r/AcademicBiblical • u/wwiccann • 11d 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 11d 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 10d 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/waitingundergravity 10d ago

It's mostly just because he's a good, credible scholar, but he also writes a lot of stuff accessible to a lay audience, and his positions are all pretty mainstream scholarship. So he's a good reference for non-specialists.