Is the New Testament Actually Greek Literature? 

Hello everyone, this is Chris Huntley, director of marketing for Bart Ehrman. We appreciate your engagement and interest in Dr. Robyn Walsh's appearance on our channel. We'd like to kindly request that comments remain focused on the fascinating insights she shared during the interview. Dr. Walsh is a highly accomplished scholar, holding a Ph.D. in Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean and serving as an Associate Professor at the University of Miami. We're delighted to have her expertise contributing to our discussions. Let's continue the conversation with respect for her intellectual contributions and impressive scholarship. Thank you!

Please keep us updated on whether Bart finds the Holy Grail.

Megan's variety of eyewear always adds some visual interest.

I find Dr. Walsh’s views highly insightful and helpful. When reading the gospels (as well as other religious literature), I usually think: Creative writers at work.

I like Bart Ehrman, but I love listening to Megan Lewis.

Dr. Ehrmans vast knowledge and expertise is endlessly fascinating, and keeps me hooked and coming back for more - the occasional guest keeps things interesting...and of course Megan's a gem! (Love the glasses).

Robin Walsh is awesome thanks for having her on the podcast

Very insightful! Thanks Megan and Robyn!

What a gift!!! As a pastor and person who went to seminary and LOVED this stuff, I am really loving the opportunity to be back in the weeds, if you will. Thanks!

Dr. Ehrman is always a win! But Meghan Lewis 😍, you are also a win!! Dr. Walsh 😍, thank you for your time. This was nice and insightful. You're a win too!!!

Great episode. Love Dr. Walsh’s perspectives!

Dr. Walsh brings so much to the table. I could listen to her all day, so glad she’s on the podcast today

To all the distracted guys: turn off the screen and stay with audio only 😂

Great interview! Both participants, are so easy to listen to. I always wonder where Megan gets her glasses. Such unusual! Love them!

“The Temple Tantrum” OMG! That’s the name of your next book Doc! Don’t know how many people have unpacked that part of the NT, but it deserves some unpacking 😊.

It would be almost impossible to over estimate the depth of insight that Dr Walsh brings to the subject... Thanks so much for the interview!! :)

Robyn gives a good insight of how contemporary filters can stand in the way of a more factual understanding, how it REALLY was then! Her approach of the material is really refreshing and therefore her contributing has added value. At least to me.

I'm a new subscriber and I wish I had come across this sooner. It would be good if more people exposed themselves to this kind of approach to these subject matters. very enjoyable and informative. I also enjoy the range of glasses that Megan wears in different vids. the pair in this vid are fascinating.

Interesting new ideas. Megan did a fantastic job introducing us to Robyn's views, would love to listen to part 2 with Bart pushing back from his "german" perspective!

Temple tantrum! 10/10. I really enjoyed this discussion and Dr. Walsh's ideas.

Very good scholarship from both ladies; thx!

I would love to share a pot of tea with these scholars! They are absolutely fascinating. Great chemistry!

Those glasses confuse my brain.

Fantastic. Thank you both.

Very refreshing approach to the text.

Very interesting conversation.

Fantastic conversation. Interesting scholarship. I've heard for so long about the Jewishness of Jesus, Paul and early Christianity that seeing the gospels through a classics/Greco-Roman lens feels like a big switch...but I'm listening. This interview passed the Bechdel test with flying colors too, which was nice

Fascinating approach! So much food for thought. I really appreciate looking at the literature as if nothing is known about it and then proceeding as with any newly discovered ancient text. I am now a retired pastor, but I have read mountains most of my life endeavoring to find out what actually happened and who were these people. It seems to me, without discovering more ancient texts that give pointed information, we may never know. Yet it is so important because these stories have had a huge impact on all of history that followed, on lives of real people, on hopes and fears, of control and freedom, etc.

I don’t understand why the idea that any author isn’t influenced by other authors is so taboo.

This one was so good. I feel it tells something about how the formation of religion happened, the coexistence of elites and commoners, their folk literature. The Greek and other literature mixed up with scholastic skills of early apostles and forming a new religion! It shows how religions form, roughly. How it mingles with local culture and becomes mainstream through time. Then we are told to believe it as the only authentic narrative. Your analysis was great. I'm glad we are not making new religions now haha.. I might get the red book only if I could afford it :pp Thanks againn

Dr. Walsh is an amazing scholar. Love to learn from her. Entertaining

I love how Robyn links the Germanic folk tales and Brothers Grimm to the folk tales of the early Christians, Romans and Greeks. And she taught me a new word that I can work with as a writer "Paradoxography". Brilliant! Thanks, Robyn and Megan!

Hey Megan. I'm amazed at the variety and multiplicity of your spectacles. Are you unfortunate and breaking 😢 them and having to replace them or........

