Book Review: Lord Jesus Christ

 Information about the book

Hurtado, Larry W. Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity.  William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2003  (Amazon)

Summary

From the cover:  This book provides an in-depth historical study of the place of Jesus in the religious life, beliefs, and worship of Christians from the beginnings of the Christian movement down to the late second century.  ... The book speaks authoritatively on everything from early Christian history to themes in biblical studies to New Testament Christology.  .... It is at once significant enough to appeal to a wide range of scholars and accessible enough to benefit general readers interested at all in Christian origins.

This book was optional reading for a class I recently completed called Devotion to Jesus: The Divinity of Christ in Earliest Christianity.  The class is offered as part of a collaboration between BeADisciple online education and Wesley Theological Seminary as part of the Wesley Academy for Advanced Christian Studies. 

The book is 746 pages long, although pages 655 and on are footnotes and indices.  The book moves from the Forces and Factors at play, through Pauline literature, the Gospels, Johannine writings, Apocryphal writing, early diversity in Christianity and proto-orthodox Christianity. 

Impressions

I would highly recommend this book.  If you decide to read it, though, you should know that it is not light reading.  It is long, detailed, and involved.  The author writes well, and because I was interested in the topic, the writing drew me in.  I was fascinated by parts of this book, and interested in all of it. 

The professor of the class I was taking (see above) recommended this book as optional reading, and he provided chapters to read for each week of the class.  I made it my goal to read the recommended chapters before starting that week's work.  It added much time to the classwork, but it was worth it!  What I gained from the class was tremendously enhanced by the book.

If I were to pick three favorite sections, they would be:

1. Chapter 1 - Forces and Factors - This chapter really set the purpose for the book - to explore how and when devotion to Jesus developed in the early Christian church.
2. Chapter 6 - Crises and Christology in Johannine Christianity - This chapter looked at the writings of John in the Gospel and in the John Epistles.  I gained a much greater understanding of these writings from knowing why they were written and to whom they were written.
3. Chapter 7 - Other Early Jesus Books - This chapter explored some of the early books (not including the Gospels) that we hear about, such as Thomas and the infancy Gospels.  I've heard of them; I was glad to learn more about them.

Even though I have highlighted three chapters, I thought all of them were informative and helpful.  Before I worked at the Foundation, I was in medical research.  My graduate work is in biology.  I think those factors contributed to my enjoyment of this book.  Hurtado wrote a very evidence-based book, providing reasons for his conclusions.  I appreciated the attention to detail.

I'm glad I read it for a class with weekly goals (I set for myself) to complete.  The deadlines moved me through the book and the class enhanced the understanding of what I read (and vice-versa).

Worth the time!

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