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$\"\"$ <\/a>
\n\u201cHigh\/Early Christology\u201d: An Emerging Consensus?
\nby larryhurtado<\/p>\n

Almost exactly a year ago, I posted on a very informative and judicious (in my view) review of recent scholarly work on the emergence of \u201chigh\u201d christology (which = Jesus regarded and treated as in some meaningful way \u201cdivine\u201d) by Dr. Andrew Chester (Cambridge University), my earlier posting here. Given the tone of one or two recent comments, claiming, e.g., that any such view reflects some sort of theologically \u201cconservative\u201d cabal, I thought it well to point again to Chester\u2019s article: Andrew Chester, \u201cHigh Christology\u2013Whence, When and Why?,\u201d Early Christianity 2 (2011): 22-50.<\/p>\n

As Chester observes, it\u2019s really the evidence that seems to require the conclusion that Jesus-devotion erupted rapidly and originated in circles of Jewish Jesus-followers in Judea. That conclusion (with variations in emphases) is now supported by a wide (and growing) spectrum of scholars. (I even recall being challenged about the matter by a retired Jewish professor of ancient history who emailed saying that it was incredible to think that this sort of Jesus-devotion could have been entertained by self-identifying Jews of the Roman period. I replied by asking him to read one or two of my own studies on the subject. A week or two later he emailed again, saying \u201cI\u2019ll be damned! There were Jews stupid enough to believe this!\u201d I considered it quite an endorsement!)<\/p>\n

As evident in the anecdote I\u2019ve recounted, this historical judgment doesn\u2019t require any prior religious stance, and doesn\u2019t necessarily demand one. To reiterate Chester\u2019s judgment, however counter-intuitive it seems at first, it\u2019s just what the evidence seems to require.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"