Robyn is my favourite. Loved her book

Megan’s quirky glasses! I couldn’t focus 😄

I was reminded of the position held by scholar and translator Jacob Rabinowitz, who emphasizes in his rewarding 1998 book 'The Unholy Bible: Hebrew Literature of the Kingdom Period', that the Jews never lived in isolation from the larger sociocultural sphere of the eastern Mediterranean, and were significantly influenced by Greek thought and literature in the centuries of Hellenization throughout the Near East. This was evidenced not only by the Septuagint that came out of Alexandria, being the Greek translation of Hebrew scripture that incorporated new texts originally composed in Greek, but also Biblical texts originally composed in Hebrew which yet are suffused with ideas and positions rooted in Greek philosophy. Rabinowitz presents and translates Ecclesiastes and Job among his examples. Rabinowitz's overriding conclusion is that ancient Judaism and its texts developed and existed in relation with the surrounding cultures of the eastern Mediterranean, and modern attempts to understand and honestly represent the tradition should acknowledge this.

When Dr Walsh speaks, I listen. Her new course is worth it, fellow scholars.

Great interview! Cannot recommend Dr. Walsh‘s Paul course highly enough

It's not fair to the rest of us mortals that beings exist as breathtakingly beautiful and otherworldly brilliant as these two.

Love this. It's badly needed to bring a more Classical perspective on these books, because so many New Testament scholars only know Greek from studying Koine "New Testament" Greek which has led their translations and understandings to be circularly "theological." Yes, Pneuma can be translated (and usually was, in Classical texts ) translated as words other than "spirit" as Dr. Walsh says here!

Already signed up for the ‘conference’ during Bart’s broadcast on Sunday.

Love those glasses, Megan

Excellent TY so much

Meghan's glasses are making me go cross-eyed.

Excellent . Thank you !

Will there be an audio version of Dr. Walsh’s new book?

I have her book in my cart! Can't wait to read!

Thank you.

Thank you

Them Glasses are Banging! I Love them❤️

Great episode as usual but, I just have to say: Your new glasses are awesome. 😃👓

Megan's glasses are great!

I loved this. Why wasn't the book title in the notes?

I love Bart, I love Robyn Faith Walsh, and I REALLY love Megan’s glasses!

Meghan Lewis and her AWESOME glasses!

These two ladies are awesome!!!...👍🤔🤗✨🤟😎...

Megan, are you reselling your frames every week at a mark-up and giving the proceeds to charity? I’ve watched dozens of episodes already and I swear I have never seen you wear the same pair of glasses twice… and they’re eye-catching every single time!

Which other text in koine greek from the period is most similair to the gospels?

English glasses rule the waves ! ;)

What's the betting the holy grail he's after is Cornwall's best pasty?

Intriguing conversation! I like her rebellious approach! -- Consistent with the Digital Hammurabi motto "How do you know that?" For clarification, on the question of Gospel authors' relationship to a community (or communities), is it plausible to assume that one of their main sources on the life of Jesus was oral traditions circulating in Christian communities? And wouldn't Christian communities be their likely intended audience? If so, how much or how little does Robyn Walsh think this relationship influenced their writings? And is the idea Robyn is challenging simply the notion that the Gospel authors didn't have their own perspective or agenda apart from, or above and beyond, the Christian circles? And so, is her goal exploring how the wider Greco-Roman culture influenced them, and how this influence has been overlooked? Sounds very interesting! It is certainly something I haven't thought about much. I've got homework to do!

And why not the conference link in the notes?

Okay...I just started watching. I don't want to miss saying this though... *_those eyeglasses are boss, Megan!_* Love them.

Would love to hear Bart’s thoughts on this these views.

Where does Megan get her glasses I MUST know.

Walsh makes an interesting point. We approach the Bible as the story of one of the most popular religions on the planet. When it was written, Christianity was a Jewish cult. The majority of people in the second century would have thought of Christianity in the same way as we think of fringe cults today.

Here in Hawaii God has waved his hand and Exempted all churches from trash pick-up fees another great example is they'll form an exempt organization and never paid taxes net profit after they steal every dollar they can out of the exempt Foundation

What I see in the gospels are stories that pushback on the pagan gods' powers attributed to them. The gospels give their character magical powers that are equal to the many ancient gods people were very fond of. It's also obvious they used a great deal of stories from more ancient writers like Homer, changing bits here and there and repurposing them for their purpose. Also, there were lots more written than the 4 in the NT.

So my critique if you can call it that concerns paradoxology. I will preface the critque with this. We cannot be absolutely certain when editing occurred to the gospels. Although now it seems likely that Luke is second century and bits and pieces of the gospel of John are being added in the third century. Having said that. Paradoxollogy? Seriously. Most of what we have on this genre is after the third century. The only exception to this is On Marvelous things Heard, which is more or less a dirty laundry list of things added to a presumptive Aristotle, officially called Psuedo-aristotle and widely considered psuedepigraphy. I wish Robyn would go into more detail about subversive biographies, both extrabiblical and biblical.

