Book Critique: How Jesus Became Godbook critique how jesus became god In writing this book critique and researching related materials about the book, I've come to the conclusion that puts an end to the discussion about religion in general and the divinity of Jesus in particular. If you believe in what you believe, that is a matter of faith. And that is enough. No matter the evidence or the lack of it, you believe your truth as you see fit. And nobody or nothing can shake you from your faith. And I say book critique not book review because I include by own ideas about Jesus in particular and about religion in general. This idea of "matter of faith" is not new of course, it has been argued about by both sides since men argued about gods. But to my mind, it gets more relevance when I read Bart Ehrman's “How Jesus Became God: The exaltation of of a Jewish preacher from Galilee,” published by HarperOne this year. Ehrman says Jesus was a lower class preacher who thought the end was coming, and that God would establish his kingdom on earth with Jesus as king. He did not walk around saying he was God. He at least said he was the promised messiah who came from God to save sinners. But the end did not come, Jesus died on the cross, and his disciples scattered to avoid persecution. But something happened. The disciples began having visions of the resurrected Jesus, and the apostle Paul heard the voice of Jesus on the road to Damascus. It is this chain of events that emboldened the disciples to preach the good news of salvation: That believers will also rise from the dead, like Jesus, and join him in the heavenly kingdom. With this belief in resurrection, there evolved the concept of Jesus from human to divine to God. He was human until he was exalted by God to divine status, to favored angelic status, to adoptive son of God, to equal to God, to God as a person of the trinity. Thru the early years, some followers believed he became divine at his baptism, others at his birth, still others before Creation making him the One God of ancient Israel. Ehrman and scholars call this conceptual evolution as christology --- exaltation, adoptionist, incarnational christologies. The early churches couldn't agree on the humanity/divinity of Jesus --- that he was fully human guided by the Spirit of God, that he was human and at the same time divine, or that he was divine in a spirit body --- until Emperor Constantine convened the bishops to Nicea, to decide once and for all the church's unifying belief. The bishops came up with what we now know as the Nicene Creed. The core belief is as follows: We believe in one God, the Father... in Jesus, Son of God... and in the Holy Spirit.... There you have it. Three identities in one God, all sharing equal power. Jesus, a human, became divine then God in stages, not necessarily in order ---- from baptism, conception, angelic being, adoptive Son of God, equal to God in power, to God as member of the trinity. You cannot explain this because as the theologians say, it is a mystery. You just have to believe it. But how the early church arrived at this conclusion is not hard to explain. Jesus and his disciples lived in Greco-Roman mythological worldview where gods impregnate humans and thus the offspring is called child or son of god and thereby possessing divine status. And ancient Judaism recognized supernatural beings such as angels, demons and witches possessing divine powers. During that first century world of superstition and ignorance, the early disciples evolved their christology from Judaic theology and Greco-Roman mythology. In Greek mythology for example, Zeus in the form of a snake had sex with a beautiful woman, and the offspring was Alexander the Great. The pagan world believed it then that Alexander was the son of god Zeus his father. In Christian analogy, God in the person of the Holy Spirit, “came upon” a virgin maiden, and the offspring was Jesus the Christ. The early disciples believed it then as Christians do now that Jesus was and is the son of God the father. Detractors of Ehrman say of course he is wrong --- that the disciples believed Jesus was God from the beginning of his ministry. And the worship of Jesus by prayer and other means, is a sure sign of his divinity in the eyes of his devotees. Ehrman and his detractors cite the same scriptures to argue their point, with different interpretations of course. The gospels were not written and compiled about 50 years after Jesus’s death. In fact the first writings were the letters of the apostle Paul 20 years before Mark, the first written gospel, followed by Matthew, Luke and John. So New Testament writers were writing the scripture as christological theology was evolving thru decades. And it was in John, the last written gospel, that Jesus was proclaimed God, the incarnate Word --- In the beginning was the Word, and the Word (John 1.1) Now we're talking about religious events in first century Palestine, from the perspective of twenty first worldview. In that age of superstition, it is not unusual for a person to walk up and down the countryside (in fact there were dozens of them before and after Jesus) and proclaim himself as the messiah come from God. It is not unusual in that age of ignorance, to heal the sick, eject demons, and raise the dead. The question then among the people was, Is he really from God or from the devil, or is he a magician? If a man comes around today and says he is reliving the life of Jesus, healing the sick, raising the dead, forgiving sins, that I may believe --- I will look at him with askance eye and say he's crazy. I'll say that with him around, there's no need for doctors, medicines and even hospitals. There's no need for research to cure cancer, AIDS, and other deadly diseases that plague humankind today. In fairness to believers, religion will be around as long as there is the universe as we know it. In our world there are still phenomena that science cannot explain and humankind will continue to believe in something higher than herself, natural or supernatural, rational or mystical. And concerning Jesus, I think his life and teachings can continue to inspire us to lead a moral life, minus the supernatural. In the final analysis, it doesn't matter whether the early disciples believed Jesus was God from the beginning or his divinity evolved thru time. This is a fine point of theology which non-scholar like me can hardly argue about. My question is, What we think of Jesus now in the 21st century and how he can inspire us to be better persons. The author Bart Eherman concludes his book by saying Jesus was human and was never a god. Personally I think belief in Jesus will evolve from Jesus the Christ to Jesus the Man. For Jesus to be relevant in our century, I think we have to de-evolve our concept of Jesus from a supernatural being to a human being who taught us by his life and teaching that we could lead a righteous life in the short time that we live here on earth. Thank you. ### References Bart D. Ehrman. How Jesus Became God: The exaltation of a Jewish preacher from Galilee, HarperCollins Publishers, 2014. Michael F. Bird (et al). How God Became Jesus: A response to Bart Ehrman, Zondervan, 2014. Rob Bowman. How Jesus Became God for How God Became Jesus? www.reclaimingtheword.org. David O. McClellan, April 16, 2014. https: nearemmaus.wordpress.com. J.R. David Kirk. How Jesus Became God. www.jrkirk.com. ***

