{"id":589,"date":"2015-03-06T12:00:59","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T12:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/?p=589"},"modified":"2015-02-13T21:44:19","modified_gmt":"2015-02-13T21:44:19","slug":"bible-resource-spotlight-how-god-became-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/03\/bible-resource-spotlight-how-god-became-jesus.html","title":{"rendered":"Bible Resource Spotlight: How God Became Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Reader Appeal: Pastors, Teachers, Seminary Students<\/p>\n<p>Genre: Theology \/ Apologetics<\/p>\n<p>FBSN Rating: B<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Bart Ehrman has made a cottage industry of creating new, marketable conspiracy theories about Jesus. In the process, he\u2019s made it OK to talk about religion in public places\u2014and spawned an equally profitable \u201cEhrman-Response\u201d industry. <em>How God Became Jesus<\/em> is a recent entry into that canon.<\/p>\n<p>Written by nearly a half-dozen theologians, this book lays out a clear, coherent case for the divinity of Christ, refuting Ehrman\u2019s logic in determined detail.<\/p>\n<p>How God Became Jesus follows a natural progression of thought, moving from introductions of Jesus into religious thought in the early chapters, through interpretations and evidences about beliefs in Christ, a look at Ehrman fallacies, and on to discussions of orthodoxy in history and modernity. Of particular interest, to my mind, was Michael Bird\u2019s chapter 3, \u201cDid Jesus Think He was God?\u201d and Simon Gathercole\u2019s chapter 5, \u201cWhat Did the First Christians Think about Jesus?\u201d Although nothing is definitive in these kinds of works, the insights and evidences raised by Bird and Gathercole are certainly worth discussing.<\/p>\n<p>One interesting note: HarperCollins is the publishing house behind both Ehrman&#8217;s book on this topic and this response book, <em>How Jesus Became God<\/em>. Ehrman&#8217;s book is published through their HarperOne imprint, while this one is published through their Zondervan imprint.<\/p>\n<p>So, is <em>How God Became Jesus<\/em> exciting reading? Not necessarily\u2014but it is important, and it does provide a wealth of information for any thoughtful Bible Study Nerd. Recommended.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.zondervan.com\/how-god-became-jesus\" target=\"_blank\"><em>How God Became Jesus<\/em> <\/a>by Michael F. Bird, Craig A. Evans, Simon Gathercole, Charles E. Hill, and Chris Tilling<\/p>\n<p>(Zondervan)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u2126\u2126\u2126<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Bible Study Nerds\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-for-bible-study-nerds.html\">About: For Bible Study Nerds\u2122<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"About: Mike Nappa\" href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/about-mike-nappa.html\">About: Mike Nappa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2014 to present by\u00a0<a title=\"Nappaland Communications Inc. official website\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nappaland.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nappaland Communications Inc<\/a>. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Reader Appeal: Pastors, Teachers, Seminary Students Genre: Theology \/ Apologetics FBSN Rating: B &nbsp; Bart Ehrman has made a cottage industry of creating new, marketable conspiracy theories about Jesus. In the process, he\u2019s made it OK to talk about religion in public places\u2014and spawned an equally profitable \u201cEhrman-Response\u201d industry. How God Became Jesus is a&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":571,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[106,253,16],"class_list":["post-589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-resource-spotlight","tag-apologetics","tag-bart-ehrman","tag-jesus"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bible Resource Spotlight: How God Became Jesus - For Bible Study Nerds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/forbiblestudynerds\/2015\/03\/bible-resource-spotlight-how-god-became-jesus.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bible Resource Spotlight: How God Became Jesus - For Bible Study Nerds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Reader Appeal: Pastors, Teachers, Seminary Students Genre: Theology \/ Apologetics FBSN Rating: B &nbsp; Bart Ehrman has made a cottage industry of creating new, marketable conspiracy theories about Jesus. 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He's a former youth pastor who shepherded kids on staff at Chuck Swindoll's church in Southern California\u2014and he's a bestselling and award-winning author with more than a million copies of his books sold worldwide. Plus, he holds a degree in Christian Education with an emphasis in Bible Theology. So, you know, he\u2019s got that going for him. Mike is also a pop culture dork who watches too much TV, reads too many comic books, utters too many bad words, laughs at all the wrong jokes, and often gets in trouble because he says whatever he happens to be thinking at the moment\u2014like quoting an R-rated movie in the middle of a sermon. Yeah, he\u2019s a mess (just like you!), but he kind of likes it that way. Most of all, Mike Nappa loves Jesus, and he figures that covers over a multitude of sins. 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