Home > Work > How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
41 " Precisely those conservative evangelical scholars who claim that mass hallucinations don’t happen are the ones who deny that the Blessed Virgin Mary has appeared to hundreds or thousands of people at once, even though we have modern, verified eyewitness testimony that she has. "
― Bart D. Ehrman , How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee
42 " One of the greatest Roman poets was Ovid, an older contemporary of Jesus (his dates: 43 BCE–17 CE). His most famous work is his fifteen-volume Metamorphoses, which celebrates changes or transformations described in ancient mythology. Sometimes these changes involve gods who take on human form in order to interact, for a time, with mortals. "
43 " Scholars sometimes use technical terms (i.e., Hypostases) for no good reason, other than the fact that they are the technical terms scholars use. "
44 " he truly suffered . . . not as some unbelievers say, that he suffered only in appearance. They are the ones who are only an appearance "
45 " Almost certainly the divine self-claims in John are not historical. "
46 " Christian followers of Jesus who knew about Apollonius maintained that he was a charlatan and a fraud; in response, the pagan followers of Apollonius asserted that Jesus was the charlatan and fraud. Both groups could point to the authoritative written accounts of their leader’s life to score their debating points. "
47 " If you get fired from your job, that’s outside your control, so you shouldn’t be personally invested in your job. "
48 " The very first surviving account of Jesus’s life was written thirty-five to forty years after his death. Our latest canonical Gospel was written sixty to sixty-five years after his death. That’s obviously a lot of time. "
49 " The exaltation (of Jesus by crucifixion) is not to a higher state than the one he previously possessed, as in Paul. For John, he was already both 'God' and 'with God' in his preincarnate state as a divine being. "
50 " In one of my earlier books, Misquoting Jesus, I discuss the fact that we do not have the original copy of Luke, or Mark, or Paul’s writings, or any of the early Christian texts that make up the New Testament. "
51 " It is widely held among scholars that the Prologue is a preexisting poem that the author of John has incorporated into his work—possibly in a second edition. "
52 " pastors don’t want to make waves; or they don’t think their congregations are “ready” to hear what scholars are saying; "
53 " Both were at the beginning (John 1:1; Prov.8:22–23); both were with God (John 1:1; Prov.8:27–30; Wis. 9:9); both were the agent through whom all things were made (John 1:3; Wis. 7:22); both provide “life” (John 1:3–4; Prov.8:35; Wis. 8:13); both provide “light” (John 1:4; Wis. 6:12; 8:26); both are superior to darkness (John 1:5; Wis. 7:29–30); both are not to be recognized by those in the world (John 1:10; Bar. 3:31); both have dwelled among people in the world (John 1:11; Sir. 24:10; Bar. 3:37–4:1); both have been rejected by the people of God (John 1:11; Bar. 3:12); both have tabernacled (i.e., dwelt in a tent) among people (John 1:14; Sir. 24:8; Bar. 3:38). "
54 " Eventually incarnation Christologies developed significantly and overtook exaltation Christologies, which came to be deemed inadequate and, eventually, “heretical. "
55 " 1a Christ died 2a For our sins 3a In accordance with the scriptures 4a And he was buried. 1b Christ was raised 2b On the third day 3b In accordance with the scriptures 4b And he appeared to Cephas. "
56 " The adoptionists were right to affirm that Jesus was human but wrong to deny that he was God; the docetists were right to affirm that Jesus was divine but wrong to deny that he was human; the Gnostics were right to affirm that Christ was both divine and human but wrong to deny that he was a single being.And so, if you put together all the orthodox affirmations, the result is the ortho-paradox: Christ is God; Christ is a man; but he is one being, not two. This became the standard Christological affirmation of the orthodox tradition.As we will see, this did not settle the issue of who Christ was for the orthodox. It instead led to more questions, and “false beliefs” continued to propagate—not against any of the standard orthodox claims, but against various ways of understanding these claims. As time went on, heresies became increasingly detailed, and the orthodox affirmations became increasingly paradoxical. "
57 " only two people known by name were also called “Son of God.” One was the Roman emperor—starting with Octavian, or Caesar Augustus—and the other was Jesus. This is probably not an accident. When Jesus came on the scene as a divine man, he and the emperor were in competition. "
58 " The Need for an Empty Tomb ... If there was no empty tomb, Jesus was not physically raised. "
59 " Within Judaism we find divine beings who temporarily become human, semidivine beings who are born of the union of a divine being and a mortal, and humans who are, or who become, divine. "
60 " The Synoptics simply accept a Christological view that is different from Paul’s. They hold to exaltation Christologies, and Paul holds to an incarnation Christology. "