How Jesus Became God : the Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee

In How Jesus Became God: the Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee, Bart D. Ehrman offers a rigorous historical investigation into one of the most enduring mysteries of early Christianity: the transition of Jesus from a marginalized Galilean preacher to the supreme Creator and Lord of the universe. Ehrman’s central thesis challenges traditional theological frameworks by shifting the focus from the process of a god becoming human to the historical process by which a human figure came to be perceived as a god. He argues that Jesus, an apocalyptic prophet executed by the Roman state, was not originally viewed as divine. Instead, the belief in his divinity emerged following his death, driven by the conviction of his disciples that he had been resurrected and exalted to heaven.

Ehrman’s methodology is distinguished by his insistence on separating objective historical analysis from personal religious conviction. He effectively dismantles the modern binary of "human versus divine," arguing that ancient Jews and pagans viewed these realms as overlapping continuums. This allows him to distinguish between "exaltation Christology"—where a human is elevated to divine status, as seen in the Gospel of Mark—and "incarnation Christology," where a celestial being takes human form, as depicted in the Gospel of John.

This work is essential for serious Bible students and scholars who wish to understand the evolution of the Nicene Creed and the Arian controversy. By contextualizing early Christological disputes within the fluid boundaries of antiquity, Ehrman provides a clear trajectory of how early followers navigated the intersection of humanity and divinity. Scholars should approach this text as a historical study rather than a theological treatise, utilizing it as a guide to understand how the earliest layers of faith were constructed.