Bart Ehrman's 'How Jesus Became God'

Matthew opens his argument by describing Jesus: born of a virgin in Bethlehem, in the line of David, worshipped by Gentile Magi, brought out of Egypt, and raised in Nazareth.1 Matthew employs this list of prophecies from Mosaic Law and describes how Jesus fulfilled them all, simultaneously, as Blomberg’s notes in his portrait of Jesus, Matthew describes Jesus as “Son of David, King, and Royal Messiah,” and “Son of God.”2 Moreover, Matthew’s examples of the use of these titles throughout Matthew bear witness to Jesus’ divinity, as well as, how God could be understood through Jesus.3 Matthew proves not only Jesus’ Messiahship but His title of the Son of God.

One of the many things that puzzle people even today; is how Jesus was portrayed and how he became a part of history throughout the centuries. Fortunately, within the book Jesus Through the Centuries, written by Jaroslav Pelikan, readers are able to get a sense of what societies viewed Jesus as and how he was/is important to many aspects of the world such as; the political, social, and cultural impact he had left. As Pelikan discusses this very topic and theme in his book, we see how there’s a connection between his audience in this book and Jesus’s are closely similar. When he got his motivation to write about Jesus through the Centuries, Jaroslav had an open audience, which was intended for anyone of all ages, races, and beliefs to read

Over the course of history, the historical information regarding Jesus Christ has been interpreted by many different individuals and has led to different beliefs and views regarding the existence of Jesus Christ as a real man. Today I will be interpreting this evidence and i will be attempting to answer the question “Was Jesus Christ a real man?”. The evidence I will be looking at to answer this question will be information regarding the context of Jesus Christ, the historical accounts of non-Christian authors as well as the evidence for the Bible which is the main source regarding the life of Jesus Christ.

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and enlarge his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. He wanted to understand what changed her like this. He wanted to relate with his wife so he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel began his journey and interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament. Strobel splits the case for Christ into three basic sections: Examining the Record, Analyzing Jesus, and Researching the Resurrection.

Award-winning journalist, Lee Strobel wrote The Case for Christ to retrace and expand his journey toward becoming a Christian. Strobel once declared atheist, and now Christian, shares how he began to look upon the Bible and God. As an atheist, Strobel lived the life of selfishness and only worried to please himself. When his wife began to go to church he wasn’t very pleased until after he saw the positive and attractive change in her. This is the start of his curiosity and investigation about Christianity. To relate with his wife he decided to study about this and attend church services with her. Strobel interviewed thirteen leading scholars who defended their views concerning the historical reliability of the New Testament.

Fay, William, and Linda E. Shepherd. Share Jesus Without Fear. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999.

Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is the epitome of a fire and brimstone sermon. Edwards was able to deliver this speech with force, power, and charisma. However this sermon effectively portrays Edwards’s own interpretation of man’s sinful nature and God’s wrathful nature even when read silently. Jonathan Edwards is capable of effectively communicating that his position as a reverend is a means of legitimizing his ability to interpret the bible and all of its scriptures. Edwards finds success in his speech by his use of vivid and violent imagery. By doing this Edwards is able to do two things, one convince his parishioners that as a man of God he has the authority to be an interpreter of the bible. He forces his

Robert Laurence Moore has written a delightful, enlightening, and provocative survey of American church history centered around the theme of "mixing" the "sacred" with the "secular" and vice versa. The major points of conversation covered include the polarization caused by the public display of religious symbols, the important contribution that women and Africans have made to the American religious mosaic, the harmony and friction that has existed between science and religion, the impact of immigration on religious pluralism, and the twin push toward the union and separation of religion and politics.

Often sermons pastors persuade their audience to behave in a spiritual or moral fashion such is the case in "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" by Jonathan Edwards where he educates that God will only save the sinners that repents and leave the others. Edwards wanted to impact his audience by appealing to the their fears, pity, and vanity. Edwards had an emotional impact on his Puritan audience because of his cautionary tone, descriptive imagery, and vivid figurative language. Foremost Johnathan Edwards has an emotional impact on the Puritan audience because of his cautionary tone. For example, in paragraph 1 it states ".. thus easy is it for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell."

In the sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", Jonathan Edwards includes rhetorical devices such as repetition, rhetorical questions, and allusions to persuade his audience to not sin and repent.

Jesus did claim to be God in human form not once, nor on a few occasions, but frequently and consistently throughout his sermons. This is established in all four gospels, and in Paul's letters to the early church. Jesus himself claimed to be God, in what he said, his miracles and in what he did. The earliest Christians recognize that Jesus was God in human form starting with Peter's prediction before the resurrection. The whole theology of Christianity has been centered on the divinity of Jesus Christ throughout history.

Jesus is like the water a person drinks, it is a must to survive. I believe, that everyone has their idealized image of a social figure he or she does not know such as Martin Luther King, John F, Kennedy, and Malcolm X to name a few. Each of these people at one point has been portrayed in entertainment and people do not know if what is being portrayed is true. According to Yancey (1995), he described “Jesus as thin, handsome, skin waxen and milky white man” (p.13). However, after Yancey attends college, he begins to ponder, who is the real image of Jesus, aside from what is being portrayed in movies, or other entertainment? Sometimes, in life, people can go off what they have seen or heard about a person and not really understand the person. While, I am a granddaughter, of a minster, I have been told stories about who Jesus is, but have I seen him as the person he is deep down? The purpose of this paper is seeking to discuss the summary of the book, The Jesus, I Never Knew. I will be talking about Philip Yancey’s take on what he thinks of Jesus. I also will be discussing, some of Philip Yancey strengths and weakness about his book.

In our book “American Jesus” by Stephen Prothero, the chairman of the religious department at Boston University, has published an engaging book that explains how the Son of God “Jesus Christ” became the nation’s most known and forming celebrity figure. While the United States of America was founded on religious freedom, Prothero explains to us that America has more active Christians than any other nation in history. And while this nation has been somewhat of a hedonistic society, Americans are more interested in the figure of Jesus than their Puritan forefathers, who were, as Prothero writes, "a God-fearing rather than Jesus-loving people." But that’s no surprise; Prothero warns us that Jesus may rule the country, but the people in the country

The quest for the knowledge on the historical Jesus started as a protest against the traditional dogma of Christianity, but when the neutral historians joined the movement, all they saw was Jesus without features. Even when these scholars decided that other biblical figures such as John the evangelist, John the Baptist, Paul, and others were at home in a symbolic and richly storied world. Jesus himself

Throughout the book of John, Jesus did many signs and miracles. Through these signs, Jesus attempted to show both the multitudes as well as his disciples one small truth about Him—His is God. In this gospel, Jesus goes toe-to-toe with many of the Jewish spiritual leaders (i.e., Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, etc.) in order to show the people who He truly is. Scholars disagree with how many Messianic signs Jesus performed, but one thing remains—every single sign pointed back to the fact that Jesus was who He claimed to be. The signs performed by Jesus show both the Israelites of old, as well as the people of today, that He is, indeed, God.