How Jesus Became God (Bart D. Ehrman, 2014)

Last year I fell a little short the ambitious goal of 52 books, and this would have been big number 50. Instead, it has the honor of being book #1 of 2015.

Bart Ehrman has quite a reputation among the theological world, having moved from Protestant to Evangelical, then back to Protestant, then Agnostic. This, however, has not stopped him from writing about the historical Jesus and early Christianity, and it makes for fascinating reading, five stars, right out of the gates.

The historical Jesus scholarship is long-running and frequently courts controversy, and this is hardly anyone's first trip to the rodeo (including myself, having read Reza Aslan's Zealot last year). What makes this is a little more interesting is how Ehrman carries on from the roots (Greco-Roman and Jewish mysticism) and up into the branchs (the early Church). He demonstrates how with Paul's letters and each chronological Gospel (Mark, Matthew/Luke, John), the theology gets increasingly high, culminating effectively in Jesus=God. Some of the early heresies are explored in this analysis as well.

Ehrman continues to confound particularly his old camp, the Evangelicals. Within days of publication of this book, another one hit the press called How God Became Jesus, containing five or so responses to this book. While there is a lot of statements (in Ehrman's book) that are uncomfortable, even for us more lefty Protestants, this book makes for great discussion, and if it gets people talking, then that can't be a bad thing.