its liveliness, the way the Greek jumps into the present tense: “Look! He walks into the room! He speaks to the crowd! They’re bringing a leper to him!” I can imagine it being read out loud and the audience enraptured as if they’re listening to an amazing play or maybe even a podcast “🫢🎉👏
I cannot find the words to describe how good this series is. Two cool, intelligent people having a polite conversation about a deeply fascinating subject......what's not to like? And, IMO, this particular episode is the best yet.
The New Testament is not a corpus of books as Bart keep describing it. A Testament is a legal instrument which indicates that someone left a property behind and some instructions as how to manage that property. For the Old Testament, the property was CANAAN. The New points to the Roman Dominions which, as Mary sang it, the Jewish Messiah(Christ) conquered from Caesar and passed them on to the heirs who are the slaves, the poor, the widows, and the orphans... No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front of our current corpus was aware of the sack of Rome by the barbarians-Huns, Goths, Vandals, Lombards- and perceived the Roman Empire as a gift from God. Reading the New Testament without knowing that piece of history can lead to misinterpretation of it. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH(CHRIST), THE SON OF GOD FOR THAT VERY REASON...
I'm watching this 3 mo later, and having the same reaction: this is the best episode yet. I've read and heard this story for decades, but feel like I'm seeing it for the first time.
Am definitely a believer in the resurrection of Jesus (unlike Bart, who is famously agnostic) but I just very much love Bart’s treatment on the Gospel of Mark.
I grew up in a Christian household, went to Christian school and was involved in the church 3 times a week until I was 22. I am now I guess agnostic, but I love learning the historical background of all of this! I wish someone would have taught me all of this actual evidence growing up. Love this!
Bart mentions Jesus' silence before Pilate, saying it is as though Jesus is in shock. I don't see evidence for him being in shock as he had told his disciples what would happen. By being silent Mark is showing Jesus fulfilling the messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53:7 "He was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth." I appreciate Bart's talks and I will continue to read on my own too.
Yes, when Pilate asked, Are you the king of the Jews, Jesus responded. But when Jesus was accused.of wrong doing he said nothing, "And the chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. Then Pilate asked him again, saying, Do you answer nothing? See how many things they testify against you. But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled. I still say this is Mark showing one part of Jesus fulfilling Isaiah. If you don't agree you don't agree, but I am not alone in this view.
Isn't the passage from Isaiah exactly like Jesus is being described as in shock? Furthermore, there are theologies that say that to redeem humanity, the Messiah has to experience particular stages of life and it seems to me like Jesus had to experience doubt to redeem those who doubt. There are many mystics who have similar revelations-that the redemption is complete only after they abandon faith and find it again.
On the women (i.e. not male disciples) discovering the empty tomb: in a fair number of cultures, it is women's work to prepare the dead for burial. I would read it as that being the reason women went to the tomb -- and then of course they would discover whatever happened to be there. The real question I have is: if the women never told anyone, how did Mark find out what happened at the tomb? Even just in terms of the story-as-story, it seems to a modern eye like that would need explaining. I'm not surprised that later scribes, as well as the writers of Matthew and Luke, wanted something else to be the end of the story.
I think that's why Mark is such a genius. Just by reading this book, you would know that (assuming that the story is true) Mary would've told someone at some point. Mark entire story is that nobody understands Jesus. They're all amazed and confused by Jesus. By ending Mark in that fashion, he's inviting you to be a part of the mystery and confusion.
James Tabor argues in his Mark study that the author did have access to the letters of Paul, because of the mirrored wording in the Eucharist account. Mark 14:22-24 22: And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for many. 1 Cor 11:23-25: 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” The wording in these two accounts share language, as compared to the Didache Eucharist wording. Interestingly Luke’s gospel has both wordings taking the cup twice. Luke 22:16-20
Religious education can't do anything but turn you "religious". Becoming a Christian comes only by being born again. Dr Bart Ehrman, for sure, never experienced the birth by the Holy Spirit.
Exactly. It’s really disappointing when apologists that clearly have an agenda to propagate ignorance can’t grasp what Ehrman actually does which is provide clarity through facts what religious leaders and apologists want to keep clandestine
The New Testament is not a corpus of books as Bart keep describing it. A Testament is a legal instrument which indicates that someone left a property behind and some instructions as how to manage that property. For the Old Testament, the property was CANAAN. The New points to the Roman Dominions which, as Mary sang it, the Jewish Messiah(Christ) conquered from Caesar and passed them on to the heirs who are the slaves, the poor, the widows, and the orphans... No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front of our current corpus was aware of the sack of Rome by the barbarians-Huns, Goths, Vandals, Lombards- and perceived the Roman Empire as a gift from God. Reading the New Testament without knowing that piece of history can lead to misinterpretation of it. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH(CHRIST), THE SON OF GOD IN THE LIKENESS OF CAEASAR AUGUSTUS FOR THAT VERY REASON...
@@Pax-Africana “No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front…” My reading says the churches generally agreed on the 27 books of the NT around the time the apostles left the Earth. In fact, Constantine ordered Eusebus of Caesarea at the C of Nicaea, 325 CE, to produce 50 copes for Church in Constantinople. The same list of 27 was called “canonized” by Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria in 367. Then the Latin Vulgate was commissioned by Pope Damasus in 383. So the NT was a done deal a full generation before the Sack of Rome in 410. And that doesn't seem like very good evidence for Jesus being God. What's your expertise in this? Have you seen the parchments in Rome? Did you read the church documents in Latin or Greek? I trust Ehrman.
@@nextworld9176 Remember the original manuscripts are anonymous at that time and still are. The Catholics and by that I also mean the Orthodox who accept the symbol of Faith of Nicaea and Constantinople follow this naming of the books for liturgy purpose to make their ritual smooth... If as you said the so-called Church agreed on the books by the time the Apostles left this world, that would put the canonization of those books around year 95 or 100 when the last Apostle John passed. But Eusebius in his "Ecclesiastical history" paints a very different picture. By the time of Constantine, no book was agreed upon yet, and different community was prioritizing different books which is why Constantine convened the Oeucumeical Council for harmonization.....
Brilliant presentation! Thank you dr. Megan and dr. Bart for this wonderful evening. Easter is coming, and although I am no longer a practicing Christian, I relive the time spent with my grandparents and parents with nostalgia ...
Thanks for describing your funding program. Academics have lives too, and knowing people are trying to support them as people with real lives, and not just book writers who get paid for what they produce, is very nice to see.
Now I have to back and read Mark! Thanks for the homework, Bart...This was one of the most compelling episodes and Mark leaves us with a cliffhanger. Everyone loves a cliffhanger..
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm. What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules. I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
@@termination9353 There is no reason to assume that he existed at all… Barabbas (translated to son of the father) sounds like a made up name… for the made up story that the people could choose which of the two criminals they want to free, just like the Jom Kippur sacrifice. That story sounds like myth from start to finish.😂
Great video! Around 36:22 Bart says “…Everybody’s MOCKING him. People passing by or MOCKING him…the soldiers are MOCKING him both of the other people being crucified that day are MOCKING and both of them are MOCKING him and he is silent the entire time until the very end when he cries out Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” Please keep in mind that the writer of Mark has Jesus quoting Psalm 22:1 here. The author clearly understood Psalm 22 and clearly included this in his portrait and understanding of Jesus. Parts of Psalm 22 are below: 1: My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? … 6: But I am a worm and not a man, SCORNED by men and DESPISED by the people. 7: All who SEE me MOCK me; they SNEER and SHAKE their heads: 8: “He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him. … 16: “…a band of evil men encircles me; they have PIERCED MY HANDS AND FEET. … 18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. 19 But You, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me. … 24: “For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. HE HAS NOT HIDDEN HIS FACE FROM HIM, but has attended to HIS CRY for help.” … 27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him. … 30 Posterity will serve Him; they will declare the Lord to a new generation. …
Incrível como a mente humana é capaz de persuadir de uma forma tão astuta, pois cerca de mais de dois mil anos atrás esse escritor de Marcos foi capaz de escrever uma narrativa tão cheias de nuances para embasar o q ele queria q os outros acreditassem e até hoje continua conseguindo o seu intento, até hoje foi a melhor interpretação desse Evangelho q eu ouvi, obrigado Barth Erman
Dr. Ehrman is right in pointing our that Mark is a spectacular piece of literature. In fact, fiction as I see it. And where it's derived from, Dennis R. MacDonald and Francesco Carotta have demonstrated in their published works that Mark is a mimesis of Homer's Odyssey, his Iliad, and some Greek tragedian plays; and, a diegetic transposition of a lost but partially copied life of Julius Caesar. The reason is that Mark reads as an epic that ends in tragedy at the climax, then an apotheosis in the denouement. In that sense, it's similar to the career of Julius Caesar after he crossed the Rubicon.
