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.

Professor Bart Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.