Heresies, Power, and the Forgotten Voices of Early Christianity

An Interview with Dr. Bart Ehrman

Shirley Paulson talks with Bart Ehrman about his new course on early Christian heresies. Together they explore why "right belief" became a matter of life and death, how women and household voices were often silenced, and what these early debates reveal about power, diversity, and faith. Christianity is the only religion to have evolved on a foundation of right and wrong belief. Their conversation touches on Christianity's complex origins—and why those ancient arguments still matter today.

Bart D. Ehrman is an American New Testament scholar renowned for his work on textual criticism, the historical Jesus, and the origins and development of early Christianity. One of his frequent themes is on the early Christian doctrinal battles, showing how orthodoxy and heresy shaped contemporary traditions. He is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in the Department of Religious Studies and has authored over 30 books, but he is also a public scholar and reaches a broad audience beyond academia.

A complete transcript is available on Early Christian Texts, https://earlychristiantexts.com/heresies-bart-ehrman/