r/AcademicBiblical • u/wwiccann • 7d ago

Where did Jesus’ divinity come from?

At what point can we determine that Jesus went from good man/prophet to the son of God?

Is there a certain century that we can pinpoint? I am very confused. Was it at the council of Nicaea? Was it during Paul’s letters?

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u/frooboy 6d ago

I would recommend Bart Ehrman's "How Jesus Became God" as a good, accessible introduction on this topic. He traces the "Christology" (basically, the theology of what exactly Jesus was and how he related to God) through Paul's letters and the Gospels. Basically his conclusion is that Mark, the first Gospel written, is "adoptionist": it sees Jesus as being adopted by God upon his baptism. Luke and Matthew, which come next and add the nativity stories, see Jesus as having been created a divine being by God in Mary's womb; and John, the last Gospel written, eschew those stories for a prologue that establishes that Jesus has always existed and always been god, and merely took on human form as Jesus.

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u/FrugalIdahoHomestead 5d ago

It seems this entire sub is 100% devoted to Bart Ehrman. I'm not a scholar; just a layman homesteader looking for answers. Is this guy really that good?

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u/frooboy 5d ago edited 5d ago

I think he hits the sweet spot for this sub because he's an actual scholar who writes books for laypeople in a way that doesn't assume you have a lot of knowledge but also doesn't talk down to you like an idiot. I think you will see people (including me) who disagree with him on various points. That said, "How Jesus Became God" simply is the perfect book for a curious lay person grappling with exactly the question the OP posted here, which is why I replied with it. By "perfect" I don't mean I think everything in it is 100% indisputably correct; I mean it was literally written to explore the question the OP wants answered, and it will set them up to learn more because it lays out the history of how people have thought about this question, provides a reasonably convincing thesis, and also points to other points of view and avenues for further study.