Why on earth would someone study the scripture of a religion that they don’t even believe in? Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me to explore that very question!

Mary is known in the canonical gospels as the virgin mother of Jesus - but what else did early Christian writings say about her? Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me today to talk about the Proto-Gospel of James, and what it says about the mother of Jesus!

Have Christians always believed the Bible contains no errors or mistakes, or did this understanding develop over time? Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me to talk about the Christian view of biblical inerrancy!

Understanding where the writers of the gospels got their information is the foundation of source criticism - but how does that work when the original sources are hypothetical? Dr. Bart Ehrman is here today to talk about the Q source! 

Even though it was the religious text of Jesus, the Hebrew Bible is consistently overlooked by many Christians. Which is a shame, honestly, because it’s a fascinating collection of literature and an incredible historical document. Luckily, today I’m joined by Dr. Joel Baden, expert in the Hebrew Bible, to talk about exactly what it is, and how a group of disparate texts were formed into the collection we see today.

The first gospel recording Jesus life wasn’t written until approximately 30 years after his death. Dr. Bart Ehrman is here to tell us why it took so long for pen to be put to paper, and how this impacts their use as historical documents.

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!