Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity

by Larry W. Hurtado

This outstanding book provides an in-depth historical study of the place of Jesus in the religious life, beliefs, and worship of Christians from the beginnings of the Christian movement down to the late second century.

Genres: Christianity, Theology, Biblical Studies, Religion, Church History, History, Christian

768 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published July 8, 2003

Reviews

[Josef Muench · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s impossible to agree with absolutely everything in a book this size, but Hurtado’s work is, no doubt, mandatory reading for early Christianity. Very welcome, and highly scholarly, work.

[Josh Wilhelm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The question as to how Jesus became God continues to receive attention. Skeptics point to the political-charged context of the early creed-producing councils, arguing that the idea of Jesus’ divinity was manufactured late in the historical process. How is one to answer this challenge? Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity is Larry Hurtado’s magnum opus , a massive 744-page book which works to answer this question. In particular, Hurtado sets out to demonstrate how faithful first (and second) century monotheistic Jews began to worship the man Jesus as divine.

Hurtado’s work is modelled after, and is in many ways, a follow up to Wilhelm Bousett’s Kyrios Christos (first published in 1913). Both works trace the emergence and development of Christ-devotion in the first two centuries, offering an examination of the various the “forces and factors” that shaped and contributed to this emerging Christ-devotion. While recognizing and, in fact, following the same worship-oriented focus originally laid down by Bousett, Lord Jesus Christ represents Hurtado’s great effort to shatter the argument and longstanding conclusions of Bousett’s Kyrios Christos ; a task which he executes with patient and thoroughgoing effectiveness.

In addition to Bousset’s worship-oriented approach, Hurtado also follows his chronological survey of the early Christian communities. They both begin with the earliest New Testament documents, and trace continue their diachronic analysis into the late-second century. This approach—laid down by Bousset and followed by Hurtado—constitutes the great strength of each scholar’s respective works. Instead of merely examining early Christian doctrine (such as what was eventually cemented in the creeds), Hurtado (following Bousett), works to examine the origin and development of Christ-worship in these early Christian communities. This means examines the devotional practices outlined, as well as implied, in the earliest Christian documents and artifacts.

Particularly through a close reading of Pauline texts, Hurtado is able to demonstrate the shocking truth—devotion to Jesus emerged in the earliest moments (months?) of the Christian movement. Hurtado rightly labels the inauguration of the Jesus movement as a “big bang, an explosively rapid and impressively substantial Christological development in the earliest stage of the Christian movement.” (135). He adds, “It is thus practically an unavoidable conclusion that there was a veritable explosion in devotional innovation as well as in Christological beliefs in the very few earliest years (perhaps even the earliest months) that quickly became pervasive” (136). Here he notes the significant silence in the Pauline writings on matters of Christ-devotion—a silence that attests to the uncontested nature of Christ-worship in these early communities, according to Hurtado (165–67).

Unique to Hurtado is the great stress given to the Jewish monotheistic background out of which Christianity emerges. In tracing the origins and development of Christ-worship in these monotheistic Jewish communities, Hurtado outlines what he calls the emergent “binitarian” worship of Jesus, alongside God the father. This “binitarian” pattern is particularly evident in the letters of the apostle Paul, who maintains a distinction between the two figures (God and Jesus), and yet simultaneously, shows concerns to understand the worship of Jesus as an extension of the worship of God (e.g. the worship of Jesus as Kyrios “to the glory of God the Father”, see pg. 151).

While Hurtado’s grasp of the secondary literature is mind-boggling, he occasionally slips into too heavy a reliance on them for his work. In a few instances, claims are made about first century authors and circumstances, but secondary source authors are quoted in support. He also appears to overcompensate somewhat against Bousset. Hurtado’s stress is (rightly) on the Jewish background of the early Christian movement, however, much more could be said about Greco-Roman background (background which Bousset gives greater attention to). Hurtado repeatedly asserts that the Christian movement had no known Jewish or Roman parallel at the time. Direct parallels aside, the background itself is certainly important, as is evident is Hurtado’s extensive and excellent work on the Jewish side of things. In a work of over 700 pages, this reader would have liked to have seen a greater representation of relevant Greco-Roman background.