The New Testament is not a corpus of books as Bart keep describing it. A Testament is a legal instrument which indicates that someone left a property behind and some instructions as how to manage that property. For the Old Testament, the property was CANAAN. The New points to the Roman Dominions which, as Mary sang it, the Jewish Messiah(Christ) conquered from Caesar and passed them on to the heirs who are the slaves, the poor, the widows, and the orphans... No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front of our current corpus was aware of the sack of Rome by the barbarians-Huns, Goths, Vandals, Lombards- and perceived the Roman Empire as a gift from God. Reading the New Testament without knowing that piece of history can lead to misinterpretation of it. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH(CHRIST), THE SON OF GOD FOR THAT VERY REASON...
Bart - Not sure if you or Megan read these comments? I hope you do. There has beens some scholarly thought that “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is a reference to the opening line of the 22nd Psalm. In other words, the 22nd Psalm is allegedly a Messianic prophecy fulfilled by Mark. Psalm 22 also talks about a crown of thorns, they cast lots for my garment, and a Talmudic commentary allegedly interprets a word as “nail” or “nailed,” which current Messianic Jews believe that Judaism actually does have some early pre-Jesus tradition that the Messiah was supposed to be crucified. Dr. Bart, what say you? Did Mark write this in and other crucifixion events to fit in with some things in Psalm 22?
I've always thought of the parables this way: If you make a straightforward statement, someone can either agree or disagree; those who disagree discount, and those who agree may experience nothing else. It's raining. I agree. Done. But as with books like Zen Flesh, Zen Bones or the Wisdom of the Desert Fathers, parables cause you to digest, consider, challenge, contextualize the information. It's a process by which we take a degree of internal ownership of the meaning, and that's more powerful.
Tuesday is my favorite day of the week, It means that I get to listen to another Misquoting Jesus podcast at work! :D (though Friday means I don't have work, and that's a close second)
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm. What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules. I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
Regarding the original ending of Matthew, could it have been the author's intent to emphasise that the women did NOT speak to anyone, thus confirming that the tale of Jesus came not from the fanciful tales of mournful women, but from the risen Christ appearing to his disciples at Galilee as was promised?
If the men were not told by the women to go to Galilee, then how did the apostles know to go there? Remember, those dudes were the dedicated lieutenants of a major rabble-rouser, and were high-tailing it outa Dodge to avoid getting caught, themselves.
A Jewish rabbi on TH-cam says that women would never go and attend to the dead body of a man. In our culture women take a nursing role so it doesn’t seem atypical, but the rabbi said in Jewish culture now & then this would not happen. I don’t know if this applies To family/ mothers also.
In Mark 15:39, the centurion says, "Truly this was the Son of God" In Luke 23:47, the centurion says, "Certainly this was a righteous man". I wonder which book is misquoting the centurion.
He could have said both and was a matter of emphasis with regards to how both author wants to convey to the audience. One author focuses on the divinity, the other one on humanity.
@@kuyab9122 Personally, I think most of it was made up for entertainment purposes. When I was a teenager, I read "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar". Even now I can remember being thrilled by the yarn.
@@tedgrant2 That is a reach. Manuscripts being written then of that nature are meant to be taken theologically and not for pleasure/entertainment value.
The New Testament is not a corpus of books as Bart keep describing it. A Testament is a legal instrument which indicates that someone left a property behind and some instructions as how to manage that property. For the Old Testament, the property was CANAAN. The New points to the Roman Dominions which, as Mary sang it, the Jewish Messiah(Christ) conquered from Caesar and passed them on to the heirs who are the slaves, the poor, the widows, and the orphans... No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front of our current corpus was aware of the sack of Rome by the barbarians-Huns, Goths, Vandals, Lombards- and perceived the Roman Empire as a gift from God. Reading the New Testament without knowing that piece of history can lead to misinterpretation of it. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH(CHRIST), THE SON OF GOD FOR THAT VERY REASON...
@@Pax-Africana I appreciate your elaboration on the meaning of the word testament. But I do not see your attitude and Bart's as opposed to each other. If anything your comment enriches his. I'd be interested in knowing who first applied the word Testament to the set of books.
@@StephenMBauer Bart and I cannot see to eye to eye as he keeps misreading Paul on the return of his Master. If Paul was convinced that Messiah(return) was in his lifetime why on earth did he start organizing family life and the life of his communities? He talked at length about the role of a wife, a good husband, the bishops, etc... Why not tell everybody to get ready for Christ(Messiah) was coming back. He tells Thessalonicians to go to work and anyone who refuses to work must not eat. All in all, Paul's mission was not to announce the end of the world but to interpret the New Covenant for the Gentiles to ratify and in so doing join the family of Abraham as spiritual Jews.
@@StephenMBauer Of course the one who applied the word Testament to the set of books did not decide decide on his own initiative as the Roman Church had always work through committee, committee of bishops, etc... So for me that issue of knowing who applied it first is irrelevant. One thing is certain, make the liturgy runs smooth played a role...
I really like Megan as host because she has some great comments and questions. I don't know the relationship between Megan and Bart but it seems close and trusting.
This is so much cooler than the narrative that is most commonly taught! The gospel according to Mark is great! It would make a banger movie or video game plot.
Very interesting. No wonder that Bart is an agnostic. Thank you for your work, both of you, and for showing me the gospel of Mark from completely different perspective.
another beautiful irony is that Mark was right on a meta level too: nobody understood his meaning either, until waaaaaaay later with the analytic framework of Messianic Secret
Thank you for this commentary. I'm sure it seems mysterious to many that Jesus said "Take away this cup", and "Why have you forsaken me?", but to me it shows that while he knew in his brain the reason for his sacrifice, in his heart he had fears just like the rest of us. So it's an indication that we can have direct access to God because he was partially human and we can empathize with each other. I think it's very moving.
Love his ways of explaining, easy to understand, and love how he often laughs and joking about it, I don't practice any religion but I find it interesting and fascinating. My question is that if the women in Mark never told anybody how did the apostles know that he raised from the dead?
The way Bart recited that poetry from Mark was breath-taking and made sense for the first time. Most renderings emphasise the _"forgotten me"._ Bart emphasised: _"My god! My god, why have _*_YOU_*_ forgotten me."_ I've been an atheist for almost 50 years, but I was moved almost to tears. I've not seen such an impactful and unexpected reading since Ian McKellen in the Rings. Most read the inscribed poem in the Black Speech in a sing-song way. McKellen broke the mould: _"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them._ _One ring to bring them all._ _And in the darkness..._ *_BIND THEM"_* {:o:O:} _(Edited for tyops)_
Since you've been an atheist for 50 years, you're not a young person. So, in a few decades, you'll learn how wrong you've been. You'll be amazed that you ever believed such secular superstition. Nothing to worry about, though, no one will be angry with you. You'll be in a beautiful world, with friends, family, and, even, pets. You can laugh at my comments. But you'll see.
@@billrener4897 The only one believing in superstition here is you. You have only one shot at life, and you're wasting what precious time you have on myth and ignorance, and desperately trying to convince others of your own false beliefs.
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm. What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules. I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
@@billrener4897 *_" So, in a few decades, you'll learn how wrong you've been."_* Tragically, you will never learn how wrong you've always been. {:o:O:}
Regarding the nature of the father/son relationship that you discuss around 16:00, this is a question that I've had for a long time. Modern readers of the Christian Bible often interpret this relationship in a pretty literal way: Jesus is (in some sense) literally the son of God. But, I've often wondered whether this misses the mark. In the ancient near-east, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that someone writing about a father/son relationship in the context of the divine might be invoking the same relationship that ancient Israelites had referred to for centuries that indicated a covenantal relationship--an extension of that found in the Hittite suzerainty treaty form?
Indeed, that seems to miss the Mark. I should ass that what we'd call adoption was certainly not unknown at the time. For example, emperor Augustus was adopted by Caesar, and he in turn adopted his sons. It seems that in the OT, though, while there are some examples of effective adoption (such as Moses being raised by pharao's daughter), there doesn't seem to have been a formal process for it. So it seems that the NT adopts this Roman custom, not only does God apparently adopt Jesus, but later on it seems all the Christians are said to be "God's sons" by his choice.
Wow Dr. Ehrman, Thank you for showing us what kind of a biblical book Mark is and especially the nuances surrounding the narrative. Lot to think about, digest, and discuss with believers. Many Thanks!
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm. What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules. I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
@@sally9352 What do you know of the Torah Law. the Law SAYS the Covenant would be broken and a New Covenant installed. Jesus fulfilled that Law. Jeremiah 31:31 -Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Thankyou Drs. The meaning to the author of “ The beginning of the good news (proclamation of good things)” probably incudes that after forty years (Mark being written in 66-70CE) the ORIGINAL liberating and status upsetting power of the FOUNDER’S message had been dulled by the 12 disciples and James in Jerusalem. ‘Gospel’ is mainly Paul’s word and ‘Mark’ presents stories and sayings arranged in a way to support Paul’s mission and views, even if he denigrates the understanding of the 12 disciples. ‘The beginning’ then carries the force of a ‘get back to basics’ or ‘back to the Bible’ polemic. Dr. G. Craig Fairweather.