critique by adolfo borromeo of the book

written by Bart Ehrman, HarperCollins, 2014

how jesus became god

 

In writing this book critique and researching related materials about the book, I've come

to the conclusion that I think puts an end to the discussion about religion in general and the

divinity of Jesus in particular. If you believe in what you believe, that is a matter of faith.

And that is enough. No matter the evidence or the lack of it, you believe your truth as

you see fit. And nobody or nothing can shake you from your faith.

And I say book critique not book review because I include by own ideas about Jesus in

particular and about religion in general.

This idea of "matter of faith" is not new of course, it has been argued about by both

sides since men argued about gods. But to my mind, it gets more relevance after reading 

Bart Ehrman's “How Jesus Became God: The exaltation of of a Jewish preacher from

sides since men argued about gods. But to my mind, it gets more relevance when I read

Galilee,” published by HarperOne this year.

Ehrman says Jesus was a lower class preacher who thought the end was coming, and

that God would establish his kingdom on earth with Jesus as king. He did not walk

around saying he was God. He at least said he was the promised messiah who came

from God to save sinners. But the end did not come, Jesus died on the cross, and his disciples scattered to avoid persecution.

But something happened. The disciples began having visions of the resurrected Jesus,

and the apostle Paul heard the voice of Jesus on the road to Damascus. It is this chain

of events that emboldened the disciples to preach the good news of salvation: That

believers will also rise from the dead, like Jesus, and join him in the heavenly kingdom.

With this belief in resurrection, there evolved the concept of Jesus from human to divine

to God. He was human until he was exalted by God to divine status, to favored angelic

status, to adoptive son of God, to equal to God, to God as a person of the trinity.

Thru the early years, some followers believed he became divine at his baptism, others

at his birth, still others before Creation making him the One God of ancient Israel.

Ehrman and scholars call this conceptual evolution as christology --- exaltation,

adoptionist, incarnational christologies.

The early churches couldn't agree on the humanity/divinity of Jesus --- that he was fully

human guided by the Spirit of God, that he was human and at the same time divine, or that he was divine in a spirit body --- until Emperor Constantine convened the bishops to

Nicea, to decide once and for all the church's unifying belief. The bishops came up with

what we now know as the Nicene Creed. The core belief is as follows:

We believe in one God, the Father... in Jesus, Son of God... and in the Holy Spirit....