While being a wide-ranging and comprehensive work, Lord Jesus Christ comes to somewhat of an abrupt ending. Somewhat surprisingly, the book concludes before Irenaeus (contra Bousset), and does not offer much comment on his work. This seems like a missed opportunity, as a greater discussion of Irenaeus’s work—that great father and shaper of orthodoxy—would have greatly strengthened Hurtado’s case for the consistency of later Christian doctrinal developments with the devotional practice of the early Christians.

While not wanting to reduce one’s life’s effort in any way, there is a sense in reading Lord Jesus Christ that one is reaping the fruit of a career’s work, deposited here in one massive volume. Evidently, Hurtado has spent countless hours exploring the devotional practices of the earliest Christians and his work has paid dividends. The earliest Christology—as laid out by the devotional practice of the earliest Christians—was a shockingly high Christology, emerging in a Jewish, Judean setting. That early pattern of Christ-devotion, established by those early groups, was handed down throughout the first, second, and subsequent centuries. It was the Jesus worshipped by the earliest Christian communities who later became affirmed in the creeds. To borrow the title of another recent book, no longer is it a question of Jesus becoming God, but rather, of God becoming Jesus.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stellar work of scholarship that provides a glimpse into the earliest witness to Jesus. Hurtado is thorough scholar who has given us the fruit of his life work. It has taken on the previously held view that Jesus as God and Christ was a second generation development. Hurtado shows us that Jesus was worship from the beginning and that this devotion is the seed from which later Trinitarian theology developed. It is the core of our faith and a place to begin as we dialogue with postmodern culture.

[Daniel Supimpa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll work on a proper review on the future, but in short this is a very skilled study on the development of Devotion to Jesus in earliest Christianity (c. 30 - 170 AD). Instead of only analyzing the Christology of texts from this period, Hurtado dives deeper into the various expressions and implications of Jesus-devotion.
Dialoguing with Willhelm Bousset’s classic “Kyrios Christos” (written originally in 1913), Hurtado concludes, among other things, that the evidence suggests that devotion to Jesus was not a secondary development in Christianity, but more likely part of the earliest core of the Christian movement. A challenging project, very well presented. It was worth the couple months of slow reading.

[Colin O'Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest book I have ever read.

[Shane Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed and proves the early Orthodox beliefs of the Christians of the 1st and 2nd centuries!!

[Rolph Payet · Rating 4 out of 5]

The focus of the book by Larry Hurtado is to provide an in-depth analysis of evidence for the early beginnings and development of devotion to Christ in early Christianity. He does this on the basis of three assertions. He presents ‘devotion to Christ’ as being focussed on the beliefs and related religious actions in contrast to a Christology which focuses on the theology, attributes, and doctrine of Christ. This subtle distinction allowed the author to develop his arguments concerning how early Christians revered Jesus as a ‘divine’ figure worthy of praise and worship. In that discourse, he discusses two opposing views which remained particularly influential to this day.
Overall, Hurtado provides a very fresh and deep reflection on devotion to Jesus as practiced by the early Christians. In his analysis of the evidence, he draws on key canonical texts but also draws from the rich information available in pseudographical or non-canonical texts. Through his insights into the religious and political situation at the time, Hurtado also provides key evidence as to the distinctiveness of the Jesus religion over other dominant religions at the time. The phenomenal impact of Jesus’ short ministry, the evangelistic missions of the first disciples and Paul, as well as expansion of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire and beyond within a few decades attests to the profound and dramatic growth of early Christianity which continues to this day. Despite the depth of the analysis, Hurtado steers clear of examining in some depth the role and impact of the ministry of John the Baptist in the post-resurrection setting, as well as the role of some of the dominant Jewish sects during the time of Jesus, and how they influenced early Christianity, and also the work and impact of the Holy Spirit beginning at Pentecost, and the diaspora that ensured. A discussion on the difference in the way Paul treated the historical aspects of Jesus in contrast to the synoptic gospels, and the resulting scholarly views on this would have been of value.

