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    One God, One Lord

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    One God, One LordE A R L Y C H R I S T I A N D E V O T I O N

    A N D A N C I E N T J E W I S H M O N O T H E I S M

    LARRY W . HU RT AD O

    Second Edition

    T&T CLARKEDINBURGH

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    T&T CLARK LTD59 GEORGE STREETEDINBURGH EH2 2LQS C O T L A N D

    First edition copyright Augsburg Fortress, 19 88Second edition copyright T & T Clark Ltd, 1998

    Biblical quotations, unless otherwise n oted, are from the R evised StandardVersion of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973 by theDivision of Christian Education of the National Council of theChurches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission.

    All rights reserved. N o part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,electronic, mech anical, photocopying , recording or otherwise,without the prior permission of T& T Clark Ltd.

    First edition published 1988Second edition published 1998

    ISBN 0 567 08657 7

    British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

    Printed and boun d in Great Britain by MP G Books, Bodm in

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    ContentsPreface to the Second Edition viiPreface xxiiiAbbreviations xxviIntroduction 1

    Th e Problem 1Early Christology and Chronology 3Excursus 6Com plexity in Ancient Judaism 7The Historical Approach 9Excursus 9On e God and Devotion to Jesus 11

    1. D ivine Agency in An cient Jewish M ono theism 17Divine Agency Speculation 17Th ree Types V ariation of Types Sum m aryThe Shape of Postexilic Jewish Religious Devotion 22Angelology and M onotheism 23

    A Critique of W. Bou sset 's View T he D ata ConclusionM onotheism and O ther D ivine Agents 35Summary 392. Personified Divine Attributes as Divine Agents 41

    Personified Divine Attributes 42Wisdom LogosT he L anguage of D ivine Agency 49

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    vi Contents3. Exalted Patriarchs as Divine Ag ents 51Eno ch Specu lations S1

    En och as Son of M an En och as an AngelExalted Moses Traditions 56Sirach Testament of Moses Exagoge of Ezekiel PhiloO ther Exalted Patriarchs 64Exalted Patriarch s an d Jewish Religious Dev otion 65

    4 . Principal Angels 71Angelology and Christology in Previous Studies 72Principal Angels in A ncient Jud aism 75Princ ipal Angels in Ezekiel and Da niel M ichael inO the r Texts O the r Chief Angel ReferencesChief Ang els and Go d 82Chief Angels an d th e Bifurcation of GodSummary 90

    5. Th e Early Christian M utation 93Jesus as G od 's Chief Age nt 93T he Christian M utation 99

    Six Fea tures of th e M utationEarly Christian H ym ns Prayer to Christ T he N am e of Christ T he Lo rd 's Supper ConfessingJesus Prophecy and the Risen JesusCauses of th e Ch ristian M utation 114The Ministry of Jesus Easter and Afterward

    Op position to the N ew M ovementSummary 123Conclusions 125Notes 129Ind ex of A ncien t Sources 169Index of Au thors 175

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    Preface to the Second EditionIt is a matter of considerable satisfaction for me that in the ten years

    since the original publication of this book the questions it addresseshave continued to draw the atten tion of seasoned experts and emergen tscholars alike, and th at this small volum e has been found so useful andhas bee n so frequently cited in this con tinuing investigation of th e originsof devotion to Jesus. I am particularly pleased at the interest shownamong newer scholars. 1 This new edition gives me the opportunity inthe fo l lowing paragraphs to a t tempt a summary of the scholar lyinvestigation tha t this bo ok has helpe d to fuel since its initial app eara ncein 1988 , and to resp ond briefly t o m atters of substance raised by reviewersand others wh o have interacted w ith the book. Pe rhaps m y responses tothese criticisms below will suggest why, other than a few corrections ofm isprints in the original edition, I have not tho ug ht it necessary to m akesubstantial revisions to the boo k. I want to register my sincere gra titudeto all who reviewed the book in its initial dress (I am aware of at leastfourteen such reviews in learned journals) and to those scholars whohave interacted w ith my argu m ents and positions in their own pub lishedstudies. Those who have dissented from my positions, as well as thosewh o have built u po n th em in their investigations, have all either help edm e to sharpe n my further thinking or encou raged m e to believe tha t myresearch was of service to others as well.

