When Did Jesus Become God?: A Christological Debate
Michael F. Bird · Bart D. Ehrman · Robert B. Stewart
Nov 2022 · Christian Audio · Narrated by Steve Menasche
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4 hr 41 min
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How did early Christians come to believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the divine Son of God? This is the central question in this book. When Did Jesus Become God? is a transcribed conversation between Bart Ehrman and Michael Bird, with a helpful historiographic introduction by Robert Stewart that helps listeners understand the conclusions reached by Ehrman and Bird.
Ehrman contends that neither Jesus himself nor the apostles believed that Jesus was divine during Jesus' life; it was only after Jesus was crucified and the apostles began to have visions and revelations that they became convinced that Jesus was a godlike figure who was sent by God. Over an extended period of time, the early church solidified its belief that Jesus was God—first, with an inventive claim that Jesus was exalted to divinity, then later by seeing him as a preexistent angel become human. Bird disagrees. Based on different historiographic criteria and different readings of Scripture, he asserts that Jesus himself claimed to be the divine Son during his lifetime and that many of the apostles believed Jesus to be identified with God's own prerogatives and identity. In Bird's account of the early church, Jesus was the preexistent Son of God from the beginning, who then became human, exercised the role of Israel's Messiah, and was exalted as God the Father's vice-regent.
Ehrman contends that neither Jesus himself nor the apostles believed that Jesus was divine during Jesus' life; it was only after Jesus was crucified and the apostles began to have visions and revelations that they became convinced that Jesus was a godlike figure who was sent by God. Over an extended period of time, the early church solidified its belief that Jesus was God—first, with an inventive claim that Jesus was exalted to divinity, then later by seeing him as a preexistent angel become human. Bird disagrees. Based on different historiographic criteria and different readings of Scripture, he asserts that Jesus himself claimed to be the divine Son during his lifetime and that many of the apostles believed Jesus to be identified with God's own prerogatives and identity. In Bird's account of the early church, Jesus was the preexistent Son of God from the beginning, who then became human, exercised the role of Israel's Messiah, and was exalted as God the Father's vice-regent.
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About the author
Michael F. Bird is academic dean and lecturer in New Testament at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia. Michael is an ordained Anglican priest and author of over thirty books on the Bible, theology, and history. Among them are Introducing Paul, Jesus is the Christ, and with N. T. Wright, The New Testament in its World.
New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman grew up in Lawrence, Kansas and graduated from Wheaton College in 1978. He earned his Masters of Divinity and PhD from Princeton Theological Seminary and has taught at Rutgers University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he is the James A. Gray Distinguished Professor. He has published more than 20 scholarly and popular books, including three New York Times bestsellers, plus numerous articles and book reviews.
Robert B. Stewart is professor of philosophy and theology and the Greer-Heard Chair of Faith and Culture at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Stewart has authored or edited twelve books, ten of which were debates or dialogues, which include numerous contributing essays by other highly respected scholars.
Steve Menasche is a conservatory-trained actor, musician, and martial artist who has toured the world with West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, and the American Folk Theatre. As a voice actor, he has completed over 250 audiobooks and has been featured in national radio and television campaigns.
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