If the accounts of Jesus’ life found in the four gospels contain contradictions, how can we know what the historical Jesus actually said and did? Dr. Bart Ehrman explains how scholars sort historical truth from theological fiction!

As an historian, I’m pretty much always interested in ancient writing. Give me a document written a few thousand years ago, and I’ll be entertained for hours. My guest today is similarly minded, except his passion for the Gospel of John has sustained him for the last decade. Today, Dr. Hugo Mendez joins me to talk about why he thinks the Gospel of John was written, and the ways the author tried to achieve his goal.

Just how many ways can one person explain how Jesus’ death and resurrection saves humanity? In the case of the apostle Paul, the answer is probably more than you think! Why explain it in one way when you can confuse everyone and use exactly the same terms to mean totally different things? Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman is here to clear things up for me - and hopefully for you, too!

As an apocalypticist, Jesus was anticipating the end of the political system he was living under - but was he trying to hasten that end by plotting the violent overthrow of the Roman state? Does Jesus’ outburst in the temple and eviction of the money-lenders indicate a willingness to embrace violence to enact change? Why were his companions armed if they weren’t expecting violence? Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me to answer all of these questions and more!

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed."  That’s a passage from the book of Isaiah, and I can’t read that without my brain screaming “it’s Jesus!” to me… but does it actually predict Jesus’ crucifixion, or did Jesus come to be understood as a sacrifice because of the familiarity early Christians had with this book of the Hebrew Bible? Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman talks to me about second Isaiah, Jewish prophecy, and whether the writers of the New Testament were influenced by their knowledge of the Hebrew Bible.

Has Christianity been a net positive or negative for humanity? If you wander into an online debate between an atheist and a Christian apologist, you may hear an enthusiastic discussion on just this topic, with the Christian arguing that Jesus’ teachings led to the development of charity, hospitals, and orphanages - among other things. Are claims like that correct? Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman and I continue our discussion on the influence of Jesus’ ethical teachings on the Western world, diving into just that question.

Jesus’ ethical teachings are often touted as being revolutionary in the ancient world. The pagan cultures that preceded Christianity are commonly understood as being immoral, full of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll. Well, 2 out of three isn’t bad… But just how close to historical reality are these views? Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me for the first of a special two-part episode to dive into ancient ethics, and whether Jesus actually changed anything.

One of the main tenets of Christianity is Jesus’ divinity - most denominations hold him to be fully divine (and also fully mortal, but what’s a whole other conversation). History is littered with humans who claimed to be gods - think Egyptian kings, for example. Is this something that applies also to Jesus? Was he walking around, telling people that he was, in fact, god? Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me to talk about the line between divine and mortal in the ancient world, and to examine Jesus’ self-presentation within the gospels.

What if everything you thought you knew about the origins of Christianity was just one version of a much wilder, more chaotic story? In this episode, Megan Lewis and renowned scholar Paula Fredrickson dive into the glorious mess of competing beliefs, hidden gospels, and theological squabbles that shaped the first 500 years of Christianity. From grumpy Church Fathers and outlaw texts to pagans, prophets, and even Kentucky snake handlers (no, really), discover why Christian diversity isn’t a modern problem—it’s the tradition itself. Tune in for a witty, eye-opening journey that will give you a whole new appreciation for the beautiful, bickering family tree of Christian history!

Visions of supernatural beings or places are relatively common in the bible and early Christian writings - from wheels within wheels, to visions of the risen Jesus, to trips to the afterlife, writers record a whole array of fascinating experiences. Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me to talk about one of the less flamboyant, but nonetheless intriguing visions - Paul’s trip to the “third heaven”. We’ll get into the role of visions in ancient communities, what exactly a “third heaven” is, and why Paul chose to write about it.