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Book Description
"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' signifi"
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Larry W. Hurtado is professor of New Testament language, literature, and theology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Among his other books is "One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism."
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| Most Helpful Customer Reviews 74 of 80 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars A Better Explanation, By Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?: Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus (Paperback) About 112 CE (or AD if one prefers), Pliny the Younger wrote a fascinating letter to emporer Trajan. In it Pliny tells Trajan that during Christian gatherings, Christians "chant antiphonally a hymn to Christ as to a god." But when did early Christianity first recognize Jesus as divine? The compendium of opinion (following Wilhelm Bousset's 1913 _Kyrios Christos_) has contended that Christianity began as a small group of messianic Jews in Roman Judea and the worship of Jesus began when Christianity emerged in Hellenistic circles. The divination of Jesus emerged in the larger pagan religious environment. Hurtado believes that the evidence demands a better explanation. Hurtado writes that worship of Jesus was an explosively quick phenomenon. In our earliest Christian writings such as 1 Cor 1.2 (mid 1st century), cultic devotion to Jesus is presupposed. It is reflected in the way Christians understood Psalm 110 where Christians saw Jesus in the opening words "And the Lord said to my lord, 'Sit at my right hand...' " Hurtado explores Phil 2.9-11 in detail and concludes that Jesus is the rightful recipient of the reverence portrayed in Is 45.23. Jesus Christ is Lord; it is the name above all other names, the divine name itself, God. There are two main factors that point to the early date and the Jewish setting of the early reverence of Jesus. The writings of the Apostle Paul are the earliest in the New Testament and contain a wide range of honorifics about Jesus. Jesus is "christos" or messiah, "Lord," "God's Son," etc. But of even greater significance is the fact Paul's conversion experience occurred just a handful of years after Jesus' death. Hurtado mulls over the idea that what Paul as Saul found to be so objectionable about this very early Christianity was its reverence for Jesus as God. Regardless, a revelation occurs to Paul that presupposes a reverence for Jesus already extant... again within a handful of years after the death of Jesus. It is also important to remember that this very early Christianity was Jewish. It began in Roman Judea among people who were mainly Galilean. The demographics of the earliest years preclude the influence of a pagan religious environment. There is no contemporary analogy for the explosiveness of the theology that developed about Jesus. The Greco-Roman world has other heroes who received adoration such as Alexander the Great and Caesar Augustus. Some amount occurs in Judaism, but not of the same quality. Jesus was not the angel Raphael in disguise as in the Book of Tobit. However, quantitatively there is not the vast amount of theology as develops about Jesus in such a short period of time. 61 of 69 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars TERRIFIC BOOK ON EARLIEST CHRISTIANITY, This review is from: How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?: Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus (Paperback) Larry Hurtado has done it again. His previous work, "Lord Jesus Christ" is one of the best, the most thorough, not to mention the most readable, explorations of earliest Christianity on the market. Don't miss it.With "How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God" Hurtado ponders the question: when did the primitive Christian community come to believe Jesus was God? Some modern scholars have suggested that the idea evolved. Bousset, for example, believed that in the primitive Palestinian community "Jesus was simply revered as the divinely appointed 'Son of Man'" (P 12) rather than as God himself. Hurtado proves this wrong. "The devotion to Jesus was without true analogy" (P 23) as were the early devotional practices, and all of them suggest that from the very first Jesus was regarded as divine. Paul's letters, which are the first written records we have, presuppose a divine Christ. This is so even in the first letter believed to be written, 1 Thessalonians. Furthermore, in the epistles Paul refers to devotional practices which were given to believers before Paul visited them, thus pushing the chronology back very close to the death of Jesus, making any kind of evolution impossible. "Among the devotional practices of earliest Christian circles ...were such things as invoking Jesus' name in healing and exorcism" (135). Those who doubt that the earliest Christians believed Jesus was a God have no explanation for the persecutions that the Christians experienced. Why did Paul harry the believers? Why was Stephen killed? And "Paul's reference to...'forty lashes minus one' obviously indicates the punishment..was .most likely carried out by local synagogue authorities" (72). Another scholar, Hare, "concluded that Jewish opposition in this time was likely provoked by the kinds of reverence directed to Jesus by Jewish Christians, which must have struck many other Jews as idolatrous" (69). Anyone who reads this book might also enjoy Hurtado's prior work, "Lord Jesus Christ", as well as Martin Hengel's "The Pre-Christian Paul". 