    The focus of this book is the religious devotion to the figure of Christin first-century Ch ristianity , especially the revere ncing of Chris t in waysthat connote a view of him as in some way divine. It is essentially anexercise in historical investigation and analysis, and the major questionsare thes e: H ow is th e devotio n given to Jesus in first-century Ch ristianity

    vii

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    v i i i Prefacelike and unlike pa ttern s of devotion in the Jewish religious b ackg roun dof the first believers? In what ways might devotion to Jesus have beenshaped by conceptual categories and religious practices of the ancientJewish tradition? H ow does earliest observable Christ-devotion manifestitself? What historical factors might have been involved in promptingand shaping it?

    In order to answer these questions, a great deal of the book is givenover to the evidence of ancient Jewish religious thought and practice,and the phenomena of first-century Christ-devotion are discussed (alltoo briefly) in the final chapter, along with a sketch of the historicalfactors that may account for the emergence of cultic devotion to Jesus.T h e investigation is focused here heavily on the earliest stages of devotionto Jesus in an attempt to understand how it commenced. My originalintentio n w as to write fairly soo n after this book a second , m uc h largervolume tracing the development and diversification of Christ-devotionacross the first two centu ries. On accou nt of other writing com m itm ents,som e periods of adm inistrative d uties in m y former academ ic setting inthe Univers i ty of Mani toba (e .g . , founding the Ins t i tu te for theH um anities the re), the disruption of the move from there to my cu rrentpost in the University of Edinburgh, and also because there was simplymuch more to learn than I had realized a decade ago, it has takenlonger than I had then hoped to produce that volume. 2 It is still myho pe to deliver on this larger historical analysis of early C hrist -dev otio n,and it figures prominently in my writing plans over the next couple ofyears . 3

    A major factor in the extended time involved in the research for thisfuture vo lum e is the extent of the topic I have term ed "C hris t-de vo tion ."To be sure, this takes in "Christology," the beliefs about Jesus held byearl iest Chris t ians and the factors that shaped them. But "Christ-devotion" involves the wider matters of the role of Jesus in the beliefsand religious life of ancient Christians. Moreover, I do not approachthe first-century texts by reading them in the light of later creedaldevelo pm ents and seeking to see how they m ight anticipate later beliefs.Of course, these later developments are themselves important, but Ihave attempted to approach the earliest stages of Christ-devotion fromthe standpoint of the religious matrix out of which it developed: theJewish religious tradition, and in particular its powerful scruples aboutthe worship of the one God.

    W hen th e book first appea red, M artin He ngel described it as reflectingth e work of a nu m be r of curre nt scholars w ho " ar e in som e way forming

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    Preface ixa new 'Religionsgeschichtliche Schule\" and others as well have drawncomparisons and contrasts between my study and the work of scholarssuch as Bousset of the early part of this ce nt ur y. 41 for o ne freely ind icatemy a dm iration for the gre at learning reflected in the works of these earlierscholars. Although I have expressed criticism of Bousset, elsewhere Ihave also suggested positive features of his great study from which wecan still profit. 5 Along with others with whom Hengel associated me,and like the older German scholars, I seek to understand in historicalterm s the rem arkab le way in wh ich Jesus figures in the religious devo tionof ancient Christians. But I consider the older work to be vitiated by asimplistic model of historical development, which essentially amountsto a process of syncretism, and I have attempted to develop a moresophisticated mo del tha t does be tter justice to the evidence. W ith o thersof the new er "Schule" I also emphasize the importance of the rich andvaried Jewish religious back grou nd.

