How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus
Overview
In How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Larry Hurtado investigates the intense devotion to Jesus that emerged with surprising speed after his death. Reverence for Jesus among early Christians, notes Hurtado, included both grand claims about Jesus’ significance and a pattern of devotional practices that effectively treated him as divine. This book argues that whatever one makes of such devotion to Jesus, the subject deserves serious historical consideration.
Mapping out the lively current debate about Jesus, Hurtado explains the evidence, issues, and positions at stake. He goes on to treat the opposition to—and severe costs of—worshiping Jesus, the history of incorporating such devotion into Jewish monotheism, and the role of religious experience in Christianity’s development out of Judaism. Hurtado provides compelling answers to queries about the development of the church’s belief in the divinity of Jesus.
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- Investigates the intense devotion to Jesus that emerged after his death
- Explores the opposition to—and severe costs of—worshiping Jesus
- Discusses the church’s belief in the divinity of Jesus
- How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Approaches to Jesus-Devotion in Earliest Christianity
- Devotion to Jesus and Second-Temple Jewish Monotheistic Piety
- To Live and Die for Jesus: Social and Political Consequences of Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity
- A “Case Study” in Early Christian Devotion to Jesus: Philippians 2:6-11
- First-Century Jewish Monotheism
- Homage to the Historical Jesus and Early Christian Devotion
- Early Jewish Opposition to Jesus-Devotion
- Religious Experience and Religious Innovation in the New Testament
Top Highlights
“It seems to me likely that prominent among his reasons for proceeding against the early Jewish Christians was his outrage over their claims about Jesus and their reverence of him. I think that it is particularly significant that Paul describes his religious re-orientation as caused by a divine revelation to him of Jesus as God’s unique ‘Son’ (Gal. 1:15). This suggests that the key cognitive component in Paul’s conversion was his realization that Jesus (whom till then Paul had probably regarded as a false teacher) held a unique and exalted status. That is, at its heart, Paul’s conversion appears to have been a radical change in his view of Jesus.” (Page 34)
“remarkable, new conception: Jesus as remaining genuinely human and also genuinely divine and worthy of cultic devotion.” (Page 54)
“Yet we must also notice that the bold inclusion of Jesus here as the ‘one Lord’ is expressed in a way that maintains a clear distinction between him and ‘the Father.’ More specifically, this distinction involves a functional subordination of the ‘Lord’ (Jesus) to the one God. God here is the creator-source of all things, and the one to whom all belong and for whom they exist, and the ‘one Lord, Jesus Christ’ is then explicitly portrayed as the unique agent of divine purposes of creation and redemption. Through a deft use of Greek prepositions, Paul distinguishes Jesus’ role from that of God ‘the Father.’ All things are from (Greek: ek) and directed to/for (Greek: eis) ‘one God the Father,’ and all things are through (Greek: dia) the ‘one Lord Jesus Christ’ (1 Cor. 8:6).” (Page 49)
Larry Hurtado is changing the face of New Testament studies through his persistence in searching out the origins of the extraordinary devotion to Jesus by his earliest followers. Here he presents his arguments with force and clarity while adding an important chapter on the high cost of Jesus-devotion to first-century believers within their sociopolitical and family systems.
—John Koenig, professor, General Theological Seminary
The pendulum has finally swung back! In stunning and dramatic fashion, Larry Hurtado has shifted the Christian world away from tired questers into the direction of high Christology.
—Calvin Theological Seminary
- Title: How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus
- Author: Larry W. Hurtado
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 2005
- Pages: 246
- Christian Group: Evangelicals
- Resource Type: Topical
- Topic: Early Church
