Introduction: A Historical Exploration of Christianity's Ultimate Questions

Chapter 1: Divine Men of Ancient Greece and Rome
Chapter 2: The Sacred Men of Ancient Judaism
Chapter 3 Did Jesus Really Think He Was God?
Chapter 4: The Resurrection of Jesus: What We Can't Know
Chapter 5: The Resurrection of Jesus: What We Can Know
Chapter 6 Jesus Becomes the Son of God
Chapter 7: Jesus Comes Down to the World
Chapter 8: Christologies of the 2nd and 3rd Centuries, After the New Testament, and the Road Ahead
Chapter 9: The Council of Nicaea: Jesus Becomes Fully God
Conclusion: From the Historical Jesus to God and the Aftermath

Acknowledgements
Unpacking: Jesus and Oh Kang-nam Historically “Recontextualized”
Translator's Note
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Bible Index
index

How Did Jesus Become God?: A Historical Exploration of Christianity's Ultimate Question

Author Bart Ehrman is one of today's most renowned and controversial biblical scholars and a distinguished commentator on Christian history, literature, and tradition.
His works have sparked much controversy between his supporters and critics.
In this book, the author's eight years of research and publication, he reveals the historical process by which the Galilean apocalyptic prophet, crucified for treason, came to be identified with the one and only God who created all things.
How did this transformation of Jesus occur? How did Jesus transform from a Jewish prophet into God? Ehman answers these questions not as a believer, but as a historian.

Chapter 1: Divine Humans of Ancient Greece and Rome explores the divine realm, where divine beings and humans overlapped, a realm shared broadly by the Greek and Roman worlds outside of Judaism and Christianity.
Through this, we can see that not only Jesus, but also other figures were worshipped as gods.

In Chapter 2, “The Sacred Humans of Ancient Judaism,” the sacred human beings who existed within the world of ancient Judaism are highlighted.
Many ancient Jews believed that divine beings, such as angels, could become human and that humans could become divine.
Some humans have actually been called gods.
This point can be confirmed not only in literature outside the Bible, but also within the Bible.

In Chapter 3, “Did Jesus Really Think He Was God?” we examine the life of Jesus throughout history.
The author argues that the problems raised by the Gospels can best be understood when Jesus is viewed as an apocalyptic prophet.
After covering the basic tenets of Jesus' public ministry, we discuss the events that led to his crucifixion by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.
Here the author focuses on the questions, 'How did Jesus understand and describe himself? Did Jesus really speak of himself as a divine being?'
The author argues that Jesus did not think that way.

Chapter 4, “The Resurrection of Jesus: What We Cannot Know,” begins with the question, “What can we actually know about the resurrection?” from a historical perspective.
The author says that the stories about Joseph of Arimathea taking Jesus' body and some female disciples discovering the empty tomb on the third day cannot be considered reliable historical sources regarding Jesus' resurrection.
Ultimately, historians cannot know anything about the traditions surrounding Jesus' resurrection.

In Chapter 5, “The Resurrection of Jesus: What We Can Know,” we discuss what we can know for sure about the resurrection.
According to the author, the claim that some of Jesus' disciples saw him alive after his death is clearly and convincingly supported by evidence.
But how many of the disciples saw a vision of Jesus? When did they see it? And how did they interpret it? We'll explore these questions.

In Chapter 6, Jesus Becomes the Son of God, it is argued that Jesus' disciples initially believed in the resurrection, based on a visionary experience, that Jesus was taken up into heaven and was seated at God's right hand as the only Son.
These creeds are the first Christologies that understood Jesus as a divine being.

Chapter 7, “Jesus Came Down to the World,” deals with various Christological perspectives that have developed and been maintained in later generations.
From this perspective, Jesus was not simply a human being exalted to the level of divinity, but a pre-existent divine being who was with God before coming to earth as a human.
The author shows the main similarities and differences between this 'incarnation' Christology and the earlier 'exaltation' Christology.
And we explore key passages related to the Incarnation in the Gospel of John, the last canonical gospel written.

Chapter 8, “After the New Testament, the Christologies of the 2nd and 3rd Centuries, with Their Paths Blocked,” deals with the complex aspects of 2nd and 3rd century Christology.
The debate over the nature of Christ was not resolved until the late third century, and it only became more intense after the conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity in the early fourth century.
At the time, most Christians believed that Jesus was God, but they still had the question, "In what sense?"

