Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian

historical Jesus

Select a Category 1 Corinthians 1 John 1 Peter 1 Samuel 1 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Corinthians 2 Kings 2 Peter 2 Samuel 2 Thessalonians 2 Timothy academia Acts of the Apostles afterlife Akhaten Alcatraz American Academy of Religion Amos Anglican Arabic Aramaic archaeology art artificial intelligence astronomy atheism atonement Babylon 5 Baptists Battlestar Galactica Bible Biblical Studies Carnival biblioblogging Black Mirror Blade Runner Book of Job book review Buddhism Call for Papers China Christianity Christmas Christology Chronicles Coptic creation Daniel Deuteronomy Doctor Who Dune Easter Ecclesiastes economics education Eldad Keynan Enoch Seminar Ephesians eschatology Esther Evangelicals evolution Exodus Expanse Ezekiel Ezra fantasy Fringe fundamentalism Galatians games Ge'ez genealogy Genesis Gnosticism Gospel of Jesus' Wife Gospel of John Gospel of Judas Gospel of Luke Gospel of Mark Gospel of Matthew Gospel of Peter Gospel of Thomas Greek Harry Potter Hebrew Hebrews Hinduism historical Jesus history Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Holidays horror Hosea humor incarnation India inerrancy information literacy inspirational Intelligent Design Ireland Isaiah Islam Israel Italy James Jeremiah John the Baptist Jonah Joshua Judaism Jude Judges Judith Lamentations languages Latin Leviticus libraries literature Lord of the Rings LOST Mandaeans Mandaic memes Methodism Micah monotheism morality Mormons movies music mythicism NASSCAL Nehemiah new perspective New Testament news Numbers Orthodox paganism panentheism pantheism Patheos Paul and his letters Pentecostals Philippians Philippians 2:6-11 philosophy physics Planet of the Apes podcast politics Progressive Christianity Protestantism Proverbs Psalms pseudoscience racism religion Revelation Roman Catholicism Romania Romans Ruth scams science science fiction Secret Gospel of Mark Society of Biblical Literature Song of Songs Star Trek Star Wars Stargate Swahili Syriac Taoism technology Terminator The Handmaid's Tale The Hobbit The Matrix theodicy theology theory Timeless Titus tomb Torchwood travel TRON Uncategorized United Kingdom Westworld X-Files young-earth creationism Zechariah

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 February 2007 January 2001

August 2026

August 13, 2026

The Obsolete Paradigm of a Purely Mythical Jesus

If one were permitted to give one's short reviews in the Journal for the Study...

July 2025

July 01, 2025

Scholarship is Not Merely Skepticism

Being appropriately skeptical is an important tool in the toolbox of the academic, but scholarship...

April 2025

April 20, 2025

What Can a Historian Say About the Resurrection?

Historians and Easter Historians and Easter do not relate to one another in the same...

March 2024

March 04, 2024

Breaking Jesus’ Roof

One possible avenue I've been thinking of exploring as a next book project is the...

September 2023

September 27, 2023

Biblical Prequels, Sequels, and Such

I had a delightful conversation with Elliot Saxton on his Brave New History YouTube channel....

September 25, 2023

Coming Soon: Romanian Translation of What Jesus Learned from Women

For those who were puzzled by my previous blog post, it is a glimpse at...

September 23, 2023

CE A ÎNVĂȚAT ISUS DE LA FEMEI

Din catalogul editurii Humanitas, toamna 2023: James F. McGrath pune o întrebare care cu siguranță...

April 2023

April 19, 2023

The Doubting Dozen

As a follow-up to my post about so-called Doubting Thomas and the story about him...

March 2023

March 06, 2023

Bread, Wine, and Lamb at the Last Supper

Sometimes moments in the church year or the liturgy spark insights in scholars in attendance....

August 2022

August 17, 2022

Revisiting Mythicism

It has been fascinating to revisit the topic of mythicism on the MythVision YouTube channel...

February 2022

February 28, 2022

Jesus and Nonviolence

I asked my Sunday school class to take a detour into a topic that I...

January 2022

January 12, 2022

The Contradictory Dates for the Birth of Jesus

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke tell stories about Jesus' birth and infancy with incompatible...

December 2021

December 20, 2021

New Review of What Jesus Learned from Women

Clif Hostetler wrote the following on Amazon as a review of my book What Jesus...

December 13, 2021

Mythicism and Typology

I shared some thoughts in comments on this blog related to mythicism and historical method....

November 2021

November 05, 2021

Triangulating on John the Baptist from Christianity and Essenism?

Recently I have been listening to the audiobook of John Bergsma's book Jesus and the...

September 2021

September 06, 2021

Jesus Snorted Like a Horse

In a book discussion about my book What Jesus Learned from Women Elizabeth Raine pointed out that,...

June 2021

June 08, 2021

Was Paul Uninterested in the Historical Jesus?

Was Paul interested in the historical Jesus? One can answer "no" quite easily. The "historical...

May 2021

May 12, 2021

What Jesus Learned from Women: More Reviews

There is an incredibly detailed, thoughtful, and reflective review by Bob Cornwall on his blog....

May 09, 2021

Mythicism and the Early Christian Band

The last of my guest posts on Bart Ehrman’s blog about my book What Jesus...

April 2021

April 19, 2021

What Jesus Learned from Women: An Upcoming Conversation

Mark your calendars! On May 23rd my church will be hosting an online discussion of...

April 03, 2021

The Divinity of Christ and the Learning Jesus Continued

Here is an edited and expanded version of what I wrote on Facebook the day...

April 01, 2021

What God Learned from Women?

Let me start by highlighting that my WFYI radio appearance yesterday is now available on...

March 2021

March 31, 2021

Tune IN to All IN Today!

Today I will appear on my local public radio station, WFYI, 90.1 FM if you...

March 10, 2021

What Jesus Learned from Women: Insights

Jonathan Foye asked me some questions with a view to writing an article about my...

March 09, 2021

Breaking the Last Taboo in Historical Jesus (with Help from Women)

I have mentioned before that I want to return sometime to write a book that...

March 03, 2021

What Jesus Learned from Women Press Kit Q&A

I thought I would share here on the blog a few brief questions and answers...

February 2021

February 25, 2021

The Writing on the Floor

The next issue of Biblical Archaeology Review will be out in a few days. It...

February 09, 2021

What Jesus Learned from Women Cover

I am excited to share some updates about my book What Jesus Learned from Women, which...

February 06, 2021

Conservative and Liberal Biblical Scholarship

In a recent blog post, Ian Paul pushes back on some points John Barton makes...

February 03, 2021

Religion in Galilee and Judaea

One of the ideas I am exploring in connection with my research on the historical...

Related posts from Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath

Family

The Fourth Synoptic Gospel

Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath

Family

What Paul Knew About Jesus

Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath

Family

Reviews of Beyond Deconstruction (and an Easter Excerpt)

Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath

Family

Nerd Faith

Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. McGrath

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos