Bart's Biography

BART D. EHRMAN, PH.D., M.DIV.

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he taught from 1988 until his retirement in 2025. Recognized internationally for his scholarship on the New Testament and early Christianity, Professor Ehrman has written or edited thirty three books, including six New York Times bestsellers. His college level textbook The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings has remained the best-selling text in the field for more than twenty-five years. His scholarly works have been published by Oxford, Harvard, Yale, and other premier academic presses, and his books have been translated into twenty-seven languages, reaching millions of readers worldwide.
Beyond the classroom, Professor Ehrman is a widely recognized public scholar. He has produced nine acclaimed courses for The Great Courses, in addition to numerous online courses available through BartEhrman.com. His books and courses have sold more than two million copies.

Editorial Positions 

Professor Ehrman has served as President of the Southeast Region of the Society of Biblical literature and chair of the New Testament textual criticism section of the Society. Among his editorial positions, he has served as associate editor for the Journal of Early Christian Studies, book review editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature, and editor of the monograph series The New Testament in the Greek Fathers (Scholars Press). He currently serves as co-editor of the series New Testament Tools, Studies, and Documents (E. J. Brill), co-editor-in-chief for the international journal of early Christian studies, Vigiliae Christianae, and area editor (early Christianity) for the Encyclopedia of Ancient History.

Awards & Appearances 

Professor Ehrman has been the recipient of numerous academic awards, grants, and fellowships, including the UNC Undergraduate Student Teaching Award (1993), the Phillip and Ruth Hettleman Prize for Artistic and Scholarly Achievement (1994), the Bowman and Gordon Gray Award for excellence in teaching (1998-2001), the Pope Spirit of Inquiry Teaching Award (2008), and the Religious Liberty Award from the American Humanist Association (2011).

Professor Ehrman has featured widely in television, radio, and print media, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, CNN, Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, BBC, Fresh Air, Talk of the Nation, The New Yorker, Time Magazine, Newsweek, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. He now lives in Durham NC with his wife Sarah (and dog Billy).