[Ryan Funkhouser · Rating 5 out of 5]

An insightful and scholarly book. I give it 5 stars not because I agree with everything Hurtado says, but because I really appreciated his approach to biblical scholarship in this area and how he laid out his arguments. He explicitly states his approach as one that attempts to reject the hardline conservative approach to Biblical scholarship which will dismiss any amount of contrary evidence, regardless of how preponderous it becomes. Instead, he considers a wide range of critical scholarship and seems to give it its due while also not shying away from critiquing it where he feels is appropriate. He demonstrates a wide range of evidence that points towards how remarkable it is that such a widespread and relatively uniform devotion and worship of Jesus arose so immediately following his life in an environment that would have considered such a view blasphemous. He leaves the reader to make the final conclusion about what would make the most sense of this historical picture - though it is clear that he feels the evidence most easily can be interpreted as pointing to the reality of the divinity of Christ.

I think for anyone seriously wrestling with the rationality of Christian belief, this book is particularly useful because it deals with the central question of Christ's divinity instead of periphery questions, and does so in perhaps the most academically honest and rigorous way I have encountered (i.e., authentically acknowledging that other interpretations are possible and avoiding the pitfalls/academic ineptitude of the "just-wake-up-and-see-how-obvious-the-evidence-for-God-is" approach to Christian apologetics).

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a masterful and wide-ranging study. To my mind, the very fact of early Christian devotion to Jesus, arising within the context of Jewish monotheism, is something that must be reckoned with. I'll just let Hurtado give the summary of his conclusions:

Christians were proclaiming and worshiping Jesus, indeed, living and dy­ing for his sake, well before the doctrinal/creedal developments of the second century and thereafter that have received so much attention in histories of Christian tradition. The early convictions about Jesus and the corresponding devotion offered to him that became so widespread in earliest Christianity were sufficiently robust to nourish the prolonged and vigorous efforts to articulate Christian faith in persuasive doctrinal formulations.
Moreover, devotion to Jesus as divine erupted suddenly and quickly, not gradually and late, among first-century circles of followers. More specifically, the origins lie in Jewish Christian circles of the earliest years. Only a certain wishful thinking continues to attribute the reverence of Jesus as divine deci­sively to the influence of pagan religion and the influx of Gentile converts, characterizing it as developing late and incrementally. Furthermore, devotion to Jesus as the "Lord," to whom cultic reverence and total obedience were the appropriate response, was widespread, not confined or attributable to particu­lar circles, such as "Hellenists" or Gentile Christians of a supposed Syrian "Christ cult." (pg. 650)

[Samuel Derous · Rating 4 out of 5]

Larry Hurtado is een autoriteit op het gebied van de aanbidding van Jezus in het vroege christendom. Mijn verwachtingen omtrent dit boek, die bijna als zijn summa beschouwd kan worden, waren dan hoog gespannen. Zo’n 700 pagina’s over de bewijzen die we zowel in de vroege christelijke gemeenschap als in de bijbel terugvinden dat Jezus meer was dan uitsluitend een goed mens, althans volgens het vroege christelijke geloof. Alle Bijbelboeken komen aan bod, maar Hurtado toont zich ook een meester op het gebied van andere vroegchristelijke geschriften zoals die gevonden te Nag Hamadi. Systematisch gaat hij van het prille begin van de opgetekende geschiedenis van het christendom (dit is het Corpus Paulinum) over de synoptische evangeliën, naar de Johanneïsche lectuur verder door naar de tweede eeuw.

Toch stelde het boek me wat teleur. In tegenstelling tot verschillende artikelen in het genre is het geen systematische weergave van hoe Jezus als meer werd gezien dan uitsluitend menselijk, waardoor het hier en daar wat chaotisch wordt, en je op bepaalde momenten het idee hebt dat het boek je niet vertelt wat het belooft. Hurtado is namelijk overtuigd van de goddelijkheid van Christus vanaf het prille begin, dit b.v. in tegenstelling tot Eeerdman (die trouwens geen christen meer is) die dit als een veel gestagere evolutie ziet.

larry-w-hurtadoOok gaat Hurtado niet echt diep in op de verschillende schriftplaatsen die daadwerkelijk b.v. Jezus God noemen (zoals Harris wel doet) en zelfs over de verschillende vormen van proskunein (aanbidden) die op Jezus betrekking hebben. Daardoor blijft het allemaal wat vaag en aan de oppervlakte hangen.

