Who Says Mary Was a Virgin?

Visit to shop from Bart Ehrman’s online courses and get a special discount by using code: MJPODCAST on all courses. Almost anyone who knows anything about Christianity knows that Jesus was born of a virgin. But was he? This miraculous event is found in only two passages of the entire New Testament (in Matthew and Luke). Did the other New Testament authors know about it? If so, why didn’t they mention it? If not, how could they not? And where did the idea of a virgin birth even come from? If it is not a major concern for the twenty-five other books of the New Testament, why did it come to be so important in the Christian tradition -- so much so that many people today assume that anyone who does not believe in it cannot be a Christian? In this episode we deal with these and other intriguing issues highly relevant to the Christmas season. -In the New Testament, Jesus’ mother is said to be a virgin. Are there other religions from the time that describe virgin