    T he re are in fact basically three theoretical ap proaches to the questionof why and how Christ-devotion emerged. Some have proposed theinfluence of pagan rel igious ideas and practices and portray theemergence of Christ-devotion across a sufficient period of time tofacilitate these influences through the increasing influx of pagan converts.M aurice C asey's 1991 volume advanced such a mod el, though his versioninvolves some verbal and conc eptua l nuan cing of his ow n. 6 But it seemsto me that the chronological data falsify this model, including Casey'sversion, for the Pauline letters show that already in the first couple ofdecades of the Christian movement Jesus was being reverenced in waystha t indicate a novel "m u ta ti o n " in Jewish religious practice well beforethe paganization of the Johannine community that Casey alleges in thepost-70 C.E. period. There seems to have been a rather explosivedevelopment of Christ-devotion within the earliest years, and at a timewhen th e Christian mov em ent was still dom inated very m uch by devoutChristian Jews and their traditional religious outlook.

    Taking a second approach, recognizing the early emergence of culticdevotion to Jesus, one c ould suggest that it is still attributable to paganinfluence, by alleging (as did Bousset) that the Jewish religious traditionhad itself beco m e corrup ted by paganism and th at mon otheistic scrupleswere not actually maintained very consistently. But again the evidenceworks strongly against this misleading characterization of G raec o-R om anera Jewish religion. As I dem on strate in this boo k (esp. Ch apter 1), Jewishreligion of the era was lively and characterized by strong scruples aboutinfluences from paganism. In fact, I suggest that the Roman period of

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    x PrefaceJewish religion is characterized by a "nativistic" tendency involvingstreng then ed em phasis upo n Jewish faithfulness to tradition a nd Jewishparticularity, the zealous Pharisee Saul of Tarsus being a well knownexample.7 T hi s view of a corrupte d or paganized Judaism as well founderswhen tested by the data.

    This book represents a third approach, which much more carefullyobserves the evidence of ancient Jewish religion and the chronologicalconstrain ts of the very early emergence of Ch rist-devo tion. W ith oth ers,I conten d th at we are required to u nde rstan d the origin of cultic devotionto Jesus as a novel development that drew upon the Jewish religioustradition and the conceptual categories it provided, and re-shaped themun de r the im pa ct of th e features of the religious life of earliest Christ iangroups.

    The criticisms directed at this book can mainly be listed as follows:(1) Is the cultic reverence of Jesus as m uc h of an innovation as I con tend ,or are there precedents and analogies in the Jewish tradition? (2) Doesthe reverence accorded to the risen Jesus in the earliest decades reallyam ou nt to "w or sh ip " of Jesus and is it the significant m utatio n in Jewishreligious practice that I allege it to be? (3) Is it correct to attribute topowerful religious experiences of "revelation" the substantial role ingenerating innovations in religious traditions that I attribute to suchexperiences in earliest Christian groups? In several publications I haveresponded to these criticisms, and shall restrict myself here to briefindications of why I do not f ind them persuasive, a l though thesecriticisms have certainly helped me to sharpen my own observationsand thinking on these matters.

    T h e first poin t to reiterate is tha t I conte nd tha t there is clear indicationthat devout Jews of the Roman era were characteristically concernedabout the uniqueness of their God and held s trong scruples aboutreserving worship for this God alone. I have emphasized that the"m on ot he ism " of these Jews was primarily exhibited in scruples ab outwo rship, which they often com bined w ith rather elaborate views of G od 'sheavenly entourag e of angelic be ing s. 8 It is in the con text of thes e Jewishscruples about worship that the early cultic reverence given to Jesustakes on such historical significance.

    Suggestions that this cultic reverence for Jesus may have precedentsin Roman-era Jewish tradition seem to me wide of the mark. DavidSteenburg proposed that the scene in the Latin version of Life of Adamand Eve in which G od orders all the angels to reverence the newly-createdAdam as God's " image" might be relevant. 9 Steenburg admitted that

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    Preface x ithere is no indication at all that any Jewish group actually engaged incultic reverence for Adam, however, and suggested only that perhapsthe idea that it was appropriate to reverence God's image, combinedwith the conviction that Jesus was (or had been made) the "image" ofGod helped to justify worship of him. But in my view the absence ofany Adam-cultus practice is crucial. It means that this piece of Adamspeculation is not in fact a precedent or analogy for the reverence givento Jesus in early Ch ristian g roup s, am ong w hich, it is clear, there was aprogrammatic inclusion of Jesus as recipient of devotion. The absenceof an Ada m -cultus also tells against Ste enb urg's suggestion that the ideaof someone being God's image would perhaps have helped lead to theworship of tha t figure. If being G od 's image m ade one w orthy of wo rship,even in Jewish circles, why is there no cultus devoted to Adam amongthose who referred to Adam in these terms?

