Did the First Christians Worship Jesus?

Did the First Christians Worship Jesus? PDF Author: James D. G. Dunn
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1611640709
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
To answer the title question effectively requires more than the citing of a few texts; we must first acknowledge that the way to the answer is more difficult than it appears and recognize that the answer may be less straightforward than many would like. The author raises some fascinating yet vexing questions: What is worship? Is the fact that worship is offered to God (or a god) what defines him (or her) as "G/god?" What does the act of worship actually involve? The conviction that God exalted Jesus to his right hand obviously is central to Christian recognition of the divine status of Jesus. But what did that mean for the first Christians as they sought to reconcile God's status and that of the human Jesus? Perhaps the worship of Jesus was not an alternative to worship of God but another way of worshiping God. The questions are challenging but readers are ably guided by James Dunn, one of the world's top New Testament scholars.

Did the First Christians Worship Jesus?

Did the First Christians Worship Jesus? PDF Author: James D. G. Dunn
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
ISBN: 1611640709
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Get Book

Book Description
To answer the title question effectively requires more than the citing of a few texts; we must first acknowledge that the way to the answer is more difficult than it appears and recognize that the answer may be less straightforward than many would like. The author raises some fascinating yet vexing questions: What is worship? Is the fact that worship is offered to God (or a god) what defines him (or her) as "G/god?" What does the act of worship actually involve? The conviction that God exalted Jesus to his right hand obviously is central to Christian recognition of the divine status of Jesus. But what did that mean for the first Christians as they sought to reconcile God's status and that of the human Jesus? Perhaps the worship of Jesus was not an alternative to worship of God but another way of worshiping God. The questions are challenging but readers are ably guided by James Dunn, one of the world's top New Testament scholars.

How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God?

How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? PDF Author: Larry W. Hurtado
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467425044
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
In How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Larry Hurtado investigates the intense devotion to Jesus that emerged with surprising speed after his death. Reverence for Jesus among early Christians, notes Hurtado, included both grand claims about Jesus' significance and a pattern of devotional practices that effectively treated him as divine. This book argues that whatever one makes of such devotion to Jesus, the subject deserves serious historical consideration. Mapping out the lively current debate about Jesus, Hurtado explains the evidence, issues, and positions at stake. He goes on to treat the opposition to -- and severe costs of -- worshiping Jesus, the history of incorporating such devotion into Jewish monotheism, and the role of religious experience in Christianity's development out of Judaism. The follow-up to Hurtado's award-winningLord Jesus Christ (2003), this book provides compelling answers to queries about the development of the church's belief in the divinity of Jesus.

Worship in the Early Church

Worship in the Early Church PDF Author: Ralph P. Martin
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802816139
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
Refers to New Testament teachings while delineating the nature of early Christian worship of God. Bibliogs.

Honoring the Son

Honoring the Son PDF Author: Larry W. Hurtado
Publisher: Snapshots
ISBN: 9781683590965
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Before the New Testament or the creeds of the church were written, the devotional practices of the earliest Christians indicate that they worshipped Jesus alongside the Father. Larry W. Hurtado has been one of the leading scholars on early Christology for decades. In Honoring the Son: Jesus in Earliest Christian Devotional Practice, Hurtado helps readers understand early Christology by examining not just what early Christians believed or wrote about Jesus, but what their devotional practices tell us about the place of Jesus in early Christian worship. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of early Christian origins and scholarship on New Testament Christology, Hurtado examines the distinctiveness of early Christian worship by comparing it to both Jewish worship patterns and worship practices within the broader Roman-era religious environment. He argues that the inclusion of the risen Jesus alongside the Father in early Christian devotional practices was a distinct and unique religious phenomenon within its ancient context. Additionally, Hurtado demonstrates that this remarkable development was not invented decades after the resurrection of Christ as some scholars once claimed. Instead, the New Testament suggests that Jesus-followers, very quickly after the resurrection of Christ, began to worship the Son alongside the Father. Honoring the Son offers a look into the worship habits of the earliest Christians to understand the place of Jesus in early Christian devotion.