On this point - Mark being written in 66-70CE - the first thought came to mind was that had a be a really bad time to produce a work like that, since the Great Jewish Revolt raged between 66-73. If 40 years after Jesus' execution, then maybe a little past 70 AD? Regardless, would have to wonder what impact the Great Jewish Revolt had on views/sentiments/etc. of the author and his community?
- The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own. The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives. Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story. It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
I have a strange fascination with the Gospel of Mark. Maybe because it's the first gospel. It's was written only 40 years after the death of Jesus. Sometimes stuff in the gospel of Mark might go back to actual memories about the life of Jesus.
- The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own. The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives. Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story. It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
What we need soon is "The genius of the Gospel of Luke" ! I'm looking forward to that video because Luke is my favourite Gospel It has that flying into space yarn.
It would suggest that Jesus did not chose the brightest of individuals to be his disciples. This seems surprising as he wanted them to go forth and spread his word to the Jewish Nations!
- The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own. The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives. Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story. It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
@@bluerfoot indeed. Not because of the Disciples, but because of Paul. As we know, the disciple came to nothing and Jesus Jewish remaining followers committed suicide on the mount in AD70 This left Paul to sell his version to the empire - with did not include the Jewish faith as Jesus taught. Sadly, Institutionalised Christianity has little to do with Jesus teaching - he said “change not one jot or iota of the Law!” Yet that’s exactly what Paul did.
@@johnsinclair2672and where did you get that quip from? "Paul's corrupted version"? Could you stop by my house later? I need you to paint some circles on my children's basketball court and you seem pretty good at that 😂
@@marcomoreno6748 haha good one Marco. Not a quip fella, simply an observation of what is written - facts, not thoughts, as confirmed by all textural critic scholars of the New Testament, worth their salt. Seems - until you learn to read, and not follow the gang, you’ll have to stay in the nursery and paint your own circles! 🤣
Dr. Ehrman. THAT was really amazing explanation of the Gospel of Mark. I am reading the Gospel again and trying to re-understand the entire meanings. Thanks a lot.
Really enjoyed this episode. I am starting to appreciate more the 'genius' of Mark. I think I had always been taught it was just an unstructured summary gospel that was very rudimentary. I think some 19c scholars in particularly put this across, Mark as kind of pre-theological, lacking the ecclesiology of Matthew, the Kingdom parables of Luke or the high-christology of John. Now I can see that Mk. is just as theological as the other three, that is, he has a 'bent', an 'image' of Jesus he wants to convey just like the others. The Armageddon book? I didn't even know about this, I thought your latest work was on Heaven, Hell and afterlife, which I found really interesting- I emailed you with my feedback on it Bart ;)
" He bent the image of Jesus." Why would He make up a lie knowing that he will be killed for it? The pagans put a rope around his neck and dragged him down the street until he died. They all died horrible deaths. It doesn't make sense that they would fabricate a lie to want to die a horrified way.
The woman with the alabaster jar follows the exact same sequence of events as Eurycleia did in Homer’s Odyssey….right down to the breaking of the jar and being the only person who recognized the master. Mark even provides an Easter egg that he’s using Odysseus a basis for his Jesus narrative. Jesus tells the disciples that the nameless woman who anointed his feet will win ‘far flung glory.’ How does a nameless woman win worldwide glory? She doesn’t…until you realize that the phrase ‘far-flung glory’ in Greek is ‘eury cleia’
This by the way is why I think there was a historical Jesus. If a group of Jewish men from Galilee wanted to make up a Messiah, they would not have made up a crucified criminal. That doesn’t mean that he performed magic tricks.
@@a.shadow9632 who said we can't? Why can't we study the scriptures in every way we know how? Sometimes together, sometimes individually? The point is that each author never intended to tell the entire story, they were limited in time and paper and so had to tell the stories that were most important to them. By studying an individual author we learn about what was important to THIS author, and try to figure out why it was more important to him compared to the other gospel writers
@@PatrickPease ...2Tim .3:16 says "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God...", so the writers were not limited to what was important to them, but instead, the important truths God wanted us to know, as He directed and inspired them to write.
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm. What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules. I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
My father was a great storyteller, he used to tell them to me every day, sometimes they took hours because I would not fall asleep, and his voice and facial expressions were like Bart's here and mine facial expressions like Megan's here. See 36:48, Bart almost fault in sleep, but not Megan, but at 41 : 44 she did finaly 😀
From my perspective as an author of fiction, this episode and the previous one for Matthew strike me in an interesting way. I see very clever storytelling, foreshadowing of what's to come, the characters behaving in accordance with the overall lesson (and seemingly changing to reflect the intents of different authors), and it all feels like very well-put-together fiction...but of course a very, VERY large number of people see it as fact. I don't want to just assume that because it looks like it _could_ be fiction, that it _must_ be (because that's garbage reasoning), so I'd like to ask a question to anyone who might know: Is there a non-biblical source of ancient writing of any kind that does something similar to these gospels, where real life history is being presented with these same traits? An overarching story, foreshadowing, a lesson to be learned, and so on? Anything typically used in fiction? Basically, is there precedent for ancient historical writings _looking_ like fiction at a cursory glance? Or would the bible be wholly unique in this regard?
You might want to look into the work of Dennis R. MacDonald and of Francesco Carotta. Dr. MacDonald states Mark is a mimesis of Homer's Odyssey, his Iliad, and Greek tragedies plays. Mr. Carotta claims Mark is a diegetic transposition of a lost gospel of Julius Caesar written by Lucius Asinius Pollio, portions of which were copied by other Roman historians. And I think I know who wrote Mark because the crucifixion of 3 men and Jesus's burial by Joseph of Arimathea is are strikingly similar to Flavius Josephus's rescue of 3 friends from their crucifixions in his Life 75. In fact, the name "Joseph of Arimathea" appears to be a slight disguise of Josephus's Hebrew name: Joseif ben/bar Matthias.
perhaps Plutarch's Lives? or the biography genre in general in ancient times. there's usually a lot of embellishment in describing the early years of great men's lives that play literary foreshadowing of their later acts
@@user-jq1mg2mz7o Common in the Biographical genre? That would certainly answer my question pretty cleanly. So, to see if I understand this: The style of biographies back in the day was to show the lives of important figures and what prominent things they did, and they fairly often did this by filling in gaps with details of their own devising to help infuse the techniques I described above, such as foreshadowing, to tell a compelling story, essentially turning a real person into some degree (be it large or small) of myth. And if that were the case, one thing we may expect to see with fair regularity is that different people writing the story of the same figure would describe the most well-known details of that person's life fairly consistently with each other (with perhaps only minimal changes in details), but the blank spaces in history (such as their early lives as children) would vary radically, as they were made up in large part by the author (or by hearsay and gossip from the populace around that author), each one tailored to foreshadow the specific parts of the story that author wanted to focus his attention on. And it seems like we see exactly that with the Bible, given the two wildly different birth narratives of Jesus, at least one of which seems designed expressly to show Jesus fulfilling prophecies, as per the consistent focus of that particular gospel on that aspect of his life.
Mark is what you get from a Greek philosopher creating a story 40 years after the events using all his knowledge of the Greek gods mythology. Another great Greek mythology story.
Fact or fiction notwithstanding... Perhaps too, all this "don't tell" leaves the reader feeling he/she is being let in on a secret that needs now to be both believed and shared.
One of my favorite books is Animal Farm and you could read it in a few hours - so much in so few pages. Great Gatsby too. Brevity is a skill, Moby Dick be damned.
Haha. If you really feel that way then maybe you should skiddadle and never look back. (I must admit, studying Jesus, I osscillate between utter fascination and utter futility. )
Oh don’t you hate that shit! Oh god. There’s nothing more frustrating as a human than wasting time. I just hope we have a god that takes that into his consideration when we attempt to try and get to know him. Cause I would absolutely hate it if I wasted my time believing in a name that won’t pull through for me. God has all the time. Man doesn’t. And he wonders why we are unwise.
A speculation about the oddly abrupt ending of Mark: Is it possible there WAS an appearance narrative later deemed inconvenient and removed? One plausible guess about what might really have happened historically is that after his death, some of the disciples had dreams and visions in which he “appeared” to them, getting the whole ball rolling. If that were recorded in an early conclusion to Mark, it’s not hard to imagine why it might start to get omitted as versions of the story where Jesus (perhaps more impressively) appears physically resurrected, presaging the imminent general resurrection of the dead, start to gain currency. Is this something any scholars have floated? Because the idea that the Mark author just chose to leave out what you’d think would be the most important part of the story seems hard to swallow.
- The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own. The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives. Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story. It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
@@HkFinn83 The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own. The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives. Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story. It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
@@HkFinn83 Is it though? Paul predates the Gospels, and he sure seems to think the resurrection is pretty central. Without that bit he’s just an executed criminal with some nice ideas. It sort of beggars belief that an author would be familiar with that part of the story and not think it worth saying anything about.