    And rew C hester has pointed to the scene in Joseph and Asenath 1 5 :1 1 -12, where Asenath requests the mysterious angel to give her his nameso that she might worship him. 1 0 But this seems to me to miss thesignificance of the refusal of the an gel to com ply with A sen ath 's r eq ue st.In context, Asenath 's request to worship the angel appears to be inten dedby the author to be taken as a misguided notion of a pagan who is notyet sufficiently acqu ainted with the scruples of Jewish m on othe ism .

    In almost any discussion of possible precedents and analogies of theworship of Jesus, someone will point to the passages in 1 Enoch wherethe figure identified as the "E lec t O n e " or "S on of M a n " is givenobeisance (/ Enoch 48:5-6; 62:9) in scenes of God's eschatologicalvictory. Ag ain, how ever, we have to no te tha t there is no ind ication tha tthe Jewish groups suc h as those tha t pro duc ed 1 Enoch actually practisedrituals of cultic reverence to the figure of these scenes, and so in factthese scenes do not provide us an analogy for the religious practices ofearly Christians. Moreover, these scenes seem to be influenced heavilyby the biblical promises that the people of the world will one dayreverence G od 's elect/Israel (Isa. 45 :1 4- 15 ; 49:7 , 23 ), and are probablyto be taken thus as the author's attempt to portray the fulfilment ofthese promises in these scenes of eschatological tr iumph of God'spurposes. The same sort of obeisance is also promised to the Christianelect in Revelation 3:9, but it is quite clear that the prophet John didnot see this as actual worship such as was owed to God alone.

    More recent ly , Cr isp in Fle tcher-Louis c la ims to have found aprecedent for the worship of Jesus in what he alleges is the worship ofthe Jewish High P riest in the second temp le per iod . 1 1 But essentially all

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    x i i Prefacewe have is a putative co m m ent from H ecata eus of Ab dera (a non-Jewishw riter of the fourth century B . C . E . ) to the effect that on special religiousoccasions when the High Priest officiated devout Jews present wouldreverence him in the standard gesture of obeisance (proskynesis). 12 Sucha gesture by itself, however, reflects only respect for the figure to whomit is given. The measure of respect and the nature of the reverencedepends upon the claims being made by the figure or the significanceattributed to the figure. In this case, we have no good reason to takeHecataeus as reporting anything more than the gesture of respect andreverence of ancient Jews for their High Priest. It is hardly evidence of apattern of cultic devotion directed toward the Priest in ancient Jewishworship gatherings.

    In light of the sorts of proposals I have been reviewing I mustemphasize that in considering whether there are precedents for theworship of Jesus it is no t en ough to p oint to literary scenes wh ere this orthat figure is given obeisance. The early Christian innovation I havealleged was not to write texts in which Jesus was pictured in someimaginary scene receiving obeisance. T h e inrlovation was in modifyingmore characteristic Jewish cultic practice by accommodating Jesus intotheir devotional pattern, joining him with God as a recipient of theircultic devotion. W hat w e require is another group of devout adherentsto the Jewish biblical tradition in the second temple period who freelyand programmatically incorporated a second figure along with God asrecipient of their cultic devotion comparable to what early Christiangroups did with Jesus. In the ten years since I gave my judgement thatwe have no evidence of such a group and that the early Christian"binitarian" pattern of devotion seems to be a novel innovation inRoman-era Jewish religious practice, no one has in fact been able toshow this judgemen t to have been incorrect.

