How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee

by Bart D. Ehrman

Overview

In a book that took eight years to research and write, leading Bible scholar Bart D. Ehrman explores 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.

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.

As a historian—not a believer—Ehrman answers the questions: How did this transformation of Jesus occur? How did he move from being a Jewish prophet to being God? The dramatic shifts throughout history reveal not only why Jesus's followers began to claim he was God, but also how they came to understand this claim in so many different ways.

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061778186
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	03/25/2014
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the New York Times bestselling Misquoting Jesus; God's Problem; Jesus, Interrupted; and Forged. He lives in Durham, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

1 Divine Humans in Ancient Greece and Rome 11

2 Divine Humans in Ancient Judaism 47

3 Did Jesus Think He Was God? 85

4 The Resurrection of Jesus: What We Cannot Know 129

5 The Resurrection of Jesus: What We Can Know 171

6 The Beginning of Christology: Christ as Exalted to Heaven 211

7 Jesus as God on Earth: Early Incarnation Christologies 247

8 After the New Testament: Christological Dead Ends of the Second and Third Centuries 283

9 Ortho-Paradoxes on the Road to Nicea 323

Epilogue: Jesus as God: The Aftermath 353

Notes 373

Scripture Index 387

Subject and Author Index 391

Editorial Reviews

02/10/2014
Challenging traditional notions about Jesus and the New Testament with biblical scholarship is something that Ehrman, professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and prolific author (Misquoting Jesus) has been doing for years. This book will likely ruffle the same feathers with its discussion of how the man from Galilee came to be seen as God. Appealing to nonexperts interested in historical questions about the development of Christianity’s central and most basic tenets, Ehrman traces ancient ideas about divinity that likely informed Jesus and his followers, through the biblical record, and into early Christianity. In the process, he shows how claims about Jesus’ divinity as it was understood by Jesus and his followers demand nuance. The material leads to some arguments from silence, but Ehrman is careful to note what we can and cannot know, especially where history leaves off and faith begins. As it makes strong scholarship on fundamental issues available to general readers, this is an important addition to the corpus of books about the historical Jesus. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

This careful book starts where the ‘historical Jesus’ accounts ends and lays outhow this absorbing story continued for centuries. Candid and direct, it unfoldswhat often seem to be the unnecessarily complicated controversies that dividedearly Christians in a fair and understandable manner.

Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at HarvardHollis Research Professor of Divinity at HarvardHarv

HOW JESUS BECAME GOD makes the most astonishing and complex topic in the history of Christianity accessible to every reader, and offers a clear and balanced discussion of how various Christians–and non- Christians-see Jesus.

Elaine Pagels

How did ancient monotheism allow the One God to have a ‘son’? Bart Ehrman tells this story, introducing the reader to a Jewish world thick with angels, cosmic powers, and numberless semi-divinities. How Jesus Became God provides a lively overview of Nicea’s prequel.

Paula Fredriksen

Ehrman writes with vigor and clarity, but above all with intellectual honesty.He demystifies a subject on which biblical scholars too often equivocate. Bothbelievers and non-believers can learn much from this book.

John J. Collins

In this lively and provocative book, Ehrman gives a nuanced and wide-ranging discussion of early Christian Christology. Tracing the developing understanding of Jesus, Ehrman shows his skills as an interpreter of both biblical and nonbiblical texts. This is an important, accessible work by a scholar of the first rank.

Michael Coogan

Ehrman writes very personally, especially in the beginning, and this approach draws the reader into a subject that is littered with curves and contradictions... This fascinating discussion will engage—and provoke—a wide audience.

Booklist

This careful book starts where the ‘historical Jesus’ accounts ends and lays out how this absorbing story continued for centuries. Candid and direct, it unfolds what often seem to be the unnecessarily complicated controversies that divided early Christians in a fair and understandable manner.

Harvey Cox

Ehrman’s book raises questions that should interest us all... [and] represents a genuine conversation among informed scholars.

Christian Century

Bart Ehrman has made a career of zeroing in on some of the most difficult questions at the intersection of faith and history.

Boston Globe