@@normative it beggars belief to you because you’re asking a question that isn’t really a question, you’re just trying to prove a point you already believe in. In Mark Jesus is the Jewish prophet that would be familiar to a first century Jew, later Christians would be more of the mind of the depiction of Jesus in John. Christianity changed and the metaphysical claims became more prominent.
Hey guys, Absolutely love your podcasts. Bart, you are a classic and, for me, definitely the type of straight shooter Jesus would have liked. And Megan, you are the perfect foil to his self-deprecating style. Also, I find Sumerian/Mesopotamian history fascinating, and with its proximity to the Levant, there must have a lot of crossover between cultures there. Even that Abraham is said to have been born in Ur. Wow! Anyway, I was brought up in the church and always found Jesus to be an admirable character, one worth emulating. Did he exist in the way the New Testament describes? Don't know. But Christianity exists, so something happened to change the course of history. That's why I love your objective analysis. Thanks for the effort. 😊
The "chrism" or anointing traditionally also involved the tying on of a headband and has a very specific idiographic symbol in Egypt and Mesoamerica which Ev Cochrane has linked to the great convergence of the "Comet Venus" and Mars some time in the Neolithic, and carried forward into many cultures. Ev recounts the history of how this history was uncovered by crosswalking various cultural traditions on several continents. If the Jesus Story is historical then these archetypes were also manifested by actual humans in an historical context around the time that the number of literate people reached a critical mass, and in the Mediterranean world also coincided with the invention of the codex which replaced the traditional scroll. It is time to take some note of the Electric/Plasma Universe paradigm.
I would also suggest that the reason for the pagan conversion is that pagans understood the archetype because of their own mythical memory, whereas (as Velikovsky notes in numerous places) the Jews had institutionally forgotten their own origins around the time that the Second Temple was constructed. So the Jews have forgotten that the Hero God/King is a sacrificial warrior. Besides the Talbot/Cardona/Cochrane account of this it also fits with René Girard's Mimetic Theory (mimesis being a kind of sentient magnetism).
15:26 - That's an astounding...pardon the pun...revelation. For so many, the _innate_ divinity of Jesus (either as _the_ Son of God or as God incarnate) is _essential_ to their understanding the Bible. To learn that the term _Son of God_ actually means _neither_ of those things is a real eye opener. It also explains why Luke and Matthew made specific efforts to reinforce a _literal_ Son of God narrative by...some would argue...reverse-engineering an immaculate conception, complete with divine annunciation to Mary and reassurance to Joseph. Brilliant of _all three really_ to also play the, sort of, double meaning with regard to how it's meant in Hebrew culture _and_ the alternative understanding within Helenistic society.
If Mark wrote this some thirty years after Jesus' death don't you think his narrative would be made to fit the history?As a disciple Mark would have previously thought that Jesus was going to be King of the Jews - like King David - and he would be part of the government. Jesus obviously got wind of his sentence and so he had to inform the disciples of his real future and asks them to arrange a Resurrection.
At 28:50, Jesus addresses Peter as Satan, not because peter doesn’t understand, but because peter is tempting Jesus to have a different result in Jerusalem.
About "having the summer off," remember teachers are not paid for that time. We're only paid for the part of the year when we are working. Even still we spend at least some of the summer prepping for the year, unpaid.
According to Dennis Mc Donald, she, the feet washer, is borrowed from the Odyssey, her name Euraclea, meaning "proclaimed throughout the world," the same woman who washed Odysseus' feet..
I love the idea this man spent his entire life educating himself, doing research and writing so i can get all that knowledge on a free pod cast. Saved me a good 20 years. Thank you sir!
The main difference is, Bart is making pots and pots of money from it.
@@theotheoth 1.) How do you know that? 2.) Why is that wrong?
@@kwill1911 Well, 1) he is a "six-time New York Times best-selling author" (as is mentioned at the beginning of each podcast), travels worldwide to deliver classes, seminars and speeches at prestigious institutions, has a youtube channel with 166K subscribers....there's just a few clues. And 2) I never said there was anything wrong with it. He put in the hard work, and luckily is now reaping the rewards for what I imagine once seemed an unlikely cash cow (i.e. Jesus).
@@theotheoth that's fine, he should be rewarded for the effort he put in. Getting this content for free is awesome in itself
@@Ybby999 See my point number 2: that's basically what I said.
I was raised in a fundamentalist church and was shocked and liberated after receiving my MDIV at Howard University School of Religion. Listening to your blog reminds me of my professors lectures. Thank you for your rigorous scholarship and teaching...very enjoyable.
How did your religious studies impact your beliefs?
Dr Ehrman, I just binged like 5 hours of your teachings in a weekend. I went to a Christian college and took several courses such as the synoptic gospels and have never heard the gospels taught the way you teach them. Thank you for sharing your teachings with us!
Thank you Dr Ehrman for providing all this great educational content for free and on such a big scale. It's hugely appreciated.
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm.
What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules.
I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
@@joeydutch7178 Nope. Just spreading around the word of God. You all seem to be deficient.
@Termi Nation alright 👍 👀
I agree scholars are really starting to become interested in educating lay people. Christians & Atheist a like should know the Actual story.
@@Zuzuboy1218 Yes, like James Tabor who retired about a year ago now doing yt.
I've been going to church for years, but I've never learned as much as I have from this one video. What an amazing gift. Knowledge is beautiful.
What I find so wonderful about Mark’s language is its liveliness, the way the Greek jumps into the present tense: “Look! He walks into the room! He speaks to the crowd! They’re bringing a leper to him!” I can imagine it being read out loud and the audience enraptured as if they’re listening to an amazing play or maybe even a podcast “🫢🎉👏
In a world of low literacy most people had to experience these gospels as being read out loud
The explanation of "Son of God" is so critical! Thank you for that!
I cannot find the words to describe how good this series is. Two cool, intelligent people having a polite conversation about a deeply fascinating subject......what's not to like?
And, IMO, this particular episode is the best yet.
The New Testament is not a corpus of books as Bart keep describing it. A Testament is a legal instrument which indicates that someone left a property behind and some instructions as how to manage that property. For the Old Testament, the property was CANAAN. The New points to the Roman Dominions which, as Mary sang it, the Jewish Messiah(Christ) conquered from Caesar and passed them on to the heirs who are the slaves, the poor, the widows, and the orphans...
No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front of our current corpus was aware of the sack of Rome by the barbarians-Huns, Goths, Vandals, Lombards- and perceived the Roman Empire as a gift from God. Reading the New Testament without knowing that piece of history can lead to misinterpretation of it. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH(CHRIST), THE SON OF GOD FOR THAT VERY REASON...
I'm watching this 3 mo later, and having the same reaction: this is the best episode yet. I've read and heard this story for decades, but feel like I'm seeing it for the first time.
lol hopeless
30 years in the Church or church adjacent and more light bulbs clicked on for me in this one conversation than ever before.
Church fathers need to start studying the Bible
Am definitely a believer in the resurrection of Jesus (unlike Bart, who is famously agnostic) but I just very much love Bart’s treatment on the Gospel of Mark.
I can hear the deep respect and love Bart has for the gospel of Mark.
I grew up in a Christian household, went to Christian school and was involved in the church 3 times a week until I was 22. I am now I guess agnostic, but I love learning the historical background of all of this! I wish someone would have taught me all of this actual evidence growing up. Love this!
Bart mentions Jesus' silence before Pilate, saying it is as though Jesus is in shock. I don't see evidence for him being in shock as he had told his disciples what would happen. By being silent Mark is showing Jesus fulfilling the messianic prophecy in Isaiah 53:7 "He was oppressed and afflicted yet he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughter and like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth." I appreciate Bart's talks and I will continue to read on my own too.
Except Jesus talks and says “you say so”. But in Isaiah “he did not open his mouth”…. Someone is mistaken.
And he Cried
Yes, when Pilate asked, Are you the king of the Jews, Jesus responded. But when Jesus was accused.of wrong doing he said nothing, "And the chief priests accused him of many things, but he answered nothing. Then Pilate asked him again, saying, Do you answer nothing? See how many things they testify against you. But Jesus still answered nothing, so that Pilate marveled. I still say this is Mark showing one part of Jesus fulfilling Isaiah. If you don't agree you don't agree, but I am not alone in this view.
Isn't the passage from Isaiah exactly like Jesus is being described as in shock? Furthermore, there are theologies that say that to redeem humanity, the Messiah has to experience particular stages of life and it seems to me like Jesus had to experience doubt to redeem those who doubt.
There are many mystics who have similar revelations-that the redemption is complete only after they abandon faith and find it again.
@@WolfAmongstRavens Yeah... and sheep and lambs can't talk.
On the women (i.e. not male disciples) discovering the empty tomb: in a fair number of cultures, it is women's work to prepare the dead for burial. I would read it as that being the reason women went to the tomb -- and then of course they would discover whatever happened to be there. The real question I have is: if the women never told anyone, how did Mark find out what happened at the tomb? Even just in terms of the story-as-story, it seems to a modern eye like that would need explaining. I'm not surprised that later scribes, as well as the writers of Matthew and Luke, wanted something else to be the end of the story.
