What exactly happened, such that Jesus came to be considered God? To ask this question is to delve into a fascinating, multilayered historical puzzle-one that offers a richly illuminating look into the origins of the Western worldview and the theological underpinnings of our civilization. In 24 provocative lectures, Professor Ehrman takes you deeply into the process by which the divinity of Jesus was first conceived by his followers, demonstrating how this conception was refined over time to become the core of the Christian theology, our culture, our thought, and our world.
How Jesus Became God
Uncover the extraordinary story behind an idea that has shaped our civilization: the Christian belief that Jesus of Nazareth was none other than God the Almighty.
Rated 3 out of
5
by
DrJim54 from
The professor is an agnostic atheist
While there is some interesting historical context here, it is important to understand that the professor is an agnostic atheist and it is through this lens that he teaches.
Date published: 2024-07-05
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Forever Classic from
How Jesus Began God
I came to these lectures from graduate work in history, and having read other New Testament scholars, some apologists, others not. Familiarity with the historical method and with exegetical analysis prepared me to understand more of these lectures. These are engaging lectures, with rich information and well-considered conclusions. The review and summaries were helpful. I watched all 24 lectures over a four-day weekend.
Date published: 2024-01-01
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Sponge monkey from
How Jesus Became God
I’m in the beginning of the video; so far so good. Explains with excellent detail.
Date published: 2023-10-31
Rated 5 out of
5
by
slats from
My daughter bought this for my 81st birthday. It is really good.
Date published: 2023-10-15
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Ari the fox from
I stream Wondrium. This is a 'must-see' course for the World to see.
Date published: 2023-10-01
Rated 2 out of
5
by
Sojourner Truth from
Consider the source
Bart Ehrman is extremely knowledgeable about the New Testament. That being said, he was an atheist before composing this course. You should only watch this knowing Bart's attitude toward the subject of God's existence!
Date published: 2023-09-22
Rated 5 out of
5
by
CJColucci from
RTFCD: History Isn't Theology
I had not bought the course before because I had read Dr. Ehrman's book on the subject, but far too many of the reviews labored under the same misconceptions and, therefore, made the same ill-founded criticisms so I bought the course to see for myself and address the criticisms.
You may be familiar with the expression "RTFM." I would amend it to "RTF Course Description." Most of the negative reviews proceed from a misunderstanding of what the course is about, which a reading of the course description would dispel.
But first, a fundamental point. For any disputed theological proposition, there is no ascertainable truth of the matter accessible by any mode of human inquiry. Whether Yeshua Ben Yusuf, a Jewish preacher in first-century Palestine, was God, and if he was, in what sense, and how did he get that way, is simply an unanswerable question using the capacities and tools available to human beings. All any human being can do is study what certain people believed about the subject, why they might have believed it, and how those beliefs changed over time and why. If you're looking for someone to affirm that the teachings of your particular sect are, in fact, true, there are people who do that kind of work and places you can get that kind of instruction. But no one who reads the course descriptions should expect that from this course, or any of the Teaching Company's other courses on religious subjects. What Dr. Ehrman offers is the mainstream view of what scholars using human methods of inquiry have been able to ascertain about the history of belief that Jesus was, in some sense, God through those human methods. If that is what you want, Dr. Ehrman does a bang-up job of explaining it.
You will learn that the Greco-Roman world, pagan and Jewish alike, was practically infested with people, real and legendary, who were regarded as divine or semi-divine, so the claim that Jesus was, in some sense, divine, was not all that unusual -- except that nobody believed that in his lifetime and he never claimed that, the dubious exception of the gospel of John aside. John, of course, had no better sources than the authors of the synoptic gospels and the synoptic authors probably would have said something if Jesus had claimed to be God in his lifetime.
Only after Jesus died did anyone claim divine status for him, and then only because his followers came to believe that he, like some others, had risen from the dead. Historians cannot, of course, address the claim that Jesus really did rise from the dead, but they can describe the growth and evolution of and likely causes for the belief that he did. Perhaps if we suspected that Queen Elizabeth II might rise from the dead, we could surround her tomb with video cameras (after ascertaining that she is still in her tomb) and several guards 24-7 and, possibly, have reliable evidence if she did, but short of that, no historical explanation can start from the proposition that Jesus actually did rise from the dead because humans have no tools for investigating that question.
But if Jesus's followers came to believe that he was divine, there had to be some explanation, and Dr. Ehrman traces the early view that God more or less deputized him as his representative at his baptism, through the idea that God made Jesus divine by raising him from the dead, and the idea that God, like Zeus, impregnated a virgin whose son was divine at conception, to John's view that Jesus was God from before the creation.
