Blogging Through “Lord Jesus Christ”: Introduction

In the Western world it has become a common assumption that the Christian view of Jesus as divine was a development among later generations of believers—a pious elaboration on the actual Jesus, a remarkable but simply human figure who wandered Galilee and Judea teaching countercultural wisdom.

The common assumption is wrong.

One very helpful resource to challenge this erroneous view of history is Larry Hurtado’s Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity. I’m going to commit several posts to blog through Hurtado’s 750-page book since the subject is so important for our conversations about Jesus in Austin.

The fancy that the divinity of Jesus was a later development in Christianity is infused into nearly every contemporary discussion. You can hear it espoused—usually uncritically—in religion classes in state universities, and from authors being interviewed on The Daily Show, and, in its most simplistic and uninformed variety, in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code.

History shows a very different picture: A virtual “big bang” of devotion to Jesus as divine erupted suddenly and quickly and widely, not gradually and late and in select locales.

Most accounts of what the earliest Christians really believed are theologically driven. That is, most authors, whether traditional or liberal, employ history in defense of what they want Jesus to be. Hurtado regards it as irrelevant for historical study as to whether Christianity ought to remain moored to the earliest understandings of Jesus or ought to evolve beyond those sentiments. But history shows that the earliest Christians regarded him as orthodox Christians regard him today: fully divine and fully human.

There’s one thing that orthodox Christians and liberal advocates have in common: we all agree that the real authority for our position lies in how accurately it reflects the earliest and original Christianity. History is very much in the traditional Christian’s corner.

Next up: Writings from very first years of Christianity.