At the Origins of Christian Worship

At the Origins of Christian Worship PDF Author: Larry W. Hurtado
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 9780802847492
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
"At the Origins of Christian Worship" can deepen readers' understanding of early Christian worship by setting it within the context of the Roman world in which it developed. Hurtado highlights the two central characteristics of earliest Christian worship: its exclusive rejection of the ancient-world gods and its inclusion of Christ with God as the focus of devotion.

Ancient Christian Worship

Ancient Christian Worship PDF Author: Andrew B. McGowan
Publisher: Baker Academic
ISBN: 1441246312
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
An Important Study on the Worship of the Early Church This introduction to the origins of Christian worship illuminates the importance of ancient liturgical patterns for contemporary Christian practice. Andrew McGowan takes a fresh approach to understanding how Christians came to worship in the distinctive forms still familiar today. Deftly and expertly processing the bewildering complexity of the ancient sources into lucid, fluent exposition, he sets aside common misperceptions to explore the roots of Christian ritual practices--including the Eucharist, baptism, communal prayer, preaching, Scripture reading, and music--in their earliest recoverable settings. Now in paper.

Why We Love the Church

Why We Love the Church PDF Author: Kevin L. DeYoung
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 1575673533
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
This book presents the case for loving the local church. It paints a picture of the local church in all its biblical and real life guts, gaffes, and glory in an effort to edify local congregations and entice the disaffected back to the fold. It also provides a solid biblical mandate to love and be part of the body of Christ and counteract the "leave church" books that trumpet rebellion and individual felt needs. Why We Love the Church is written for four kinds of people - the Committed, the Disgruntled, the Waffling & the Disconnected.

The Gospel of the Lord

The Gospel of the Lord PDF Author: Michael F. Bird
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802867766
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description
In this book, through a distinctive evangelical and critical approach, Michael Bird explores the historical development of the four canonical Gospels. He shows how the memories and faith of the earliest believers formed the Gospel accounts of Jesus that got written and, in turn, how these accounts further shaped the early church. Bird's study clarifies the often confusing debates over the origins of the canonical Gospels. Bird navigates recent concerns and research as he builds an informed case for how the early Christ followers wrote and spread the story of Jesus -- the story by which they believed they were called to live. The Gospel of the Lord is ideal for students or anyone who wants to know the story behind the four Gospels. Watch an interview with Michael Bird from our Eerdmans Author Interview Series:

The Mass of the Early Christians, 2nd Edition

The Mass of the Early Christians, 2nd Edition PDF Author: Mike Aquilina
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
ISBN: 1592767699
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
What did the first Christians believe about the Eucharist? How did they follow Jesus' command, "Do this in remembrance of me"? How did they celebrate the Lord's Day? What would they recognize in today's Mass? The answers may surprise you. In The Mass of the Early Christians, respected author, scholar, and television host Mike Aquilina reveals the Church's most ancient Eucharistic beliefs and practices. Using the words of the early Christians themselves -- from many documents and inscriptions -- Aquilina traces the history of the Mass from Jesus' lifetime through the fourth century. That the Mass stood at the center of the Church's life is evident in the Scriptures, as well as the earliest Christian sermons, letters, artwork, tombstones, and architecture. Even the pagans bore witness to the Mass in the records of their persecutions. These legacies from the early Church bear witness to the same worship Catholics know today: the altar, the priest, the chalice of wine, the bread, the Sign of the Cross ... the "Lord, have mercy" ... the "Holy, holy, holy" ... and the Communion.

A Brief History of Sunday

A Brief History of Sunday PDF Author: Gonzalez, Justo L.
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 0802874711
Category : RELIGION
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Authoritative yet accessible historical overview of Christian Sunday worship In this book noted Christian historian Justo Gonzalez tells the story of how and why Christians have worshiped on Sunday from the earliest days of the church to the present. After discussing the views and practices relating to Sunday in the ancient church, Gonzalez turns to Constantine and how his policies affected Sunday observances. He then recounts the long process, beginning in the Middle Ages and culminating with Puritanism, whereby Christians came to think of and strictly observe Sunday as the Sabbath. Finally, Gonzalez looks at the current state of things, exploring especially how the explosive growth of the church in the Majority World has affected the observance of Sunday worldwide. Readers of this book will rediscover the joy and excitement of Sunday as the early church celebrated it and will find inspiration in an age of increasing indifference and hostility to Christianity."