    T w o rece nt studies focused on an cient Jewish reverence given to angelswind up largely substantiating my position, while also offering valuabledetailed analyses of evidence that I had only touched on in the presentbook . In his study of angel veneration and the Christology of Revelation,although suggesting that what he calls the "venerative language" aboutangels in Jewish circles may be of some indirect relevance, LorenStuckenbruck acknowledges that the invocation of angels in Jewishmagical material and the "venerative language" used with reference toangels does no t am ou nt to wha t we can properly call organized w orshipof angels in Jewish groups, and that none of the phenomena he surveysis adequate to provide a full precedent or historical explanation of the

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    Preface xi i iworship of Jesus. 1 3 More recently still, Clinton Arnold's study of thereligious backgro und of Pa ul's epistle to the C olossians led him to agreealso that the Jewish interest in angels does not amount to indicationsthat devout Jewish groups met to "adore, pray to, and worship angels,either in place of or alongside of the one God .. ," 1 4 It is clear thatangels formed an important aspect of ancient Jewish religious beliefs,and th at interest in principal angel figures in particular shows how ancientJewish monotheism was able to accommodate powerful "divine agent"figures within commitment to the one God. It is also clear that thisaccommodation did not characteristically involve the incorporation ofangels as objects of cultic reverence in devou t Jewish g ro up s. 1 5In an effort t o avoid generalities an d to prov ide specifics of the devotionto Jesus that I regard as so significant, I itemized the main devotionalpractices that exhibit the binitarian p atte rn of wo rship of early C hristiangroups (pp. 9 9- 11 4 ). Agreeing tha t we can speak of the worship of Jesusin the later decades of the first century, J. D. G. Dunn has contendedthat in Paul these phenomena amount to a remarkable veneration ofJesus but not really what we can properly call "worship" of Jesus. 1 6 1welcome this sort of precise engagement of the relevant phenomena,and in a forthcoming essay I offer a more detailed analysis of thephen om ena of early Christ-devotion, indicating why I do not find D un n'sposition persuasive and why I think we must say that already in theearliest decades we have a genuinely "binitarian" pattern of worshipthat included Jesus as recipient along with G o d . 1 7 1 shall no t, therefore,repeat m y analysis of m atters h ere. T o b e sur e, the cultic reverence givento Jesus reflected in Pau l and the o ther N T writings seems to have be enintended as an extension of the worship of G od . B ut, in my judgem ent,by a careful com parison with religious practices of contem pora ry Jewishtradition , the cultic patt ern of Pau line C hristianity as well as that reflectedin the later N T writings, am oun ts to Jesus receiving cultic worship w ithGod, certainly not as a second god but as the divinely-appointed Lordto whom believers gave cultic reverence in obedience to God. Simplyput, in Pauline congregations as well as later ones, Jesus is given theunprecedented sort of devotion that is otherwise reserved for God inJewish groups. Jews characteristically distinguished their reverence forGod as full worship by not including another figure with God in theirdevot ional pa t te rn . In ear ly Chr is t ian groups reverence for Godcharacteristically de m an ded a prog ram m atic inclusion of Jesus with G odin their devotional life in gestures and practices that are unparalleledexcept in the ways God was cultically reverenced. Dunn's suggestion

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    x iv Prefacethat the cultic reverence of Jesus might be comparable to the (muchlater!) distinction between the veneration of saints or the Virgin Maryand the adoration of God is an irrelevant anachronism as far as helpingus with a his torical understan ding of N T phe nom ena . The re is noindication of such a conceptual distinction until several centuries later,and it appears in Christian tradition as a way of accommodating theelaborate devotional practices that came to characterize Byzantine-eraChristianity, not in the Jewish matrix of earliest Christian groups andnot in the larger pagan religious environment of the first century.