Chapter 9, The Council of Nicaea: Jesus Becomes Completely God, shows how Christian doctrine was established through the Arian Controversy and the Council of Nicaea.
Arius's position, which was initially dominant, was condemned as heresy by the Council of Nicaea.
This council established the position that Christ has always existed with God and is equal in nature with God.

"Conclusion: From the Historical Jesus to God and the Aftermath" addresses the aftermath of this particular theological debate.
However, these arguments argue that we cannot understand the historical record without understanding its preceding history, and that we must pay attention to the particularly central Christological questions contained in the historical record.

In search of the historical Jesus, from 'How God Became Human' to 'How Humans Became God'

At the heart of the world's most influential Christian faith is the claim that Jesus of Nazareth was and is God.
Bart Ehrman, one of today's most renowned and controversial biblical scholars and a prominent commentator on the history, literature, and tradition of Christianity, addresses the question of "How Jesus Became God" from a historical rather than a theological perspective, providing a fascinating account of the 300-year process by which the divinity of Jesus became a dogma of the church.
Bart Ehrman himself raises the point that, although he no longer concerns himself with the theological question, "How did God become human?", he is interested in the historical question, "How did human beings become God?"
The dramatic shifts that occurred throughout history reveal not only why the disciples claimed that Jesus was God, but also that they understood his divinity in various ways.
This book presents one of the most fascinating and complex topics in Christian history in an accessible and accessible way, offering a clear and balanced discussion of the diverse views of Jesus held by Christians and non-Christians.

It was the belief in resurrection that led to the claim that Jesus was God.
Bart Ehrman says that it is historically impossible to prove that Jesus was actually resurrected.
However, there is no historical doubt that some of Jesus' followers believed that he was raised from the dead.
If no one had believed that Jesus had been resurrected, he would be known today only as a failed Jewish prophet.
In this way, Bart Ehrman traces the hidden stories surrounding the historical Jesus, distinguishing between what can and cannot be approached historically.

What Made Jesus God?: The Historical Origins of the Jesus Myth

One of the important discoveries of modern scholarship over the past two centuries about the New Testament and early Christianity is that during Jesus' lifetime, his followers understood him not as God but as thoroughly human.
People saw Jesus as a teacher, a rabbi, or even a prophet, and some thought of him as a very human Messiah.
Bart Ehrman argues that Jesus' followers did not call him God during his lifetime, and that Jesus himself did not claim to be a divine being from heaven.

Who exactly was Jesus? So-called "Christology" is one of the most heated questions in the fields of theology and religious studies.
This means that there can be many different opinions on the question of who Jesus was.
Even the four Gospels we have today do not give the same answer to the question of who Jesus was.

Bart Ehrman traces the historical development of the belief in the human Jesus as God:
Among people belonging to the ancient Greek and Roman cultural spheres, and even among Jews, it was common to see humans as gods and gods as humans, and that great figures were both gods and humans at the same time.
Jesus did not think of himself as God, but his followers came to think of him as God because they believed that Jesus had risen from the dead.
Certainly, the reason Jesus became God is related to the disciples' belief that 'Jesus was resurrected from the dead.'
Christians really thought Jesus had risen, and that, as the author claims, changed everything.

The Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, and Luke) believe that Jesus was 'raised' as the Son of God through baptism or birth, unlike the early disciples' belief in Jesus.
Bart Ehrman argues that as early Christians developed their view of Jesus in the years following his death, the earliest exaltation Christologies very quickly transformed into incarnational Christologies.
Paul viewed Jesus Christ as an angel of God who came into the world with a humble heart and emphasized his pre-existence.
The Gospel of John goes a step further and sees Jesus as the incarnation of the pre-existent God, and incarnation Christology ultimately became the dominant view.

After persuasively presenting this argument, he introduces in detail the orthodox theories that won and the heretical theories that lost in the debates about Jesus in the history of early Christianity.
Some thinkers have argued that Jesus was fully human but not divine, while others have said that Jesus was fully divine but not human.
Others have argued that Jesus Christ was in fact two beings, one divine and one human, temporarily united only during his public ministry.
All these views were thoroughly declared 'heresy'.

