We’re grateful to learn from Dr. Bart Ehrman about his helpful new book entitled “Journeys to Heaven and Hell: Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition,” which is published by Yale University Press. It’s a fascinating look into the ancient literature that describes descents into hell and ascents into heaven.
Dr. Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He completed his M.Div and Ph.D. degrees at Princeton Seminary and started his teaching career at Rutgers University. He has written or edited over thirty books, six of which were New York Times best sellers. His books have been translated into twenty-seven languages. You can learn more about his academic work and subscribe to his blog here: EhrmanBlog.org.
In this podcast, Dr. Ehrman talks with us about:
• Guided tours of heaven and hell in the ancient world
• Apocalypse of Peter
• How to read ancient literature (and understand context)
• What Jesus meant when discussing Gehenna
• Importance of reading academic scholarship on the Bible
• Ancient Hebrew ideas about death and annihilation
• Early Christian thinking on Jesus and his descent into hell
• Harrowing of Hell
• The Gospel of Nicodemus
• The Apocalypse of Paul, The Acts of Thomas, The Gospel of Nicodemus
• Origin of Purgatory
• Abraham’s Bosom: Rich Man & Lazarus
• Ancient thinking of where heaven and hell were located
• How to be critical readers of the Bible
• Academic study tools for Biblical interpretation
You can listen or download the podcast conversation here:
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