18 of 22 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars The importance of revelatory experiences in early Christianity, By This review is from: How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?: Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus (Paperback) The author explains the deliberately provocative title in its two aspects: the book investigates how Jesus of Nazareth came to occupy such a lofty position so early in the history of the religion, and the remarkable nature of this early devotion as a historical phenomenon. The work investigates both the claims about his significance and the pattern of devotional practices in the first and early second centuries. Having read The Authentic Gospel of Jesus by Geza Vermes at the same time, I found this book highly illuminating and thought-provoking.Instead of dissipating after the crucifixion, the movement flourished. The death of Jesus triggered a much more startling level of devotion that far surpassed the commitment of his followers during his life on earth. The author shows that this devotion was so momentous that it played a pivotal role in the complex early Christian efforts to articulate doctrines about Jesus and God throughout the next few centuries. This is confirmed in Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew by Bart Ehrman, a compelling study of diversity in early Christianity. Part One is titled Issues & Approaches. The first chapter is a critical review of the various historical approaches to understanding the emergence of this devotion. The next presents the major evidence for considering this development as initially totally within second-temple Judaism. In other words, it represents an innovation in the strictly monotheistic religion of the time. The social costs of Jesus-devotion, which were often heavy for early believers, are discussed in chapter three whilst the last one studies the key Pauline text of Philippians 2: 6 - 11 as an expression of worship. Part Two: Definitions & Defense, also consists of four chapters. The first addresses controversies associated with the term Monotheism in Roman-era Judaism in order to fully understand the religious tradition from which the worship of Jesus arose. The next compares this early Christian worship to the attitude of his followers while he was alive. There is an enormous difference. Hurtado analyses how the four Gospels portray people giving homage to Jesus with particular emphasis on the Greek word "proskynein" which means To worship, Give homage, Reverence. A significantly heightened level of devotion is evident in the early church. Chapter seven investigates the hostility and opposition that this phenomenon provoked in Judaism. Opposition appeared early; Jesus-devotion was considered to be outrageous, as blasphemy and a direct challenge to monotheism. The next chapter seeks to explain in historical terms such a drastic innovation within a religious tradition. Hurtado argues that innovations are due to powerful numinous experiences or revelations. He draws upon an impressive body of studies in the history of religion and in modern social-scientific research of new/emergent religious movements, including William James' classic Varieties of Religious Experience. He clearly believes that these spiritual experiences were pivotal in establishing devotion to Jesus Christ. The Epilogue provides a summary of the argument, concluding that revelatory experiences as key factor accord with the evidence from earliest Christianity and best explain how Jesus came to be regarded as divine. Such a view casts new light on the earliest expressions of the faith that has proved to be one of the most influential religious innovations in history. It certainly makes logical sense in view of the plethora of religions thriving in the Roman Empire at the time, the absence of significant books in this movement at the beginning and the low level of literacy at that time. Missionary activity alone does not adequately explain the phenomenon. Nor is it a thing of the past. In more modern times these experiences have been associated with Marian devotion and officially recognized by the largest Christian church. Some of the famous occurrences include Lourdes in 1858, Fatima in 1917 and Medjugorje in 1981. Although it must be said that these apparitions do not represent the same type of religious innovation but rather seem to indicate the survival or re-emergence of a widespread and prehistoric "mother goddess" figure; see The Cult of the Black Virgin by Ean Begg. There are footnotes throughout the text. Appendix 1 contains the opening remarks to the First Deichmann Annual Lecture Series by Horst-Heinz Deichmann whilst Appendix 2 is a discussion of the reasons for studying early Christian literature at Ben-Gurion University by Roland Deines. The book concludes with three indices: of Modern Authors, Subjects, and Scripture & Other Ancient Sources. I enjoyed reading this book; Hurtado is a very thorough scholar but he never "lost" me as a lay reader. I'm looking forward to reading his highly esteemed book Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review | |
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early christology, revitalization movements, monotheistic scruples, cultic reverence, pagan religious influences, revelatory religious experiences, monotheistic stance, cultic devotion, monotheistic piety, monotheistic commitment, devotional actions, devotional pattern, morphe theou, cultic veneration, blasphemy charge, principal angels, cultic actions, rightful recipient, universal acclamation Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Testament, Jewish Christians, Grand Rapids, One Lord, Fortress Press, Gospel of John, New York, Second-Temple Jewish, Case Study, Early Jewish Opposition, Cambridge University Press, Lord Jesus Christ, Early Christian Devotion, Greco-Roman Jewish, First-Century Jewish Monotheism, God of Israel, Gentile Christians, Apostle Paul, Scholars Press, Jesus of Nazareth, Roman-era Jewish, Old Testament, Journal of Biblical Literature, Holy Spirit, Temple Jewish Monotheistic Piety Browse Sample Pages:
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early christology, revitalization movements, monotheistic scruples, cultic reverence, pagan religious influences, revelatory religious experiences, monotheistic stance, cultic devotion, monotheistic piety, monotheistic commitment, devotional actions, devotional pattern, morphe theou, cultic veneration, blasphemy charge, principal angels, cultic actions, rightful recipient, universal acclamation Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New Testament, Jewish Christians, Grand Rapids, One Lord, Fortress Press, Gospel of John, New York, Second-Temple Jewish, Case Study, Early Jewish Opposition, Cambridge University Press, Lord Jesus Christ, Early Christian Devotion, Greco-Roman Jewish, First-Century Jewish Monotheism, God of Israel, Gentile Christians, Apostle Paul, Scholars Press, Jesus of Nazareth, Roman-era Jewish, Old Testament, Journal of Biblical Literature, Holy Spirit, Temple Jewish Monotheistic Piety Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Surprise Me!
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