Everything was settled at the Council of Nicaea, convened by Constantine, who recognized Christianity.
Constantine believed he had created a unified church.
'Christ coexists with God the Father forever.
The doctrine is established that he has always existed and is “of the same substance” as God the Father, and is the true God from the past to eternity.
Bart Ehrman argues that the Christ of Nicaea is nothing like the historical Jesus, the apocalyptic wandering preacher from a remote Galilean village who was suddenly crucified for his opposition to the authority of the state and his opposition to the state, and that Jesus, regardless of his actual life, has now become fully God.

Historical recontextualization: Our understanding of Jesus is not fixed but constantly evolving.
Bart Ehrman traces how a prophet from a remote Galilean village, then little known, became a god.
The author reveals that Jesus was not elevated to the level of God in a vacuum within the context of his time.
Jesus' disciples worshipped Jesus as a god under the influence of the environment in which they lived.
'In what sense did Jesus' disciples come to understand him as divine?' 'What led them to think that Jesus, the crucified Galilean preacher, was God?' The author argues that these questions and the contemporary debates cannot be understood without understanding previous history.

There have been changes in the way Jesus is understood over time.
Bart Ehrman puts it this way: “People in different times and places have always recontextualized Jesus.”
Jesus' first followers recontextualized him after they came to believe that he had been raised from the dead and ascended into heaven.
Their Jesus was not the Jesus of old, and they understood him in the new circumstances they encountered.
Later New Testament authors also recontextualized and understood Jesus in their own contexts.
The same goes for 2nd and 3rd century Christians who understood Jesus as a divine being who became human rather than an apocalyptic prophet.
So did fourth-century Christians who maintained that Jesus had always existed and was always equal to God in status, authority, and power.
Bart Ehrman points out that most Christians today do not realize that they have recontextualized Jesus.

When Bart Ehrman discusses the process of Jesus' deification, he does so in the context of an individual's mental and spiritual journey.
The author's honest self-confession serves very well in helping us understand this book.
Even though he himself is an agnostic who came to see Jesus as a human being, his confession that he “recontextualized” the ethical principles Jesus proclaimed and incorporated them into his own life is a message worth listening to.
His insight that Jesus' teachings have always been recontextualized throughout the ages and will continue to do so opens up even more horizons for us.

For many Christians who have been forced to believe that the only way to view Jesus is the orthodox view taught by the church, yet find it difficult to agree with it, this book, which offers reflection through a historical approach, may be read as another alternative.
It is also expected to have a certain degree of effect in alleviating the exclusivity brought about by a rigid theological position that excludes historicity.
Non-believers can easily and dramatically experience the process of creating a religion that transcends the level of faith and is an important spiritual asset of humanity.
Furthermore, by understanding the process by which the fundamental principles of Christianity, the world's most influential religion, were established, you will gain useful basic knowledge for understanding Western civilization, history, and culture.

Reviews of this book

"How Jesus Became God" presents one of the most fascinating and complex topics in Christian history in an accessible and accessible way, offering a clear and balanced discussion of the diverse views of Jesus held by Christians and non-Christians.
- Elaine Pagels (Professor of Religious Studies, Princeton University, author of The Gnostic Gospels)
Ehman has done it again! In this vibrant and provocative book, he offers a nuanced and comprehensive discussion of early Christian Christology and the implications it holds.
Ehman demonstrates remarkable skill in interpreting biblical and non-biblical texts, tracing the shift from understanding Jesus as an apocalyptic preacher and human being to seeing him as fully divine.
This is an important and accessible work by an outstanding scholar.
- Michael Coogan (Professor, Harvard Divinity School, Editor of the New Oxford Annotated Bible)

Eoman prioritizes intellectual honesty above all else.
Biblical scholars often speak ambiguously about the subject of demystification.
Whether you are a believer or not, you will learn a lot from this book.
- John Collins (Professor of Old Testament, Yale University)

How did ancient monotheism allow the one and only God to have a "son"? Ehrman tells this story, introducing readers to the Jewish world, populated by angels, cosmic forces, and countless demigods.
There was also Jesus of Nazareth, who was raised from the dead for a small messianic sect in this world.
[How Jesus Became God] vividly presents the entire picture of the pre-Nicene period.
- Paula Friedriksen, author of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews