How Jesus Became God

Posted on 11 February 2018 by Bart D. Ehrman

New York Times bestselling author and Bible expert Bart Ehrman reveals how Jesus s divinity became dogma in the first few centuries of the early church.The claim at the heart of the Christian faith is that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, God But this is not what the original disciples believed during Jesus s lifetime and it is not what Jesus claimed about himself How Jesus Became God tells the story of an idea that shaped Christianity, and of the evolution of a belief that looked very different in the fourth century than it did in the first.A master explainer of Christian history, texts, and traditions, Ehrman reveals how an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state came to be thought of as equal with the one God Almighty, Creator of all things But how did he move from being a Jewish prophet to being God In a book that took eight years to research and write, Ehrman sketches Jesus s transformation from a human prophet to the Son of God exalted to divine status at his resurrection Only when some of Jesus s followers had visions of him after his death alive again did anyone come to think that he, the prophet from Galilee, had become God And what they meant by that was not at all what people mean today.Written for secular historians of religion and believers alike, How Jesus Became God will engage anyone interested in the historical developments that led to the affirmation at the heart of Christianity Jesus was, and is, God. New Download How Jesus Became God by Bart D. Ehrman For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr And it came to pass that I read and ye shall learn of a pretty amazing book Biblical scholar Bart D Ehrman takes on the subject of how, in history, the notion of Jesus as god developed Was it there from the beginning How did it arise What does it even mean Was he considered divine by believers before conception, at conception, at baptism by John, when he died on the cross, when he rose from the dead, when he headed upstairs to the executive offices And the answer Yes As with many myster And it came to pass that I read and ye shall learn of a pretty amazing book Biblical scholar Bart D Ehrman takes on the subject of how, in history, the notion of Jesus as god developed Was it there from the beginning How did it arise What does it even mean Was he considered divine by believers before conception, at conception, at baptism by John, when he died on the cross, when he rose from the dead, when he headed upstairs to the executive offices And the answer Yes As with many mysteries there is a paucity of physical evidence One might consider Ehrman s task a very challenging episode of Incredibly Cold Case Files, or maybe fodder for a new version of a favorite show as if there are not enough already CSI Antiquity.Not much to work with here as far as physical evidence goes, but Ehrman does apply his considerable skill to analyzing what documentation we have, tracing provenance, to the extent possible, applying what we know of the period s , and lasering in on cru... So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth Revelation 3 16 How Jesus Became God is a good packaging of current scholarship on the historical Jesus for the neophyte The book basically explores how the crucified Jesus transformed into not just the Messiah, but the Lord of all creation He examines the exaltation of Jesus from an apocalyptic preacher from Galilee into a figure fully equal with God He looks at how this type of change happened So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth Revelation 3 16 How Jesus Became God is a good packaging of current scholarship on the historical Jesus for the neophyte The book basically explores how the cr...Bart Ehrman digests biblical scholarship into an easy to read text for believers and non believers alike While 270pp isthan sufficient for his thesis, along the way he presents interesting concepts and the reader learns a lot about the process of biblical research.Ehrman develops the concept that it was resurrection and its aftermath that confirmed Jesus as equal to god In learning how exaltation Christologies gave way to incarnation Christologies p 263 , I also learned a host of oth Bart Ehrman digests biblical scholarship into an easy to read text for believers and non believers alike While 270pp isthan sufficient for his thesis, along the way he presents...When reading books about religion, it s important to read them for what they proclaim to be rather than what we wish they would be Bart Ehrman doesn t claim to be doing theology, or offering proof for God, or insert desired misconception here He styles his study as an examination of the historic process by which a first century Jewish preacher came to be viewed as God by his followers.It s a history of belief.A...This is a series of twenty four lectures that explain Christian history, texts, and traditions that created conditions that allowed an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state to become thought of as equal and one with God The lecturer is Bart Ehrman, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill These lectures parallel the contents of a book with the same title published in March 2014.The lectures begin b This is a series of twenty four lectures that explain Christian history, texts, and traditions that created conditions that allowed an apocalyptic prophet from the backwaters of rural Galilee crucified for crimes against the state to become thought of as equal and one with God The lecturer is Bart Ehrman, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill These lectures parallel the contents of a book with the same title published in March 2014.The lectures begin by describing the common understand of gods God in the ancient world Then it moves on to describing the experience of the contemporaries