First, in The Only True God<\/a> As for Hurtado\u2019s second point in his blog post, I find myself puzzled, and do not recognize my own position in Hurtado\u2019s words. He writes:<\/p>\n McGrath proposes that these early Christian devotional practices are accounted for because Jesus was a real historical person whom believers saw as Messiah. But there were a number of real historical figures taken by their followers as Messiah, and yet we have no evidence suggesting that any of these figures became the recipient of corporate devotion in the way that Jesus was in early Christian circles. \u00a0So, again, the explanation offered by McGrath seems to me to founder on the rocks of historical data.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Whatever Hurtado may have meant by the above, and whatever I may have written that led him to write it, clearly the mere historicity of Jesus does not account for the distinctive Christian configuration of beliefs and practices. I apologize if I wrote anything that seemed to imply otherwise.<\/p>\n Perhaps Hurtado is asking me to explain why the Christian movement continued and developed its distinctive corporate worship practices, while other messianic movements in which the leader was killed disappeared. Here I agree with Hurtado that religious experiences would have been an important element in persuading some founding members of the Christian movement that Jesus had been raised from the dead and vindicated through exaltation to heaven.<\/p>\n Having said this, it should also be pointed out that it was precisely persistence in maintaining that Jesus, who had been crucified by the Romans, was the Messiah, which was a central element in the controversy between Christian and non-Christian Jews. Paul refers to this when he says that the proclamation of Christ crucified<\/i> (not Christ exalted or enthroned per se<\/i>) was \u201ca stumbling block to the Jews\u201d (1 Corinthians 1:23<\/a>).<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=jamefmcgrshom-20&l=btl&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=025203418X\")
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<\/i>\u00a0has shown.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/tracker\/7622297540113836091-3209323034997706478?l=exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com\")
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