I think that's why Mark is such a genius. Just by reading this book, you would know that (assuming that the story is true) Mary would've told someone at some point.
Mark entire story is that nobody understands Jesus. They're all amazed and confused by Jesus. By ending Mark in that fashion, he's inviting you to be a part of the mystery and confusion.
James Tabor argues in his Mark study that the author did have access to the letters of Paul, because of the mirrored wording in the Eucharist account.
Mark 14:22-24 22: And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the[c] covenant, which is poured out for many.
1 Cor 11:23-25: 23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
The wording in these two accounts share language, as compared to the Didache Eucharist wording.
Interestingly Luke’s gospel has both wordings taking the cup twice. Luke 22:16-20
I love how Megan always comes out with a new look and shares some new info that surprises Bart.
She would be stoned to death in your homeland for having blue hair.
Sorry to spoil things but I suspect that maybe part of their calculated schtick -- after all, nobody can embrace a holier-than-thou know-it-all.
Ehrman makes clear what years of religious education could not.
Religious education can't do anything but turn you "religious". Becoming a Christian comes only by being born again. Dr Bart Ehrman, for sure, never experienced the birth by the Holy Spirit.
Exactly. It’s really disappointing when apologists that clearly have an agenda to propagate ignorance can’t grasp what Ehrman actually does which is provide clarity through facts what religious leaders and apologists want to keep clandestine
The New Testament is not a corpus of books as Bart keep describing it. A Testament is a legal instrument which indicates that someone left a property behind and some instructions as how to manage that property. For the Old Testament, the property was CANAAN. The New points to the Roman Dominions which, as Mary sang it, the Jewish Messiah(Christ) conquered from Caesar and passed them on to the heirs who are the slaves, the poor, the widows, and the orphans...
No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front of our current corpus was aware of the sack of Rome by the barbarians-Huns, Goths, Vandals, Lombards- and perceived the Roman Empire as a gift from God. Reading the New Testament without knowing that piece of history can lead to misinterpretation of it. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH(CHRIST), THE SON OF GOD IN THE LIKENESS OF CAEASAR AUGUSTUS FOR THAT VERY REASON...
@@Pax-Africana “No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front…”
My reading says the churches generally agreed on the 27 books of the NT around the time the apostles left the Earth. In fact, Constantine ordered Eusebus of Caesarea at the C of Nicaea, 325 CE, to produce 50 copes for Church in Constantinople. The same list of 27 was called “canonized” by Athanasius, the Bishop of Alexandria in 367. Then the Latin Vulgate was commissioned by Pope Damasus in 383.
So the NT was a done deal a full generation before the Sack of Rome in 410.
And that doesn't seem like very good evidence for Jesus being God.
What's your expertise in this? Have you seen the parchments in Rome? Did you read the church documents in Latin or Greek? I trust Ehrman.
@@nextworld9176
Remember the original manuscripts are anonymous at that time and still are. The Catholics and by that I also mean the Orthodox who accept the symbol of Faith of Nicaea and Constantinople follow this naming of the books for liturgy purpose to make their ritual smooth...
If as you said the so-called Church agreed on the books by the time the Apostles left this world, that would put the canonization of those books around year 95 or 100 when the last Apostle John passed. But Eusebius in his "Ecclesiastical history" paints a very different picture.
By the time of Constantine, no book was agreed upon yet, and different community was prioritizing different books which is why Constantine convened the Oeucumeical Council for harmonization.....
Brilliant presentation! Thank you dr. Megan and dr. Bart for this wonderful evening. Easter is coming, and although I am no longer a practicing Christian, I relive the time spent with my grandparents and parents with nostalgia ...
This was a really fascinating episode. It added so much beauty to Mark's gospel. I cannot overstate my appreciation.
Thanks for describing your funding program. Academics have lives too, and knowing people are trying to support them as people with real lives, and not just book writers who get paid for what they produce, is very nice to see.
Fortunately for us laymen, Dr. Ehrman is a gifted teacher in addition to his skill , insight , and dedication as a researcher .
He profits from not telling the truth lmao
Now I have to back and read Mark! Thanks for the homework, Bart...This was one of the most compelling episodes and Mark leaves us with a cliffhanger. Everyone loves a cliffhanger..
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm.
What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules.
I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
@@termination9353
Obviously Barabbas is a fictional character.
@@ramigilneas9274 No reason to assume Barrabas a fictional character.
@@termination9353
There is no reason to assume that he existed at all… Barabbas (translated to son of the father) sounds like a made up name… for the made up story that the people could choose which of the two criminals they want to free, just like the Jom Kippur sacrifice.
That story sounds like myth from start to finish.😂
@@ramigilneas9274 There is no reason to assume anything actually, all based on your own belief 😅
Great video! Around 36:22 Bart says “…Everybody’s MOCKING him. People passing by or MOCKING him…the soldiers are MOCKING him both of the other people being crucified that day are MOCKING and both of them are MOCKING him and he is silent the entire time until the very end when he cries out Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”
Please keep in mind that the writer of Mark has Jesus quoting Psalm 22:1 here. The author clearly understood Psalm 22 and clearly included this in his portrait and understanding of Jesus.
Parts of Psalm 22 are below:
1: My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
…
6: But I am a worm and not a man, SCORNED by men and DESPISED by the people.
7: All who SEE me MOCK me; they SNEER and SHAKE their heads:
8: “He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.
…
16: “…a band of evil men encircles me; they have PIERCED MY HANDS AND FEET.
…
18 They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
19 But You, O LORD, be not far off; O my Strength, come quickly to help me.
…
24: “For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. HE HAS NOT HIDDEN HIS FACE FROM HIM, but has attended to HIS CRY for help.”
…
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD. All the families of the nations will bow down before Him.
…
30 Posterity will serve Him; they will declare the Lord to a new generation.
…
@David_UK286 ok Christopher Hitchens
@David_UK286 ok David. What propaganda are you referring to?
Incrível como a mente humana é capaz de persuadir de uma forma tão astuta, pois cerca de mais de dois mil anos atrás esse escritor de Marcos foi capaz de escrever uma narrativa tão cheias de nuances para embasar o q ele queria q os outros acreditassem e até hoje continua conseguindo o seu intento, até hoje foi a melhor interpretação desse Evangelho q eu ouvi, obrigado Barth Erman
Muito bom ver um falante da língua portuguesa aqui
she asks really good questions. they make a good team. This is very informative stuff.
33:55,
me: "Please say "missing the mark," please say "missing the mark"".
Damn
Easily the best and most thorough explanation of Mark that I personally have ever heard ❤️💙💜
I bet his course on Mark is really good. I think they're quite expensive (it's all relative) but I've actually considered getting this one
Astounding scholarship by Dr. Herman, and perfect interview skills by Megan Lewis.
Ehrman, damn you, autocorrect 😂
Dr. Ehrman is right in pointing our that Mark is a spectacular piece of literature. In fact, fiction as I see it. And where it's derived from, Dennis R. MacDonald and Francesco Carotta have demonstrated in their published works that Mark is a mimesis of Homer's Odyssey, his Iliad, and some Greek tragedian plays; and, a diegetic transposition of a lost but partially copied life of Julius Caesar. The reason is that Mark reads as an epic that ends in tragedy at the climax, then an apotheosis in the denouement. In that sense, it's similar to the career of Julius Caesar after he crossed the Rubicon.
The New Testament is not a corpus of books as Bart keep describing it. A Testament is a legal instrument which indicates that someone left a property behind and some instructions as how to manage that property. For the Old Testament, the property was CANAAN. The New points to the Roman Dominions which, as Mary sang it, the Jewish Messiah(Christ) conquered from Caesar and passed them on to the heirs who are the slaves, the poor, the widows, and the orphans...
No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front of our current corpus was aware of the sack of Rome by the barbarians-Huns, Goths, Vandals, Lombards- and perceived the Roman Empire as a gift from God. Reading the New Testament without knowing that piece of history can lead to misinterpretation of it. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH(CHRIST), THE SON OF GOD FOR THAT VERY REASON...
@@Pax-AfricanaBart is correct. It is not his fault the titles (NT) are misnamed.
Bart - Not sure if you or Megan read these comments? I hope you do. There has beens some scholarly thought that “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” is a reference to the opening line of the 22nd Psalm. In other words, the 22nd Psalm is allegedly a Messianic prophecy fulfilled by Mark. Psalm 22 also talks about a crown of thorns, they cast lots for my garment, and a Talmudic commentary allegedly interprets a word as “nail” or “nailed,” which current Messianic Jews believe that Judaism actually does have some early pre-Jesus tradition that the Messiah was supposed to be crucified. Dr. Bart, what say you? Did Mark write this in and other crucifixion events to fit in with some things in Psalm 22?
