Jesus ethical teachings are often touted as being revolutionary for the ancient world.

The pagan cultures that preceded Christianity are commonly understood as being immoral,

full of sex, drugs, and rock and roll, or, you know, two out of the three.

But just how close to historical reality are these views?

Today, Dr. Bart Ehrman joins me for the first of a special two-part episode

to dive into ancient ethics and whether Jesus actually changed anything.

Welcome to misquoting Jesus with Bart Ehrman. The only show, where a six-time New York

Times best-selling author and world-renowned

Bible scholar uncovers the many fascinating, little-known facts about the New Testament, the historical Jesus,

and the rise of Christianity. I'm your host, Megan Lewis. Let's begin.

Hello everybody, welcome back to misquoting Jesus. We are getting started on Let's begin. Hello, everybody.

Welcome back to misquoting Jesus.

We are getting started on ethics and how Jesus may or may not have changed the moral trajectory

of the Western world.

But before that, Bart, how are you doing?

Well, I'm doing well.

Ironically, I'm in England and you're not.

So I did a couple of tours.

I was giving lectures on a couple of tours in Greece and related places.

And now we're back in London for most of the summer.

As you know, Sarah's English, and we're off,

we're going to go gallivanting off with family members and do things around England for a while.

...