Jesus, the Law, and a 'New' Covenant

The Department of Near Eastern Studies presented a Mendenhall Symposium at the University of Michigan - Law, Society, and Religion on October 6, 2016 at 7:00pm. Professor Bart Ehrman was the Keynote speaker, with the subject title: Jesus, the Law, and a "New" Covenant. The symposium took place at the Rackham Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Mendenhall Symposium and Keynote Lecture are made possible by the George E. Mendenhall Fund.

Jesus of Nazareth was a Torah-observant Jewish teacher whose followers, after his death, came to adopt a variety of attitudes toward the Law of Moses. Some of them insisted on strict observance; others argued that only parts of the Law needed to be observed; and yet others claimed that Law had never been part of God’s plan. These early Christian groups did, however, agree on one point: Jesus’ own words were to form the basis for his followers’ ethical and communal lives. This lecture will examine how the Christian faith moved from embracing the “old” covenant focused on Torah to adopting a “new” covenant centered on the life, death, and teachings of Jesus.

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He came to UNC in 1988, after four years of teaching at Rutgers University. At UNC he has served as both the Director of Graduate Studies and the Chair of the Department of Religious Studies. A graduate of Wheaton College (Illinois), Professor Ehrman received both his Masters of Divinity and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, where his 1985 doctoral dissertation was awarded magna cum laude.

Copyright © Bart D. Ehrman and University of Michigan. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized use, re-posting and/or duplication of this media without express and written permission from Bart D. Ehrman and the University of Michigan is strictly prohibited.

[Max_Doubt]

I could listen to Bart all day. Help me God! I'm an atheist who digs the bible!

[bohodges]

Dr. Ehrman, you give a long-committed Christian like myself a lot to think about. And as difficult as the answers are to accept, I am grateful to you for uncovering the truth. Thank you, Sir.

[danielpaulson]

I wish Christians were curious enough to seek or even consider this.

[lucisferre]

Thank you for taking longer than 30 sec to for that last question. Your summary to why christianity often finds itself intertwined with anti-semitism/judaism despite being originally based on it was absolutely brilliant and should be taught to every american. They should teach that in schools to all. It explains so very much.

[richardsorel]

Professor Erman is simply fantastic when it comes to a clear conveying of very deep topics. Highly informative lecture.

[InayetHadi]

I appreciate Dr. Bart Ehrman honest perspective and research on the bible.

[alexsoto]

Thank you Bart!. You have explained so much and cleared a lot of what I always questioned.
I appreciate the Bible more now that I understand the historian point of view than when I was an evangelical.

[Spaseebo]

Another brilliant presentation from Dr. Bart Ehrman. I have almost all his books, and his "Great Courses" DVDs. He always uses the scriptures to support his arguments: he is never fanciful or inventive to make a point. Yes, brilliant !

[katarzyna]

Thanks for the wise, reasonable and humorous lecture .

[Shiraz]

Excellent lecture hopefully to watch more in the future.
Thanks Dr.Bart Ehrman.

[athanasiusjames]

Brilliant, as ever Professor Ehrman, and, as ever, much appreciated!

[deathwrenchcustom]

3:55 to get to Bart...
11:30 to skip past THE SAME DAMN INTRO he gives every time he gets in front of more than six people.

[AyoubRHAZI]

I love it when he says by the end of the lecture that the Ebionites may have represented the earliest form of Christianity and what end up declared a heresy may have been the original form. I think that this is one of the most important points he made in this lecture.

[stephenarmiger]

Bart's books translated into many languages. People seem to be hungry to know more. That seems like a good thing.

[Ploskkky]

Great lecture. I recommend it to all my christian acquaintances. There is nothing like knowledge to open the eyes and dispel antiquated superstitious beliefs.

[LesHaskell]

Learned about the concept of "covenant" in Old Testament Survey. Explaining what it was like to be Jewish in Jesus' time in four minutes is a miracle.

[ZaphodBeeb]

Another impressive lecture from Bart Ehrman.  Once again, well delivered and very interesting.

[tedgrant]

I've bought two of Bart's books and thoroughly enjoyed them. Highly recommended.

[johanrichter]

Great lecture. If you have heard other lectures by Dr Ehrman you may want to start at the 11 minute mark, where he begins with new material.

[humanityhumanity]

I learnt a lot about the Bible from this learned scholar Bart D. Ehrman.