One God, One Lord: Early Christian Devotion and Ancient Jewish Monotheism

by Larry W. Hurtado

The classic and ground-breaking work in Christology, with extensive new introduction, evaluating the most recent developments in current scholarship.

Genres: Theology, History, Biblical Studies, Christianity, Religion, Christian, New Testament

Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Amund Helgaas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interessant bok om det jødiske grunnlaget for tilbedelsen av Jesus som Gud. Hurtado forklarer «divine agency” kategorien ved å gjennomgå hvordan personifiserte guddommelige attributter (Visdom og Logos), opphøyde patriarker (Enok og Moses) og de viktigste englene av enkelte jøder i etter-eksil-tiden ble sett på som «chief agents» for Gud, men i rammene av en streng monoteistisk jødedom. Han avslutter med å argumentere for at denne kategorien ble overført til Jesus og hvordan han også ble sett på som guddommelig skjedde ved åpenbaringene av den korsfestede, oppståtte og opphøyde Jesus i post-påske -tid.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This relatively short book attempts to figure out how Jewish people would have thought about Jesus as a divine figure when he first burst on to the scene. How, in other words, would a monotheist religion manage to explain a second unit in the Godhead? Why would Jewish people accept that and so quickly?

Hurtado rejects the idea that such acceptance stemmed from the Gentile side of the church and that Jewish Christians did not see Jesus as divine. Rather, he says that the idea of divinity was routed in certain concepts having to do with a kind of second in charge or command, behind God--a divine agent who works for and on behalf of and in place of God.

This agent can be found in various forms: as a personified attribute, such as wisdom or the word; as an angel; or as an important human figure/prophet. Of particular note, however, is the angel, for a principal angel figures prominently in many Old Testament and inter-Testamental passages. In this sense, then, Hurtado says, we can see the risen Jesus as fitting into the Jewish concept of a chief angel, a divine agent.

However, that would not mean that Jesus was one who early Christians worshipped, and Hurtado notes that unlike the divine agent's treatment in most earlier texts, it's clear that the worship practice of early Christians included Jesus with God. How that came about is not quite clear, but, Hurtado implies, it was likely related to Jesus's resurrection--an event that changed the view of certain peoples.

Hurtado's ideas are intriguing, especially as one tries to figure out how a Jewish person would have felt about Jesus at the time. The divine agent certainly seems like one avenue by which people could have seen him. But if the Gospel accounts are accurate, it's clear that Jesus claimed divinity of himself while alive, which still is rather mind-boggling insofar as having people accept that. Miracles must have played a large role, with the resurrection being the final step to such acceptance.

[Seth Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A look at the concept of divine agency in ancient Judaism, its relation to primitive Christology, and its impact on what Hurtado calls "the early Christian mutation" of devotion to the one God. Hurtado examines three broad types of divine agents (personified divine attributes, exalted patriarchs, and principal angels) that are found in ancient Jewish writings (predominantly postexilic) and then shows how Christians appropriated the descriptions of these figures to depict the exalted Jesus. However, Hurtado argues more than this, maintaining that the earliest Christians went beyond the agential attributions of their spiritual ancestors and ascribed to Jesus honors, functions, and roles customarily reserved for the one God alone.

A clarification that I think is needed when talking about "the early Christian mutation" is that what mutated is not monotheism per se, but the devotional practices of monotheists. The early Christians were monotheists and in this regard were not different from their Jewish counterparts. However, they were different in their view of Jesus as God's agent par excellence and in going above and beyond any honorific descriptions of divine agents prior to Jesus.

I learned a lot from Hurtado in this book and I greatly appreciate how readable this volume is. I plan on buying his magnum opus "Lord Jesus Christ" in the near future.

[Evan Þ. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bible scholar Larry Hurtado was a believing Christian and former pastor as well as a professor active in secular Bible scholarship. This, his first book-length contribution to scholarship (from 1988), analyzes early Christian worship of Jesus in the light of contemporary Jewish background. He points out that the evidence shows worship of Jesus did emerge in a Palestinian Jewish setting, and he argues with extensive support that it was unprecedented among Judaism. It was a popular Jewish belief that God had a "chief minister" (whether an angel or glorified patriarch), and that minister certainly deserved respect, but he was never worshipped.

The worship of Jesus was a new thing. And, they worshipped Jesus without meaning to detract from their worship of the One True God; they believed that He wanted them to worship Jesus. This was also an idea unprecedented in Judaism.

In his afterword written in 2015, Hurtado looks back on how this book changed secular scholarship of Christian origins. His view hasn't fully become mainstream, but some points have, and it's much more commonplace than it was before he wrote it.

[David Galloway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hurtado makes a compelling case for a binitarian reading of Second Temple Judaic period with his development of the Divine Agent in the Torah is a prefigurement of the Trinity—although he does not spell it out exactly that way, binitarianism clearly leads to trinitarianism in his reading of scripture. He gives an expansive overview of the concept of the Divine Agent, touching on the several ways this role is used within the Torah: the 'angelification' of Moses and Enoch, the elevation of a particular angel (Michael) as the Divine Servant, the personification of Logos and Sophia in wisdom literature, and the various uses of the title 'Son of Man'. Hurtado also explores some of the various strands in Judaism during the Second Temple period and shows that almost none of them use the term monotheism in the same way of contemporary rabbinic Judaism. This is an excellent text.

[Gordon Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

A seminal study, more compelling in its negative case against the assumption that devotion to Christ could not have originated in a Jewish context, than the positive reconstruction of its origin. The careful refutation of the various ideas that angels and other exalted personages were worshipped in Second Temple Judaism seems to be comprehensive. However the proposal that those figures of divine agency offered a vocabulary for talking about Christ, and then a basis for the characteristic Christian 'mutation' seems more speculative. As a study of the religious and social phenomenon, however, it is invaluable.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A scholarly examination of how Jesus came to be worshipped as God in the early church. He interacts well with differing perspectives that try to explain away that the early church understood Jesus to be God incarnate and therefore worthy of worship. Especially interesting was the examination of extra-biblical sources that shed light on some Jewish practices. Even so, these practices were the exception to regular Jewish worship and cannot be used to explain how Jesus was viewed by early Jewish converts to Christianity.

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will update later

Interesting perspective on early (1st-Century) worship of Jesus by Jewish Christians and gentile converts.

An attempt to explain how this worship coexisted with Jewish monotheism, since to worship a man as God would be heretical to Jews.

[Daniël De waele · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beetje teleurstellend. Overzicht van hoe joden dachten over 'een tweede god' - maar die ze nooit aanbaden. het christendom ging verder: aanbad wel de 'tweede god' - Jezus. Hoe komt dat? Alleen verklaarbaar door bepaalde ervaringen (zoals Paulus op wel naar Damaskus).

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Bauckham. But still helpful.

[Tommi Karjalainen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super clear in writing, persuasive, stellar footnotes.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the book most responsible for my interest in New Testament Christology. I once heard Dr. Hurtado in Houston, lecturing on early high Christology. I have since grown enamored with the subject, though I'm not so certain Hurtado's thesis can be fully sustained, or is even sustainable. Nonetheless, well worth the read.

[Tommi Karjalainen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear presentation. Need to read the new edition.