Bart D Ehrman Books in Order

Studies the gospel quotations in the works of the fourth century Alexandrian teacher Didymus the Blind, using them as evidence for the form of the New Testament text he knew and for how scribes transmitted the Gospels in his milieu.

Catalogues and analyzes Origen's quotations of the Gospel of John, comparing them with key Greek and Latin manuscripts to reconstruct the form of John known in third century Alexandria and Caesarea and to illuminate the history of the Johannine text.

Argues that some early Christian scribes changed New Testament passages in the midst of christological controversies, subtly altering texts about Jesus' identity to counter adoptionist, docetic, or Gnostic opponents and leaving a theological imprint on the manuscript tradition.

Edited collection of essays by leading scholars on the state of New Testament textual criticism, covering manuscript discoveries, methods, versions, and future directions, designed as a reference work for advanced students and researchers.

Comprehensive university textbook that introduces every New Testament writing within its historical, religious, and literary setting, surveying authorship debates, archaeological evidence, manuscript transmission, and the formation of the canon with abundant maps, sidebars, and study aids.

Reader that places the New Testament alongside other first and early second century Christian texts, providing modern translations and short introductions so students can see how canonical books and contemporaneous writings together reveal the movement's early variety.

Sourcebook of Christian writings from roughly 100 to 300 CE, including letters, sermons, martyrdom accounts, church orders, and theological treatises, chosen to illustrate the diversity of belief and practice in the generations after the New Testament.

Argues that the best historical explanation for Jesus' life and teaching is that he was an apocalyptic prophet who expected God soon to overthrow evil and establish his kingdom, and shows how that message runs through early Christian sources.

Great Courses audio course that surveys the sources for Jesus, evaluates noncanonical gospels, and applies historical criteria to sayings and stories, presenting a portrait of Jesus as an apocalyptic Jewish preacher within his first century Roman and Jewish context.

Introduces the many competing Christian groups of the second and third centuries, from Jewish Christian Ebionites to Marcionites and various Gnostic movements, explaining their distinctive beliefs and scriptures and how a proto orthodox majority eventually prevailed.

Primary source reader, coedited with Andrew S Jacobs, that gathers imperial laws, sermons, letters, creeds, and narratives from the fourth and fifth centuries to show how Christianity interacted with empire, defined heresy, and spread beyond the Mediterranean.

Anthology of noncanonical Christian writings from the first centuries, offering modern translations of gospels, acts, letters, and apocalypses that were once read in churches but never became part of the New Testament, with brief introductions to each text.

Condensed classroom textbook that surveys every New Testament book from a historical and literary angle, introducing students to authorship debates, Greco Roman and Jewish backgrounds, and the diversity of early Christian communities in an accessible format.

Great Courses series tracing Christianity's first three centuries, from the historical Jesus and Paul through persecutions, internal debates, and the conversion of Constantine, explaining how a small Jewish movement became an imperially supported world religion.

Slipcased two book set that pairs Ehrman's historical critique of the claims behind The Da Vinci Code with a concise account of Leonardo da Vinci's life and art, offering readers context for separating imaginative fiction from documented history.

Examines the historical assertions embedded in Dan Brown's novel, testing claims about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Constantine, lost gospels, and the formation of the canon, and explaining where the story reflects real scholarship and where it does not.

Introduces general readers to New Testament textual criticism by explaining how copying errors, intentional edits, and lost originals affect what modern Bibles say, and by showing why those differences matter for understanding early Christian beliefs about Jesus.

Classic introduction to New Testament textual criticism, coauthored with Bruce M Metzger, explaining how manuscripts were copied, what kinds of variants appear, and how scholars sift the evidence to reconstruct the earliest attainable text.

British edition of Ehrman's account of how the New Testament was transmitted, focusing on the work of scribes, the thousands of surviving manuscripts, and significant changes that reveal how early Christian beliefs and disputes shaped the text.

Explores how the figures of Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene are portrayed in the New Testament and later legends, separating what historians can say about their lives from stories that grew up to promote particular theological or ecclesiastical agendas.

Collects two decades of Ehrman's scholarly essays on New Testament textual criticism, covering methods for classifying manuscripts, case studies on difficult variants, and the importance of patristic citations for tracing how the text changed over time.

Tells the story of the modern discovery, restoration, and publication of the Gospel of Judas and explores what this second century text reveals about alternative Christian views of Judas, Jesus, betrayal, and salvation in the ancient world.