I've always thought of the parables this way: If you make a straightforward statement, someone can either agree or disagree; those who disagree discount, and those who agree may experience nothing else. It's raining. I agree. Done. But as with books like Zen Flesh, Zen Bones or the Wisdom of the Desert Fathers, parables cause you to digest, consider, challenge, contextualize the information. It's a process by which we take a degree of internal ownership of the meaning, and that's more powerful.
Thank you for giving me the gift of Mark as a wonderful piece of literature.
Tuesday is my favorite day of the week, It means that I get to listen to another Misquoting Jesus podcast at work! :D (though Friday means I don't have work, and that's a close second)
I concur
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm.
What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules.
I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
I too, don't work on Fridays. I love my life !
I have watched this video three times already. Brilliant analysis. Thanks for sharing Mark with us.
Bart, Megan. I love this format! Thanks for making these videos.
I am a believer in Jesus. This was an interesting and helpful review of Mark. I have a very detailed commentary on Mark that I will now re-read.
Regarding the original ending of Matthew, could it have been the author's intent to emphasise that the women did NOT speak to anyone, thus confirming that the tale of Jesus came not from the fanciful tales of mournful women, but from the risen Christ appearing to his disciples at Galilee as was promised?
If the men were not told by the women to go to Galilee, then how did the apostles know to go there? Remember, those dudes were the dedicated lieutenants of a major rabble-rouser, and were high-tailing it outa Dodge to avoid getting caught, themselves.
A Jewish rabbi on TH-cam says that women would never go and attend to the dead body of a man. In our culture women take a nursing role so it doesn’t seem atypical, but the rabbi said in Jewish culture now & then this would not happen. I don’t know if this applies To family/ mothers also.
And Romans let the crucified rotten on the cross for general deterrence, especially in the case of a capital state crime...
@@WMedl Jews insisted that even executed criminals were interred on the same day they died. Jesus was executed for heresy against the temple.
As always, so absorbing. I always come away wanting more!
In Mark 15:39, the centurion says, "Truly this was the Son of God"
In Luke 23:47, the centurion says, "Certainly this was a righteous man".
I wonder which book is misquoting the centurion.
He could have said both and was a matter of emphasis with regards to how both author wants to convey to the audience. One author focuses on the divinity, the other one on humanity.
@@kuyab9122
I wonder why the centurion thought he was executing the Son of God.
And how did he come to the conclusion that he was righteous ?
@@tedgrant2 The book doesn't tell much to extrapolate from.
@@kuyab9122
Personally, I think most of it was made up for entertainment purposes.
When I was a teenager, I read "Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar".
Even now I can remember being thrilled by the yarn.
@@tedgrant2 That is a reach. Manuscripts being written then of that nature are meant to be taken theologically and not for pleasure/entertainment value.
Had heard Ehrman call Mark a brilliant work of literature for a while now, didn’t fully realize it until this podcast. Thank you!
Bart Ehrman is extremely clear and concise.
The New Testament is not a corpus of books as Bart keep describing it. A Testament is a legal instrument which indicates that someone left a property behind and some instructions as how to manage that property. For the Old Testament, the property was CANAAN. The New points to the Roman Dominions which, as Mary sang it, the Jewish Messiah(Christ) conquered from Caesar and passed them on to the heirs who are the slaves, the poor, the widows, and the orphans...
No doubt that the person who slapped the title NEW TESTAMENT on the front of our current corpus was aware of the sack of Rome by the barbarians-Huns, Goths, Vandals, Lombards- and perceived the Roman Empire as a gift from God. Reading the New Testament without knowing that piece of history can lead to misinterpretation of it. JESUS IS THE MESSIAH(CHRIST), THE SON OF GOD FOR THAT VERY REASON...
@@Pax-Africana I appreciate your elaboration on the meaning of the word testament. But I do not see your attitude and Bart's as opposed to each other. If anything your comment enriches his. I'd be interested in knowing who first applied the word Testament to the set of books.
@@StephenMBauer
Bart and I cannot see to eye to eye as he keeps misreading Paul on the return of his Master. If Paul was convinced that Messiah(return) was in his lifetime why on earth did he start organizing family life and the life of his communities? He talked at length about the role of a wife, a good husband, the bishops, etc...
Why not tell everybody to get ready for Christ(Messiah) was coming back.
He tells Thessalonicians to go to work and anyone who refuses to work must not eat.
All in all, Paul's mission was not to announce the end of the world but to interpret the New Covenant for the Gentiles to ratify and in so doing join the family of Abraham as spiritual Jews.
@@StephenMBauer
Of course the one who applied the word Testament to the set of books did not decide decide on his own initiative as the Roman Church had always work through committee, committee of bishops, etc...
So for me that issue of knowing who applied it first is irrelevant.
One thing is certain, make the liturgy runs smooth played a role...
Watching this was time well spent. Thankyou both.
I really like Megan as host because she has some great comments and questions. I don't know the relationship between Megan and Bart but it seems close and trusting.
This is so much cooler than the narrative that is most commonly taught! The gospel according to Mark is great! It would make a banger movie or video game plot.
Very interesting. No wonder that Bart is an agnostic. Thank you for your work, both of you, and for showing me the gospel of Mark from completely different perspective.
Bart describes himself as an agnostic and an atheist at least a few years ago he did.
another beautiful irony is that Mark was right on a meta level too: nobody understood his meaning either, until waaaaaaay later with the analytic framework of Messianic Secret
As a believer in Christ, I appreciate Dr. Bart for encouraging non-believers to read and respect the Holy Scriptures. Thank you, sir.
Reading the Bible is the leading cause of atheism.
@@Nick-Nastithank god, lol
You may be a believer in Christ,nothing to do with the historical Jesus of Marks Gospel 😅
As a former believer it was Bart Ehrmans work that lead me to believe how BS the whole damn thing was.
The spittle in the eye motif is plagiarized from the Egyptian Serapis story
Thank you for this commentary. I'm sure it seems mysterious to many that Jesus said "Take away this cup", and "Why have you forsaken me?", but to me it shows that while he knew in his brain the reason for his sacrifice, in his heart he had fears just like the rest of us. So it's an indication that we can have direct access to God because he was partially human and we can empathize with each other. I think it's very moving.
Man, this episode is fantastic 👏 I'm listening to it a second time already!
Love his ways of explaining, easy to understand, and love how he often laughs and joking about it, I don't practice any religion but I find it interesting and fascinating. My question is that if the women in Mark never told anybody how did the apostles know that he raised from the dead?
The way Bart recited that poetry from Mark was breath-taking and made sense for the first time.
Most renderings emphasise the _"forgotten me"._ Bart emphasised:
_"My god! My god, why have _*_YOU_*_ forgotten me."_
I've been an atheist for almost 50 years, but I was moved almost to tears.
I've not seen such an impactful and unexpected reading since Ian McKellen in the Rings. Most read the inscribed poem in the Black Speech in a sing-song way. McKellen broke the mould:
_"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them._
_One ring to bring them all._
_And in the darkness..._
*_BIND THEM"_*
{:o:O:}
_(Edited for tyops)_
Since you've been an atheist for 50 years, you're not a young person. So, in a few decades, you'll learn how wrong you've been. You'll be amazed that you ever believed such secular superstition. Nothing to worry about, though, no one will be angry with you. You'll be in a beautiful world, with friends, family, and, even, pets. You can laugh at my comments. But you'll see.
@@billrener4897 The only one believing in superstition here is you. You have only one shot at life, and you're wasting what precious time you have on myth and ignorance, and desperately trying to convince others of your own false beliefs.
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm.
What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules.
I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
@@billrener4897
*_" So, in a few decades, you'll learn how wrong you've been."_*
Tragically, you will never learn how wrong you've always been.
{:o:O:}
@@ansfridaeyowulfsdottir8095 Clever response. That's all I feel like saying.
This was one of the best episodes yet. Thank you!
Regarding the nature of the father/son relationship that you discuss around 16:00, this is a question that I've had for a long time. Modern readers of the Christian Bible often interpret this relationship in a pretty literal way: Jesus is (in some sense) literally the son of God. But, I've often wondered whether this misses the mark. In the ancient near-east, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that someone writing about a father/son relationship in the context of the divine might be invoking the same relationship that ancient Israelites had referred to for centuries that indicated a covenantal relationship--an extension of that found in the Hittite suzerainty treaty form?
Indeed, that seems to miss the Mark. I should ass that what we'd call adoption was certainly not unknown at the time. For example, emperor Augustus was adopted by Caesar, and he in turn adopted his sons. It seems that in the OT, though, while there are some examples of effective adoption (such as Moses being raised by pharao's daughter), there doesn't seem to have been a formal process for it. So it seems that the NT adopts this Roman custom, not only does God apparently adopt Jesus, but later on it seems all the Christians are said to be "God's sons" by his choice.
@@KaiHenningsenagreed. Adoption was the highest compliment. That child was often the preferred child (see Octavius).
Just submitted two questions to this podcast for the first time. Really love this podcast. You guys are doing great work!!