Your glasses are giving me crazy eyes.

"I was raised Catholic, I was a terrible student." Too bad we weren't in the same school, hah! P.S. Megan your glasses look absolutely ridiculous this time.

Woah I love those glasses

😮 My alma mater. She must be new there!

This approach on the gospels must be applicable on the Quran too?

I’d trade every manuscript of the Bible for one new Sappho poem.

An interesting talk though it would be interesting to get Bart's view, Does it affect his models / interpretations? History is an arts subject and not a science where you decided decisively between 2 hypotheses. You get these different schools of scholars and there is no clear winner, (I started to feel queasy when studying OT literature and hearing about Black or liberation theology etc ) Robyn's approach sounds promising ... does it mean they should ditch research based on communities or are the Arts pluralistic?

My hope was to find an answer to the question: Is the New Testament Actually Greek Literature? Yes, No or Maybe. At the end of the video I am more confused that ever about this. The discussion is not structured and has no answer.

Must. Buy. Book.

The human brain/genome really has very few (repetitive) tropes, motifs and themes it responds to. Religion has branded the most powerful ones, eg, life after death, etc. It is worthwhile for anyone working with story telling and behavior, inlcu biz folks, artists etc - to dig into the sources. The academic professionals are doing us alla services to uncover how these magical-religious stories were cobbled together. I am studying Dr. RFW's book and others closely.

Love the glasses Megan

I apologise for being blunt, but the Elton John glasses theme is really starting to get to me…

how can i not watch this🙂

Holy crap those glasses make me dizzy😂

❤

She’s really smart and pretty 😍

Omg sine wave glasses. I need a pair. Both of you bring real scholarship to the table and I don’t mean to imply anything by such a superficial comment but I teach electricians and think the glasses are rad.

Megan's husband stole the Holy Grail when he was here last time and now Bart is away looking for him.. great episode once again! Nice glasses Meg.. we approve that also 😄

❤❤❤❤❤

13:40 - Maybe the early 1900s expositors had the attitude "I do want to seek truth, but we mustn't offend the church too much".

One other important aspect I disagree with - the urge to place an overwhelming emphasis on “The Author”, which is itself an antiquated and romanticized conceit! And with the gospels this is especially dangerous - for example, Mark Bilby argues each gospel has 2 or 3 distinct layers of composition over a period of 50ish years. Luke being an especially powerful candidate for this conceptualization.

Is there a Coin B Greek?

Great interview! I realize Professor Robyn has to detach her faith biases from her scholarly studies but, setting aside the literary aspects of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, I would be interested to hear what she thinks about the central theme that a common Judean man had challenged the Pharisees and Sadducees on the very real potential to replace Roman-appointed Herodian kings with that of someone entirely Jewish. I don't see that as being an idea that is out of the realm of political possibilities. The second challenge by Jesus to the Pharisees and Sadducees was his claim that they were practicing demonism -- not Judaism -- a point that seemed to find widespread agreement among the Jewish population. Jesus proved his point that instruction in the first two commandments of the Law was not being delivered to the populace by the Jewish authorities. When Jesus began teaching the Jews how it was they were to perform the first and second commandments, they followed him by the droves because they never knew how to exhibit their love for God or how to love their neighbors. Once the Jews began putting Jesus' teachings into practice, following the first two commandments, their behaviors attitude and demeanor changed, and they consciously made those changes themselves. Jesus' followers then looked like a different kind of civilized group of people that everyone else around them could see. Jesus was always respectful to the authorities, but he openly criticized them about their assumed station in life and lack of religious performance. They simply were not performing their jobs satisfactorily. Jesus taught the common man how to successfully challenge political authorities.

Hmmm? "The synthesis of these streams of evidence suggests that ritualized cooperative signals might have first evolved in the Early Pleistocene in the form of similarity signals, whereas coalitional and commitment signals would start appearing in the early and late Middle Pleistocene until, eventually, coalescing into a signaling system. By the arrival of (modern humans), it is possible that collective ritual as a staged and repetitively performed signaling act constituted an important adaptation facilitating collective action."

Normal hair color Megan is cool, but I like colorful hair Megan more. 😊

No cause as Nietzsche said "it's not even good Greek". The lacking of literary quality points to the fact that literary quality was not the goal of the authors. It was instead a message to the masses.

So Megan decided on her natural hair color so went funky with her eyewear frame!

16:30

Bart…Bart…Bart who???

Robert Coover, Open House

Seems from archeological findings in Pompeii or Vindolanda (a Roman fort in the UK) that much more people would write and read in Antiquity than scholars previously thought.