That view, which came to be accepted, led to problems. Was Jesus God's right-hand deity? Was there a time when there was God, but not Jesus? Were God and Jesus equals or was God superior or were they the same being? And if so, to whom was Jesus talking when he prayed? Dr. Ehrman leads listeners through these and related controversies over these unanswerable questions, making each church author's views as clear as the subject permits -- though not clearer.
Finally, Dr. Ehrman explains how the belief in Jesus's divinity, and the adoption of that belief by official Rome, changed the world.
If you take this course looking for religious truth, you are looking for love in all the wrong places and will be sorely disappointed. But if you want to learn learnable things about the development of Christianity and its impact, Dr. Ehrman will give you all you can handle, and do it very well.
If you can get past his taste in sweaters.
Date published: 2023-07-31
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Poppa Michael from
Great analysis by a great religious thinker
It is so hard to separate religious canon literature from historical fact and non-canon literature. Dr. Ehrman has made it his lifelong field of study. I have purchased many of his Great Courses works and have learned more with each one. Persons completely indoctrinated by bible thumping rhetoric will be uncomfortable with his views. However, they are presented with objectivity and with no ax to grind except to teach and enlighten Christians of every classification, and non-Christians as well.
Date published: 2023-06-17
Overview
About
Bart D. Ehrman is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his MDiv and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary. He has written or edited more than 30 books, including six New York Times bestsellers: Misquoting Jesus; God’s Problem; Jesus, Interrupted; Forged; How Jesus Became God; and The Triumph of Christianity. He has also received several teaching honors, including the John William Pope Center Spirit of Inquiry Award and the UNC Students’ Undergraduate Teaching Award.
Trailer
01: Jesus-The Man Who Became God
First, consider the huge historical significance of the Christian belief in Jesus's divinity, in terms of its effects on Western civilization as well as today's world. Learn about different scholarly views of the historical Jesus, and trace the remarkable diversity of early Christian thought regarding Christian identity, scripture, and theological understandings of Jesus.
33 min
02: Greco-Roman Gods Who Became Human
In the ancient world, there were many accounts of "divine" mortals. Track this phenomenon in the Greco-Roman polytheistic religions, noting the overlap between the human and divine worlds. Explore three ancient models of divine men, in both mythology and Christian scripture, as gods take on human form and humans enter the heavenly realm.
32 min
03: Humans as Gods in the Greco-Roman World
Delve further into the interface between the human and the divine in pagan cultures. Examine narratives describing people born of the sexual union of gods with mortals, highlighting examples such as Alexander the Great. In the Roman and Egyptian worlds, look at cases of humans who were exalted to the status of gods.
32 min
04: Gods Who Were Human in Ancient Judaism
Here, discover accounts of divine humans and other godlike beings within ancient Judaism. In Genesis and Exodus, explore conceptions of divine beings that appear in human form. In other Jewish texts, study narratives of humans who become angelic beings, as well as stories of the offspring of angels and humans.
31 min
05: Ancient Jews Who Were Gods
In ancient Judaism, beings other than the one true God could be considered to be or even called God. Learn about the divine figure of the Son of Man, and the Jewish conception of a "second God". Observe how divine attributes of God were personified, and how humans such as the kings of Israel were deified.
27 min
06: The Life and Teachings of Jesus
In approaching the historical Jesus, consider why the New Testament Gospels are the only useful early sources on his life, and study the criteria used by scholars for evaluating the Gospels as history. Then investigate Jesus's apocalyptic worldview, which envisioned the imminent end of history and a coming kingdom of God.
32 min
07: Did Jesus Think He Was God?
This lecture explores what Jesus said about himself, as well as what he specifically preached. Grasp the nature and purpose of Jesus's ethical teachings, and his view of himself as a prophet of the coming kingdom. Study the Jewish conception of the Messiah as a warrior-king who would overthrow the enemies of Israel.
31 min
08: The Death of Jesus-Historical Certainties
Regarding Jesus's final days, review the events that we know about with relative certainty. Learn about his reasons for being in Jerusalem, and the political tensions surrounding the Passover celebration there. Consider what led to his arrest, the nature of the charges against him, and what we can infer about his trial.
31 min
09: Jesus's Death-What Historians Can't Know
Look now at events surrounding Jesus's death that we cannot know about with certainty. Assess the plausibility of the Gospels' accounts of his arrival in Jerusalem, the date of his crucifixion, and the matter of his burial. Grasp how Christian writers made changes in the accounts of his death to serve theological ends.