Wow Dr. Ehrman, Thank you for showing us what kind of a biblical book Mark is and especially the nuances surrounding the narrative. Lot to think about, digest, and discuss with believers. Many Thanks!
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm.
What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules.
I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
@Termi Nation Jesus didn't come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, and the priest did not anoint Jesus.
@@sally9352 Jesus"if you want enter paradise,keep the commandments"
What are the commandments??
@@pubgpedia711 why are you asking me? What is your point?
@@sally9352 What do you know of the Torah Law. the Law SAYS the Covenant would be broken and a New Covenant installed. Jesus fulfilled that Law. Jeremiah 31:31
-Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a New Covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Thankyou Drs. The meaning to the author of “ The beginning of the good news (proclamation of good things)” probably incudes that after forty years (Mark being written in 66-70CE) the ORIGINAL liberating and status upsetting power of the FOUNDER’S message had been dulled by the 12 disciples and James in Jerusalem. ‘Gospel’ is mainly Paul’s word and ‘Mark’ presents stories and sayings arranged in a way to support Paul’s mission and views, even if he denigrates the understanding of the 12 disciples. ‘The beginning’ then carries the force of a ‘get back to basics’ or ‘back to the Bible’ polemic. Dr. G. Craig Fairweather.
On this point - Mark being written in 66-70CE - the first thought came to mind was that had a be a really bad time to produce a work like that, since the Great Jewish Revolt raged between 66-73. If 40 years after Jesus' execution, then maybe a little past 70 AD? Regardless, would have to wonder what impact the Great Jewish Revolt had on views/sentiments/etc. of the author and his community?
- The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own. The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives. Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story. It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
I have a strange fascination with the Gospel of Mark. Maybe because it's the first gospel. It's was written only 40 years after the death of Jesus. Sometimes stuff in the gospel of Mark might go back to actual memories about the life of Jesus.
And for centuries, it had forged verses
- The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own.
The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives.
Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story.
It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
@@termination9353 That happened. /s
@@KaiHenningsen Please clarify your question.
@@termination9353 how did they get hijacked by rome when they confirmed these stories with the apostles 🤣😂😂😂 that’s actually ridiculous
What we need soon is "The genius of the Gospel of Luke" !
I'm looking forward to that video because Luke is my favourite Gospel
It has that flying into space yarn.
It would suggest that Jesus did not chose the brightest of individuals to be his disciples.
This seems surprising as he wanted them to go forth and spread his word to the Jewish Nations!
- The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own.
The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives.
Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story.
It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
@@bluerfoot indeed. Not because of the Disciples, but because of Paul.
As we know, the disciple came to nothing and Jesus Jewish remaining followers committed suicide on the mount in AD70
This left Paul to sell his version to the empire - with did not include the Jewish faith as Jesus taught.
Sadly, Institutionalised Christianity has little to do with Jesus teaching - he said “change not one jot or iota of the Law!” Yet that’s exactly what Paul did.
@@johnsinclair2672and where did you get that quip from? "Paul's corrupted version"? Could you stop by my house later? I need you to paint some circles on my children's basketball court and you seem pretty good at that 😂
@@marcomoreno6748 haha good one Marco.
Not a quip fella, simply an observation of what is written - facts, not thoughts, as confirmed by all textural critic scholars of the New Testament, worth their salt.
Seems - until you learn to read, and not follow the gang, you’ll have to stay in the nursery and paint your own circles! 🤣
Dr. Ehrman. THAT was really amazing explanation of the Gospel of Mark. I am reading the Gospel again and trying to re-understand the entire meanings. Thanks a lot.
It's always a good day when Bart uploads!
Brilliant. Deeply thankfull to my professor Karl Kertelge now, who did not succeed teaching me back then of what I am blessed to grasp now!
Meghan! I collect eye glasses and admire your collection!
Bart D Erhman doesn't disappoint. I was super blessed by this episode.
Really enjoyed this episode. I am starting to appreciate more the 'genius' of Mark. I think I had always been taught it was just an unstructured summary gospel that was very rudimentary. I think some 19c scholars in particularly put this across, Mark as kind of pre-theological, lacking the ecclesiology of Matthew, the Kingdom parables of Luke or the high-christology of John. Now I can see that Mk. is just as theological as the other three, that is, he has a 'bent', an 'image' of Jesus he wants to convey just like the others. The Armageddon book? I didn't even know about this, I thought your latest work was on Heaven, Hell and afterlife, which I found really interesting- I emailed you with my feedback on it Bart ;)
" He bent the image of Jesus." Why would He make up a lie knowing that he will be killed for it? The pagans put a rope around his neck and dragged him down the street until he died. They all died horrible deaths. It doesn't make sense that they would fabricate a lie to want to die a horrified way.
I’m an atheist but have been kinda fascinated by Mark for a while, it’s a literary masterpiece imo
You two are absolutely the best thing on the internet.
“What do we know that we think we know?” Mind blown !
It's an extra interesting week: Prof. EHRMAN talking about the book of Mark & it's Passover week. I'm more invested in the former.
Wow, such a terrific series! Gotta love the gospel of Mark, my favorite gospel.
The woman with the alabaster jar follows the exact same sequence of events as Eurycleia did in Homer’s Odyssey….right down to the breaking of the jar and being the only person who recognized the master. Mark even provides an Easter egg that he’s using Odysseus a basis for his Jesus narrative. Jesus tells the disciples that the nameless woman who anointed his feet will win ‘far flung glory.’ How does a nameless woman win worldwide glory? She doesn’t…until you realize that the phrase ‘far-flung glory’ in Greek is ‘eury cleia’
Just found this channel. Awesome since I'm just reading "Lost Christianties"
This by the way is why I think there was a historical Jesus. If a group of Jewish men from Galilee wanted to make up a Messiah, they would not have made up a crucified criminal. That doesn’t mean that he performed magic tricks.
Why do we have to read every gospel individually and not collect the information from all the gospels together?
@@a.shadow9632 who said we can't? Why can't we study the scriptures in every way we know how? Sometimes together, sometimes individually?
The point is that each author never intended to tell the entire story, they were limited in time and paper and so had to tell the stories that were most important to them. By studying an individual author we learn about what was important to THIS author, and try to figure out why it was more important to him compared to the other gospel writers
@@PatrickPease ...2Tim .3:16 says "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God...", so the writers were not limited to what was important to them, but instead, the important truths God wanted us to know, as He directed and inspired them to write.
Jesus was announced as king of Israel in that choice between Jesus and Barabbas. Quickly said, Pilot dressed Jesus up as King, Pilot presented Jesus to the Sanhedrin and high priest among the crowd as "their King". Told the crowd to choose to crucify "their King" or Barabbas. The Saducees and High Priest chose "their king" Jesus to be crucified and instigated the Jewish crowd to choose "their King" to be crucified..... and so the Priesthood anointed Jesus as their king in order for him to be executed. And Pilat published this fact above Jesus head at a time when Jerusalem was most crowded of Jews from all over the realm.
What this accomplished was to legalize according to Torah law Jesus' amended covenant and make irrelevant all burdensome Talmudic rules.
I think Jesus and Pilat planned it together. Neet trick on the Sanhedrin huh.
@@lbamusic So wait. We know the Bible is infallible and literally true everywhere because the Bible says it is?
My father was a great storyteller, he used to tell them to me every day, sometimes they took hours because I would not fall asleep, and his voice and facial expressions were like Bart's here and mine facial expressions like Megan's here. See 36:48, Bart almost fault in sleep, but not Megan, but at 41 : 44 she did finaly 😀
From my perspective as an author of fiction, this episode and the previous one for Matthew strike me in an interesting way. I see very clever storytelling, foreshadowing of what's to come, the characters behaving in accordance with the overall lesson (and seemingly changing to reflect the intents of different authors), and it all feels like very well-put-together fiction...but of course a very, VERY large number of people see it as fact. I don't want to just assume that because it looks like it _could_ be fiction, that it _must_ be (because that's garbage reasoning), so I'd like to ask a question to anyone who might know:
Is there a non-biblical source of ancient writing of any kind that does something similar to these gospels, where real life history is being presented with these same traits? An overarching story, foreshadowing, a lesson to be learned, and so on? Anything typically used in fiction?
Basically, is there precedent for ancient historical writings _looking_ like fiction at a cursory glance? Or would the bible be wholly unique in this regard?
You might want to look into the work of Dennis R. MacDonald and of Francesco Carotta. Dr. MacDonald states Mark is a mimesis of Homer's Odyssey, his Iliad, and Greek tragedies plays. Mr. Carotta claims Mark is a diegetic transposition of a lost gospel of Julius Caesar written by Lucius Asinius Pollio, portions of which were copied by other Roman historians.