There you have it. Three identities in one God, all sharing equal power. Jesus, a human, became divine then God in stages, not necessarily in order ---- from baptism,

conception, angelic being, adoptive Son of God, equal to God in power, to God as

member of the trinity. You cannot explain this because as the theologians say, it is a mystery. You just have to believe it.

But how the early church arrived at this conclusion is not hard to explain. Jesus and his

disciples lived in Greco-Roman mythological worldview where gods impregnate humans and thus the offspring is called child or son of god and thereby possessing divine status. And ancient Judaism recognized supernatural beings such as angels, demons and witches possessing divine powers. During that first century world of superstition and ignorance, the early disciples evolved their christology from Judaic theology and Greco-Roman mythology.

In Greek mythology for example, Zeus in the form of a snake had sex with a beautiful woman, and the offspring was Alexander the Great. The pagan world believed it then that Alexander was the son of god Zeus his father. In Christian analogy, God in the person of the Holy Spirit, “came upon” a virgin maiden, and the offspring was Jesus the Christ. The early disciples believed it then as Christians do now that Jesus was and is the son of God the father.

Detractors of Ehrman say of course he is wrong --- that the disciples believed Jesus

was God from the beginning of his ministry. And the worship of Jesus by prayer and other means, is a sure sign of his divinity in the eyes of his devotees. Ehrman and his

detractors cite the same scriptures to argue their point, with different interpretations of course.

The gospels were not written and compiled about 50 years after Jesus’s death. In fact the first writings were the letters of the apostle Paul 20 years before Mark, the first written gospel, followed by Matthew, Luke and John. So the New Testament writers were writing the scripture as christological theology was evolving thru decades. And it was in John, the last written gospel, that Jesus was proclaimed God, the incarnate Word ---

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word  was with God(John 1.1)

Now we're talking about religious events in first century Palestine, from the perspective of twenty first worldview. In that age of superstition, it is not unusual for a

person to walk up and down the countryside (in fact there were dozens of them

before and after Jesus) and proclaim himself as the messiah come from God. It is not

unusual in that age of ignorance, to heal the sick, eject demons, and

raise the dead. The question then among the people was, Is he really from God or from the devil, or is he a magician?

If a man comes around today and says he is reliving the life of Jesus, healing the sick,

raising the dead, forgiving sins, that I may believe --- I will look at him with askance eye

and say he's crazy. I'll say that with him around, there's no need for doctors, medicines and even hospitals. There's no need for research to cure cancer, AIDS, and other deadly diseases that plague humankind today.

In fairness to believers, religion will be around as long as there is the universe as we

know it. In our world there are still phenomena that science cannot explain and

humankind will continue to believe in something higher than herself, natural or

supernatural, rational or mystical. And concerning Jesus, I think his life and teachings

can continue to inspire us to lead a moral life, minus the supernatural.

In the final analysis, it doesn't matter whether the early disciples believed Jesus was

God from the beginning or his divinity evolved thru time. This is a fine point of theology

which non-scholar like me can hardly argue about. My question is, What we think of

Jesus now in the 21st century and how he can inspire us to be better persons.

The author Bart Eherman concludes his book by saying Jesus was human and was never a god. Personally I think belief in Jesus will evolve from Jesus the Christ to Jesus the Man. For Jesus to be relevant in our century, I think we have to de-evolve our concept of Jesus from a supernatural being to a human being who taught us by his life  and teaching that we could lead a righteous life in the short time that we live here on earth.

Thank you.

###

References

Bart D. Ehrman. How Jesus Became God: The exaltation of a Jewish preacher from Galilee, HarperCollins Publishers, 2014.

Michael F. Bird (et al). How God Became Jesus: A response to Bart Ehrman, Zondervan, 2014.

Rob Bowman. How Jesus Became God for How God Became Jesus?

www.reclaimingtheword.org.

David O. McClellan, April 16, 2014. https: nearemmaus.wordpress.com.

J.R. David Kirk. How Jesus Became God. www.jrkirk.com.

***