31 min
10: The Resurrection-What Historians Can't Know
Jesus's resurrection stands as the basis for the entire Christian faith. But what can we know historically about the resurrection? Here, dig deeply into the question of what historians can and cannot demonstrate about the past, and consider aspects of the stories of Jesus's resurrection that are historically doubtful or unknowable.
34 min
11: What History Reveals about the Resurrection
What was it that caused Jesus's followers to believe he had been raised from the dead? Investigate the disciples' visions of Jesus, alive again after his death, as reflected in Paul and the Gospels. Learn also about the tradition of doubt in the resurrection, and the meaning to early Christians of being resurrected.
32 min
12: The Disciples' Visions of Jesus
In exploring the first claims about Jesus's resurrection, this lecture discusses the phenomenon of visionary experience as understood by modern researchers. Learn about the variety of religious and bereavement visions people experience, and the ways in which the disciples' visions and beliefs about Jesus combined to impact their conception of him as divine.
30 min
13: Jesus's Exaltation-Earliest Christian Views
What did the earliest Christians believe about Jesus's divinity? Delve into Romans and Acts for what they may tell us about early Christian thought, identifying the "pre-literary" creeds they quote from. Observe how these creeds indicate a view that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God precisely upon his resurrection.
31 min
14: The Backward Movement of Christology
Over time, Christian thought pushed the origin of Jesus's divinity further and further back in history. Trace this development by looking at views of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels. Focus on the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, noting their differing versions of when Jesus became the Son of God.
30 min
15: Paul's View-Christ's Elevated Divinity
Paul's theology represents a transition between early conceptions of Christ as exalted by God upon his death and later views of his innate or eternal divinity. Trace Paul's seminal role within the early church, and his view of Jesus as a divine being whose actions raised him to a higher level of divinity.
32 min
16: John's View-The Word Made Human
The Gospel of John differs significantly from the other three canonical Gospels in its conception of Jesus. Investigate John's contention that Jesus had always been the Son of God and the equal of God the Father. Contemplate John's identification of Christ as the embodiment of the word of God, or "logos".
31 min
17: Was Christ Human? The Docetic View
In the second and third centuries, Christian groups followed radically different beliefs and theologies. Learn about the "docetists", who believed Jesus was not human, but only appeared to be so, highlighting Marcion, a docetist who conceived of two distinct gods-a God of the Jews and a God of Jesus.
29 min
18: The Divided Christ of the Separationists
Among early Christian groups, the Gnostics demonstrate yet another view of the divinity of Jesus. Explore the fundamental tenets of Gnosticism, with its notion of secret knowledge as the source of salvation. Discover the Gnostic "separationist" view of Christ, according to which the divine Christ inhabited, temporarily, the human Jesus.
30 min
19: Christ's Dual Nature-Proto-Orthodoxy
By the fourth century, the theological understanding known as "orthodoxy" became predominant. Investigate the relationship between orthodoxy and "heresy", or conflicting conceptions of the faith, and evidence that orthodoxy was not the original form of Christianity. Learn about early "proto-orthodox" writers, and their contention that Jesus was both fully God and fully human.
32 min
20: The Birth of the Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity asserts that God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all individually God. Look into the origins of this mysterious claim, noting that the Trinity appears nowhere in the Bible. Learn about the conception of "modalism", which proposed that the three are manifestations of one being, and modalism's opponents.
32 min
21: The Arian Controversy
In the third century, sharp divisions existed between Christians, involving how to explain the relation of God the Father to Christ and the Holy Spirit. Examine the proto-orthodox thought of Novatian, and learn about the "Arian controversy" stemming from the highly divisive view of Christ as a subordinate deity created by God.
31 min
22: The Conversion of Constantine
The Christian conversion of the Roman emperor Constantine was a momentous turning point for the faith. Learn about the relationship of the Roman Empire to early Christianity, and the specific reasons why Christians were persecuted by Rome. Grasp Constantine's motives for converting to Christianity and for becoming directly involved in theological controversies.
32 min
23: The Council of Nicea
Constantine called the famous Council of Nicea in 325 CE, to resolve the conflicting views of Christ's divinity. Examine the theological issues at stake, pitting the Christological views of Arius against those of Alexander of Alexandria. Contemplate the political implications of the outcome, and the resulting orthodox creed, establishing Jesus fully as God.
31 min
24: Once Jesus Became God
Conclude by considering the historical ramifications of the Nicean affirmation that Jesus was God. Learn about the growing Christian faith's effects on paganism and the advent of anti-Jewish thought and action. Observe how the theological debates continued, and review Jesus's path to becoming the object of faith for billions today.
33 min