Het beste stuk komt volgens mij nog wanneer hij het over bepaalde gnostieke teksten heeft zoals het evangelie van Petrus, de hemelvaart van Jesaja en andere waar een duidelijker beeld wordt geschetst van het voorbestaan van Jezus en van zijn goddelijkheid dan in de bijbel het geval is waar het vaak een beetje in het midden wordt gelaten. Wat ik vooral bewezen zie in dit werk is de pre-existentie en incarnatie van Jezus, meer dan zijn goddelijkheid, waar Hurtado het eigenlijk zelden over heeft.

Niettemin een aanrader voor iedereen die meer over dit onderwerp wilt te weten komen, al is het alleen al voor de merknaam Hurtado.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This's the flip side of Hurtado's previous book ("One God, One Lord") on early Christian worship of Jesus: digging into what the earliest Church actually did, and what that meant. It was a new thing. In many ways, they uniquely gave Jesus worship along with God alone, without the two ever being opposed in any way. We can see this from the earliest days. There was no dispute about this in the Christian tradition (except much later); the disputes actually were over whether and in what way Jesus was human!

Hurtado, though a believing Christian and former pastor, is writing from within the secular scholarly tradition here. He doesn't come out and say this was because of an act of God, but when (with extensive evidence) he concludes that their religious experiences brought them to this conclusion... I can clearly hear that's what he's thinking.

This's a voluminous book, analyzing texts in detail. I'll only recommend it to people to whom that doesn't give pause. But I thought it was beautiful.

[Mike Felker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book isn't what I thought it would be, but that's not a bad thing. While you'll find a lot of Christology discussions in this, you'll find much more in the way of historical background. Moreover, you'll find a great deal of discussion regarding extra-biblical sources including the gnostic gospels. This is not a "get to the point" kind of book on Christology. It's definitely not a book on apologetics for Christology. But it is an invaluable resource for understanding the backgrounds in which the early Christian's devotion to Jesus was born. To get a much more focused look on Christology without the lengthy background info, you'll want to consult Hurtado's other works. This was truly Hurtado's magnum opus and will serve as a foundation for Christology studies for years to come.

[Adam Benner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not everyone will have the time or want to commit the time to tread through this tome. Some sections feel weighed down by information that would have limited popular appeal. That said, I found Hurtado's chapters on 'Jesus Books' (the fourfold gospels, as well as extra-canonical gospels) riveting. The in-depth discussions of the style, authorial intent, audiences and distinguishing features of the synoptic gospels, Johannine literature and the extra-canonical writings are worth the price of this book on their own, even if certain other sections may not be as engaging, depending on your interests.

[Daniel Silliman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastic history of early Christianity and we know from historical records about their recognition of the divinity of Jesus. I picked this up somewhat randomly—it's not my area of church history—but got a lot from it, both in terms of information and my own spiritual life.

I did wish he spent a little less time going deep on academic debates. That obviously mattered for what Hurtado was doing, but the constructive historical work was so much more interesting to me. I think there could be an amazing 200-page version of this book ....

[Justin Wheaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesus as God isn’t new

This book is amazingly detailed and goes through the first 200 years of Christian devotion to Jesus. It is not the case, as many would have you believe, that Jesus’ divinity was decided at the Council of Nicaea. From the Bible to the earliest Christians, Jesus was worshipped as God in Trinitarian/Binitarian fashion since the beginning.

[Robert Tessmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author was arguing a position that I was already convinced to be correct. So for me he was kind of "preaching to the choir".

That said, this book is a very thorough argument for early devotion to Jesus and has inspired me to look more closely at early Christion writings.

[Joseph Sverker]

Incredibly well researched and also well written, which is very important if one should get through the 650 pages. Hurtado puts forward an immensly strong argument for that the worship of Jesus as God came very very early on among the followers of Jesus. A very interesting feature in terms of the scope of the book is that it also covers the earlist of the so called church fathers.

[Jocelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely written and clearly argued. The main idea is that Jesus was worship as the divine Son of God almost immediately after his crucifixion. This is apparent because it's repeated about 100 times. I only read the first several chapters -- the ones that cover the New Testament (426 pages).

[Anneke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, well worth the effort.

[Anatolikon · Rating 3 out of 5]

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