And I think I know who wrote Mark because the crucifixion of 3 men and Jesus's burial by Joseph of Arimathea is are strikingly similar to Flavius Josephus's rescue of 3 friends from their crucifixions in his Life 75. In fact, the name "Joseph of Arimathea" appears to be a slight disguise of Josephus's Hebrew name: Joseif ben/bar Matthias.
perhaps Plutarch's Lives? or the biography genre in general in ancient times. there's usually a lot of embellishment in describing the early years of great men's lives that play literary foreshadowing of their later acts
@@user-jq1mg2mz7o Common in the Biographical genre? That would certainly answer my question pretty cleanly.
So, to see if I understand this: The style of biographies back in the day was to show the lives of important figures and what prominent things they did, and they fairly often did this by filling in gaps with details of their own devising to help infuse the techniques I described above, such as foreshadowing, to tell a compelling story, essentially turning a real person into some degree (be it large or small) of myth.
And if that were the case, one thing we may expect to see with fair regularity is that different people writing the story of the same figure would describe the most well-known details of that person's life fairly consistently with each other (with perhaps only minimal changes in details), but the blank spaces in history (such as their early lives as children) would vary radically, as they were made up in large part by the author (or by hearsay and gossip from the populace around that author), each one tailored to foreshadow the specific parts of the story that author wanted to focus his attention on.
And it seems like we see exactly that with the Bible, given the two wildly different birth narratives of Jesus, at least one of which seems designed expressly to show Jesus fulfilling prophecies, as per the consistent focus of that particular gospel on that aspect of his life.
@@riluna3695 this makes a lot of sense! although I'm no expert, so I can't confirm this, even though it does sound plausible.
@@riluna3695 I think Bart has a book on this topic
To understand "My God My God, why have you forsaken me" Read Psalm 22.
Mark is what you get from a Greek philosopher creating a story 40 years after the events using all his knowledge of the Greek gods mythology. Another great Greek mythology story.
So..... who do you think wrote this brilliant piece of fiction? 😂😂😂
Take a guess, and I'll tell you who I think it was....
Fact or fiction notwithstanding...
Perhaps too, all this "don't tell" leaves the reader feeling he/she is being let in on a secret that needs now to be both believed and shared.
Sounds like Bart wants to interview Megan... It would be nice to hear about her non-profit for PHD students.
One of the most passionate things I've ever listened to.
One of my favorite books is Animal Farm and you could read it in a few hours - so much in so few pages.
Great Gatsby too. Brevity is a skill, Moby Dick be damned.
I think the key take away from Mark is that while no one in the story sees who Jesus truly is, the reader does and that is the real aim.
Yes. It is a useful writing technique to engage the reader and strike an emotional cord.
Megan's mic is too loud, or Bart's is too quiet
Yes
Typical....women are always loud.
Sexist.
All Who Read Will FEEL ❤JESUS JUICE
@@raya.p.l5919as long as it doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup, I'm down to try "Jesus Juice".
Given a long enough time line, Bart will free more souls than all of the 10,000 gods claimed to have, combined.
first 20 years of my life - down the drain
Every year you believed in any of the 1000s of gods went down the drain.
Just think of it as you were a Harry Potter fan for 20 years
Haha. If you really feel that way then maybe you should skiddadle and never look back. (I must admit, studying Jesus, I osscillate between utter fascination and utter futility. )
Try reading the Quran
Oh don’t you hate that shit! Oh god. There’s nothing more frustrating as a human than wasting time. I just hope we have a god that takes that into his consideration when we attempt to try and get to know him. Cause I would absolutely hate it if I wasted my time believing in a name that won’t pull through for me. God has all the time. Man doesn’t. And he wonders why we are unwise.
I could listen to Bart and Megan every day.
Bart provides important information, but his continual laughter makes him appear to be nervous about what he's talking about.
No, it seems to reflect astonishment and contradictions to traditions.
A speculation about the oddly abrupt ending of Mark: Is it possible there WAS an appearance narrative later deemed inconvenient and removed? One plausible guess about what might really have happened historically is that after his death, some of the disciples had dreams and visions in which he “appeared” to them, getting the whole ball rolling. If that were recorded in an early conclusion to Mark, it’s not hard to imagine why it might start to get omitted as versions of the story where Jesus (perhaps more impressively) appears physically resurrected, presaging the imminent general resurrection of the dead, start to gain currency. Is this something any scholars have floated? Because the idea that the Mark author just chose to leave out what you’d think would be the most important part of the story seems hard to swallow.
- The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own.
The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives.
Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story.
It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
‘The most important part of the story’ is a later concept.
@@HkFinn83
The Gospel of Jesus was originally one book, written by Lazarus in consultation with the Apostles [John 21:24] and published soon after Jesus left them on their own. The religion was hijacked by Rome, the Gospel was broken up scrambled adulterated into a bunch of competing narratives. Later four of those adulterated gospels were canonized with falsely ascribed authorship and a Gnosticism cover-story. It was the finding of an original Gospel of Jesus scroll in Jerusalem that gained the Knights Templar power over the Church and their eventual undoing when the church finally retaliated against them Friday 13th.
@@HkFinn83 Is it though? Paul predates the Gospels, and he sure seems to think the resurrection is pretty central. Without that bit he’s just an executed criminal with some nice ideas. It sort of beggars belief that an author would be familiar with that part of the story and not think it worth saying anything about.
@@normative it beggars belief to you because you’re asking a question that isn’t really a question, you’re just trying to prove a point you already believe in. In Mark Jesus is the Jewish prophet that would be familiar to a first century Jew, later Christians would be more of the mind of the depiction of Jesus in John. Christianity changed and the metaphysical claims became more prominent.
You should add a “skip the banter” thing we can click
Hey guys,
Absolutely love your podcasts. Bart, you are a classic and, for me, definitely the type of straight shooter Jesus would have liked. And Megan, you are the perfect foil to his self-deprecating style. Also, I find Sumerian/Mesopotamian history fascinating, and with its proximity to the Levant, there must have a lot of crossover between cultures there. Even that Abraham is said to have been born in Ur. Wow!
Anyway, I was brought up in the church and always found Jesus to be an admirable character, one worth emulating. Did he exist in the way the New Testament describes? Don't know. But Christianity exists, so something happened to change the course of history. That's why I love your objective analysis.
Thanks for the effort. 😊
Very enjoyable podcast thank you dott Bart ehrman ✌️
The "chrism" or anointing traditionally also involved the tying on of a headband and has a very specific idiographic symbol in Egypt and Mesoamerica which Ev Cochrane has linked to the great convergence of the "Comet Venus" and Mars some time in the Neolithic, and carried forward into many cultures. Ev recounts the history of how this history was uncovered by crosswalking various cultural traditions on several continents. If the Jesus Story is historical then these archetypes were also manifested by actual humans in an historical context around the time that the number of literate people reached a critical mass, and in the Mediterranean world also coincided with the invention of the codex which replaced the traditional scroll. It is time to take some note of the Electric/Plasma Universe paradigm.
I would also suggest that the reason for the pagan conversion is that pagans understood the archetype because of their own mythical memory, whereas (as Velikovsky notes in numerous places) the Jews had institutionally forgotten their own origins around the time that the Second Temple was constructed. So the Jews have forgotten that the Hero God/King is a sacrificial warrior.
Besides the Talbot/Cardona/Cochrane account of this it also fits with René Girard's Mimetic Theory (mimesis being a kind of sentient magnetism).
15:26 - That's an astounding...pardon the pun...revelation. For so many, the _innate_ divinity of Jesus (either as _the_ Son of God or as God incarnate) is _essential_ to their understanding the Bible. To learn that the term _Son of God_ actually means _neither_ of those things is a real eye opener. It also explains why Luke and Matthew made specific efforts to reinforce a _literal_ Son of God narrative by...some would argue...reverse-engineering an immaculate conception, complete with divine annunciation to Mary and reassurance to Joseph. Brilliant of _all three really_ to also play the, sort of, double meaning with regard to how it's meant in Hebrew culture _and_ the alternative understanding within Helenistic society.
Remarkable how Bart understands the crucifixion as rending the veil opening access to God, yet Bart has rejected his faith
If Mark wrote this some thirty years after Jesus' death don't you think his narrative would be made to fit the history?As a disciple Mark would have previously thought that Jesus was going to be King of the Jews - like King David - and he would be part of the government. Jesus obviously got wind of his sentence and so he had to inform the disciples of his real future and asks them to arrange a Resurrection.
Maybe so. The resurrection ball could have started rolling even before Jesus died.
At 28:50, Jesus addresses Peter as Satan, not because peter doesn’t understand, but because peter is tempting Jesus to have a different result in Jerusalem.
Bart and Megan.....love this series. Question: what is the evidence that Mark was the first Gospel according to scholars? Maybe do a show on this?
This was an amazing episode!
About "having the summer off," remember teachers are not paid for that time. We're only paid for the part of the year when we are working. Even still we spend at least some of the summer prepping for the year, unpaid.
According to Dennis Mc Donald, she, the feet washer, is borrowed from the Odyssey, her name Euraclea, meaning "proclaimed throughout the world," the same woman who washed Odysseus' feet..