How Jesus Became God

By: Bart D. Ehrman, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Bart D. Ehrman

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

The early Christian claim that Jesus of Nazareth was God completely changed the course of Western civilization. What exactly happened, such that Jesus came to be considered God?

To ask this question is to delve into a fascinating, multilayered historical puzzle - one that offers a richly illuminating look into the origins of the Western worldview and the theological underpinnings of our civilization. This fundamental historical question and its complex answer speak penetratingly to the spiritual impulses, concerns, and beliefs that have played a seminal role in our world, even as they reveal the foundation of history’s most global religious movement, and fresh insights into the Western world's single most influential human being.

Tackling all of these matters and more, Great Courses favorite Professor Ehrman returns with the unprecedented historical inquiry of How Jesus Became God. In 24 provocative lectures, Professor Ehrman takes you deep into the process by which the divinity of Jesus was first conceived by his followers, demonstrating how this conception was refined over time to become the core of the Christian theology. A distinguished scholar of Christianity and New York Times best-selling author, Professor Ehrman develops the inquiry with meticulous research and in-depth analysis of texts. In these lectures, Ehrman reveals that the theological understanding of Jesus as God came about through a complex series of factors and events, each of which must be understood in order to grasp this most extraordinary and historically pivotal story.

In the enthralling inquiry of How Jesus Became God Professor Ehrman lays bare the diverse elements that combined to produce both an astonishing true-life story and one of history’s most significant developments. Join a renowned biblical scholar in grappling with this pivot.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2014 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2014 The Great Courses

More Needs To Be Said

What did you love best about How Jesus Became God?

It is a very good and though presentation but is a bit slippery at times. Be sceptical in listening.

What did you like best about this story?

Variety

Have you listened to any of Professor Bart D. Ehrman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes. About the same.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

See extensive review bellow. I wrote it even before finishing the lecture because he does not mention the artifact.

Any additional comments?

Resurrection

The lecturer rightly tells us Christianity began when followers of Jesus began to believed they had been visited by Jesus after his death. Further the lecturer rightly tells us this had nothing to do with an empty tomb and rightly observes non-Christians often attribute hallucinations and that Christians often do not call these hallucinations.

Hallucinations or not visitations ARE described in spiritual rather then corporal terns more often then not. For instance, apostles talk and walk with him not recognizing who he is until revealed. Accordingly the phenomena described are not at odds with either definition. A distinction without much of a difference.

However, I have one very serious challenge to the lecturer regarding tombs. We have a physical artifact that I am convinced confounds the entire discussion; the shroud of Turin. Lets get one thing straight from the start. The Carbon 14 test was contaminated by a medieval cotton patch interwoven with the linen cloth. This is not even worth much discussion and ranks up there with Piltdown man and is a scandal.

But that's just for starters. The surface of the linen was pressed with tape in numerous areas to collect debris for testing. The tape samples collected pollen and mineral residue that are spine chilling. For instance, pollen from a thistle plant ONLY found in the Jerusalem area was prolific in large amounts around the head area. And the mineral samples were consistent with Jerusalem minerals such as might be found in a rock cut tomb.

And there is a little bit more. The linen cloth is a very expensive 3 to 1 herringbone weave that is hank bleached. Hank bleaching rather eliminates medieval provenance because such an expensive weave would NOT have been hank bleached in medieval times. It would have been prepared as a very clean white bleach by a method not known in the first century.

And so I ask myself when, where, and by whom would an expensive hank bleached linen have been procured to wrap what is clearly and forensically a victim of crucifixion. An image of a man with side wound, Roman scourge marks, head puncture wounds, crucifixion marks on a shroud full of Palestinian pollen.

I do not claim this is Jesus's burial cloth. I do, however, require someone to give a better explanation before I dismiss it.

Good, but a bit repetitive

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend the author, but probably not this particular book if my friend had read or heard any of Ehrman's previous books/lectures. Unfortunately, there isn't all that much that is new in this lecture series that he hasn't already said in his previous work. For new Ehrman listeners it is good, though not his best work.

What other book might you compare How Jesus Became God to and why?

Any of Ehrmans other works. His Historical Jesus work is very good, as is Misquoting Jesus and Jesus Interrupted. If you are interested in early Christian history then I think his "From Jesus to Constantine" is a good bet.

What does Professor Bart D. Ehrman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Well you can feel his passion and enthusiasm coming through. I think he would be a very good lecturer in person, though he is not a brilliant orator.

a hundred thousand faces

I love this book.
It fuels my atheism. I understand Christianity to be:
the truth has one face, a lie has one hundred thousand

Great read for open-minded

Marketing professionals will find invaluable A/B testing information from the New Testament evolution. And it's also a fine set of lectures if you just want to learn about the birth of Christianity from a historical perspective.

Brilliant

Everyone should take this course. Well presented. It engages and challenges you in all levels. It is just Brilliant! Love it

Insightful discussion, overall

Comprehensive look at the various views of the divinity of Jesus, including excellent citations of early Church fathers. And he does state, in one place, that all of those views existed simultaneously, in various local communities. The author does assume the supremacy of the Masoretic text, over against all other witnesses (Greek NT citations of OT, which generally agree with Greek LXX OT, DSS, Samaritan OT, which are favored even by Richard Elliott Friedman in his "Bible with Sources Revealed" & "Torah Commentary"), leading to criticisms of Christian interpretations, conclusions & doctrines. Particularly Isaiah 53 and the "Suffering Servant" prophesies (and he takes no notice whatsoever of Psalm 22, "pierced hands & feet", probably because he favors the Masoretic text which does not read that way). Plenty of good morsels to choose from his buffet, even if not every dish is everyone's cup of tea (so to speak)

What a great historian and mind

He was interpreting things in ways I’d never think of before but in a good way. And to be able to isolate certain ideas. Gifted guy. Don’t read if you don’t want to lose your faith.

Great but…

This is a historical view. So, the history is spot on and soooo interesting. However, when I hear about this historical Jesus I want to puke!

Educative

I was raised a “Christian” with a flaw believe. This book put Christ in true perspective for me. I will take more of Dr. Bart D. Ehrman’s courses.

A good history

I liked the history. It put facts together for me that were individual pieces of information in my head. I did not agree with all his conclusions, since I did not agree with some of his history. But his perspective was interesting and colored some aspects of my own thought. I found his accent difficult to take and I had to put the lecture down several times. Now I know how others feel when I speak with a southern accent, but it won't stop me; I'm incurable!