of Jesus and provides a discussion of what historians can and cannot know about miracles and the resurrection Then t...I ve sat in enough churches to know that sooner or later the question will rise If Jesus were to walk in here right now would he recognize this place as His church In How Jesus Became God Bart Ehrman argues well that the answer is no Not because the modern church is doing it wrong but because the question is wrong Ehrman argues that our view of Jesus is an amalgam of historical fact, purposeful fiction, and a lot of wishful thinking that would probably surprise even Jesus.During the firs I ve sat in enough churches to know that sooner or later the question will rise If Jesus were to walk in here right now would he recognize this place as His church In How Jesus Became God Bart Ehrman argues well that the answer is no Not because the modern church is doing it wrong but because the question is wrong Ehrman argues that our view of Jesus is an amalgam of historical fact, purposeful fiction, and a lot of wishful thinking that would probably surprise even Jesus.During the first centuries of the Christian church there was a constant battle for the primacy of ideas Some believed that Jesus was fully human but an excellent moral teacher A strong argument was made that Jesus was human and adopted by God at his baptism Gnostics argued that Jesus discovered secret knowledge that was available to anyone as a trade for mortifying the evil flesh It surprises people today to learn that many early Ch...When I was young, around twelve or so, and attending church regularly, I was already quite taken with the field of history and was a voracious reader I was also becoming less engaged with the dogmatic aspects of Lutheranism in particular, as well as dogma in general What did keep me in the fold was the music, the art, the pageantry, my love for the little girl down the street, and my burgeoning interest in the origins of Christianity.I was fortunate to discover, in a room off the annex entra When I was young, around twelve or so, and attending church regularly, I was already quite taken with the field of history and was a voracious reader I was also becoming less engaged with the dogmatic aspects of Lutheranism in particular, as well as dogma in general What did keep me in the fold was the music, the art, the pageantry, my love for the little girl down the street, and my burgeoning interest in the origins of Christianity.I was fortunate to discover, in a room off the annex entrance to the sanctuary, in a broken down bookcase, a multi volume, scholarly commentary on both Hebrew scripture and the Christian Bible I began b...In his introduction, Mr Ehrman explains that he is an ex believer in Christianity and an historian What a wonderful coincidence, I thought, because both statements describe me, as well Like Mr Ehrman, I too have credentials as an historian although I have never practiced as one I earned a Master s Degree in History from the University of Toronto in 1966 Also like him, I have spent all the years since reading about and getting to know the historical Jesus from the Bible as well has secondar In his introduction, Mr Ehrman explains that he is an ex believer in Christianity and an historian What a wonderful coincidence, I thought, because both statements describe me, as well Like Mr Ehrman, I too have credentials as an historian although I have never practiced as one I earned a Master s Degree in History from the University of Toronto in 1966 Also like him, I have spent all the years since reading about and getting to know the historical Jesus from the Bible as well has secondary sources about Christianity and Jesus I did one crucial thing different than Mr Ehrman which you need to know before re...Over the past few years, Bart Ehrman has earned a reputation for rankling Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists Some of this is almost certainly intentional Compared to other NT scholars who take a similar stance on the historical Jesus e.g., E.P Sanders, Dale Allison, etc , Ehrman s popular histories read like mystery novels Ehrman s fans will call this energetic scholarship His critics will call it breathless sensationalism As with most things, the truth probably sits somewhere in Over the past few years, Bart Ehrman has earned a reputation for rankling Christian evangelicals and fundamentalists Some of this is almost certainly intentional Compared to other NT scholars who take a similar stance on the historical Jesus e.g., E.P Sanders, Dale Allison, etc , Ehrman s popular histories read like mystery novels Ehrman s fans will call this energetic scholarship His critics will call it breathless sensationalism As with most things, the truth probably sits somewhere in between But even allowing for the charge of sensationalism, nothing about Ehrman s claims is especially sensational The main ideas here that the gospels present conflicting accounts of Jesus life and teachings, that Jesus was most likely a first century Jewish preacher whose message hinged on prophecies of imminent apocalypse, that the high christology espoused in the Nicene Creed was not a part of Jesus own teaching are neither new nor contr...Interesting read, but tedious The author uses textual authority to establish various traditions for how Jesus became God whether incarnation Christology, exaltation Christology, or various heterodox approaches The bottom line, though, is that Jesus wasn t claimed to be God during his lifetime, and only after the resurrection did such claims begin to be made on his behalf The so called resurrection is also examined, noting in particular that it would have been highly unusual for the Rom Interesting read, but tedious The author uses textual authority to establish various traditions for how Jesus became God whether incarnation Christology, exaltation Christolog...

English
11 February 2018

Bart D. Ehrman