Examines the Bible's many explanations for why people suffer, from punishment and testing to mystery and cosmic battle, and explains why Ehrman ultimately found none of them convincing, turning the problem of suffering into a reason for losing his faith.

Introduces non specialists to what critical scholars say about the New Testament, highlighting contradictions, differing theologies, and the gap between historical research and what many churchgoers hear, while telling the story of Ehrman's own changing views.

Written for general readers, argues that several New Testament books and many later Christian writings were composed in the names of apostles, explains why ancient critics often condemned such works as forgeries, and asks what that means for modern readers.

Comprehensive bilingual edition of more than forty noncanonical gospels, presenting Greek, Latin, and Coptic texts with facing English translations, introductions, and notes so readers can study alternative accounts of Jesus' birth, teachings, passion, and resurrection.

Brings together essays and a public dialogue featuring Bart Ehrman and Daniel B Wallace, offering contrasting assessments of how accurately the New Testament has been copied and whether its surviving manuscripts let us reconstruct the original text.

Responds to modern mythicist claims by laying out the historical evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really lived, explaining how historians evaluate sources inside and outside the New Testament and why nearly all specialists accept his existence.

Massive scholarly study of literary forgery in early Christianity, defining what counted as deceit in the ancient world and examining dozens of pseudonymous writings to see how forged texts fueled theological arguments and sometimes provoked counterforgeries in reply.

Undergraduate level survey of the entire Bible, including the Apocrypha, that situates each book in its historical setting, highlights literary features, and raises the key questions scholars ask about authorship, sources, and interpretation.

Great Courses lecture series that walks through major disputes in the first centuries of Christianity, from debates over Jesus' nature and the Trinity to battles about Scripture, persecution, and heresy, explaining why these controversies still matter.

Great Courses lecture series on the making of the New Testament canon, explaining what kinds of books early Christians wrote, how they were copied and circulated, which writings were eventually considered Scripture, and why many others were left out.

Collects accessible translations of numerous noncanonical gospels, from infancy stories to sayings collections and post resurrection dialogues, each introduced with notes on authorship, date, and theology to show how many different ways early Christians told Jesus' story.

Explores how followers came to see an executed Jewish preacher as divine, moving from resurrection visions to exaltation language, pre existence claims, and church councils to trace the long, contested path from human Jesus to God the Son.

Draws on memory studies and anthropology to ask how stories about Jesus were remembered, reshaped, and sometimes invented before the Gospels were written, and what that long process of oral tradition means for reconstructing the historical Jesus.

Explains how a small Jewish sect grew into a movement of millions, tracing everyday conversions, social networks, changes in Roman law, and the role of Constantine to show how Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire.

Compact guide that offers a one page overview of each biblical book, outlining traditional authorship, likely date, major themes, and sample key verses to give readers a quick reference for study, teaching, or personal reading plans.

Audio collection from The Great Courses that gathers thirty six standout lectures across science, history, philosophy, religion, and more, offering bite size introductions to big questions and discoveries from a range of expert professors, including Bart D Ehrman.

Twenty four lecture series on the writings of the Apostolic Fathers and other second century texts, showing how Christian beliefs, leadership structures, and worship practices developed after the New Testament period and before the great church councils.

Hosts a debate between Bart Ehrman and Craig Evans about whether the New Testament gives a reliable picture of the historical Jesus, with editor Robert Stewart framing their arguments, methods, and evidence for students and interested general readers.

Traces how ideas about heaven, hell, and life after death developed from ancient Mesopotamia and Greece through the Bible and early church, arguing that many modern images of eternal reward and punishment are later inventions, not Jesus' own teaching.

Explores early Christian stories of guided tours through heaven and hell, setting them alongside Greek, Roman, and Jewish visions of the afterlife to show how such journeys taught ethics, reinforced belief, and shaped emerging doctrine.

Short book built around a public debate between Bart Ehrman and Michael Bird, with Robert Stewart's introduction, in which the scholars argue over when Jesus' followers first saw him as divine and how earliest Christology should be understood.

Examines the Book of Revelation in its first century context, challenges popular rapture based readings, and considers how apocalyptic interpretations have shaped modern politics and culture, asking what a more historically grounded approach might look like today.

Traces how Jesus' command to love the stranger gradually transformed Christian thinking about outsiders, charity, and social obligation, and reflects on what that demanding ethic might mean for modern debates about immigration, refugees, and economic inequality.