Desiring Divinity

Self-Deification in Early Jewish and Christian Mythmaking

De: M. David Litwa

Narrado por: Jason Pflug

Perhaps no declaration incites more theological and moral outrage than a human's claim to be divine. Those who make this claim in ancient Jewish and Christian mythology are typically represented as the most hubristic and dangerous tyrants. Their horrible punishments are predictable and still serve as morality tales in religious communities today.

But not all self-deifiers are saddled with pride and fated to fall. Some who claimed divinity stated a simple and direct truth. Though reviled on earth, misunderstood, and even killed, they received vindication and rose to the stars. This book tells the stories of six self-deifiers in their historical, social, and ideological contexts.

In the history of interpretation, the initial three figures have been demonized as cosmic rebels: the first human Adam, Lucifer (later identified with Satan), and Yaldabaoth in gnostic mythology. By contrast, the final three have served as positive models for deification and divine favor: Jesus in the gospel of John, Simon of Samaria, and Allogenes in the Nag Hammadi library. In the end, the line separating demonization from deification is dangerously thin, drawn as it is by the unsteady hand of human valuation.

©2016 Oxford University Press (P)2024 M. David Litwa

Captivating look at people who’ve sought to become God, in some sense

M. David Litwa is rapidly becoming one of my favorite writers on by-ways of thought and practice in the early Christian era. He he studies examples of people who sought a union with God or to displace him, or whose enemies accused them of trying it, from Adam and Lucifer in accounts by the Jewish prophets to the Gnostic conception of Yaldabaoth the flawed creator to Jesus, Simon Magus, and Allogenes, the subject of later Gnostic tales.

Litwa has a remarkable gift for writing clearly. He doesn’t use a lot of jargon and explains it and set it in context when he does. He describes events and meanings as he subjects so them - including acknowledging where we can’t really know with confidence what they meant - without suspending his own judgments. So this book both instructs and comments, which is just how I like it. He concludes with observations about the many theological and cultural uses of these beliefs which gave me a whole heap of fresh thoughts.

I’m delighted and can hardly recommend Desiring Divinity to anyone interested in the matrix of ideas and practices from which Christianity as we know it emerged.

Exclusive content and very informative

This book is a must read to anyone who wants to understand better the process of deification/divinity and how this process still relevant to this day. Excellent material! 🇵🇷

Another fantastic book by Dr. Litwa

I really enjoyed how well this book flowed. The chapters on gnosticism were particularly enjoyable. I hope that more of Dr. Litwa's books become available on Audible.