    Both Dunn and Maurice Casey have contended that the Christ-devotion I have described cannot have been seen as the "mutation" inJewish monotheism that I allege and that it is only later, by the time ofthe G ospel of John , that we can speak of such a dev elop m ent. 1 8 Th o u g hthey differ b etw een them selves on how they see things developing in th efirst centu ry, they bot h allege an absence of evidence that in the pre- 70C.E. period Jews saw Christ-devotion as sufficiently problematic to drawcondemnation, and that this in turn must mean that Christ-devotion ofthese early decades was not the significant "mutation" that I portray.In a lengthy paper I have responded to this argument and cannot takespace here to repeat that discussion. It will suffice to indicate that Ibelieve there is evidence that in the pre-70 C.E. period Christ-devotionwas seen by at least some Jews as a dangerous development and that itis historically accurate to describe it as already at that point a programm atic mu tation in otherwise attested Jewish devotional pra ctic e. 1 9We should certainly look for the distinctives and developments ofJoha nnine Christology in com parison with Paul, and it seems tha t John 'sGospel reflects a more advanced stage of polemical confrontation withthe Jewish religious leadership of synagogues of the late first century.But well before th e Go spel of Joh n we have evidence tha t Ch rist-devotionwas generating profound outrage am ong som e Jews.

    In attempting to account in historically plausible terms for how sucha major innovation in devotional practice could have arisen, I havecontinued to propose a complex of factors and an interactive processinvolving all of these factors. Much as it is interesting to be cited,occasionally, my views have been represented as simply involving thecategory of "divine agency" to explain the development of Christ-devotion, which puzzles me greatly. T ho ug h I hoped I had m ad e myselfsufficiently clear in this bo ok , let m e reiterate h ere th at I see the categoryof "divine agency" (or more precisely the "principal agent" category)as the major conceptual category that earliest Christians drew upon to

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    Preface x vunderstand how there could be a figure closely associated with God inthe creation/ope ration of the world and in the fulfilment of redem ptio n.In m y view, a great deal of the N T christological imagery and rhetoricshows the appropriation of this "principal a ge nt" idea to describe Jesus 'exalted status. Bu t the "d ivine agenc y" mod el is no t adequ ate to a ccou ntfor the larger an d even m ore significant features of early Ch rist-dev otion .In the cultic devotion given to Jesus in early Christian circles, we havean unparalleled development in which the "principal agent" figure islinked with G od as a rightful recipient of cultic vene ration, pr odu cing anovel devotional pattern that is genuinely "binitarian." This noveldevelopment, this "mutation" in Jewish divine agency tradition and inmonotheistic devotional practice is not simply a product of the divineagency category, bu t requires a further explan ation.

    I have argu ed tha t am on g thes e factors we should allow for th e effectsof powerful religious experiences that conveyed to the recipients theconviction that Jesus was to be given the sort of cultic reverence thatquickly characterized early Christian devotional practice. Given thestrength of Jewish scruples about cultic devotion to figures other thanG od , I prop ose tha t these religious experiences mus t have conveyed th econviction that it was the will of God for believers to give the exaltedJesus the sort of reverence that I itemize in this book. For such a novelconviction to have been accepted, these experiences must have beenpowerfully persuasive.

    Paul Rainbow has challenged this proposal, contending that religiousexperiences cannot introduce any significant innovations in belief thathave not already been a dopted by those wh o underg o the expe riences. 2 0In a recent essay I have responded more fully to this sort of objectionand have offered what I hope is a persuasive rationale for my view ofth i s ma t te r . 2 1 I point out that it is in fact recognized among somesociologists and anthropologists that significant innovations in religiousm ovem ents often arise from the "re ve latio ns" received by founder figuresor so-called "minor founder figures," who may be regarded as prophetsby those w ho give crede nce to their claims. T he re are notable h istoricalexamples in various cultures, and there continue to be examples ofreligious innovations that arise from such experiences. It is certainly thecase tha t all experience s, including the sort th at I refer to , are shaped bythe culture and the conceptual categories of the recipients of theexperiences. B ut novel ^i nt er pr eta tio ns of religious traditions do clearlyseem to arise thro ugh such experiences, intro duc ing reconfigurations ofreligious convictions that are often quite significant. Given the large

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    x v i Prefaceplace of "revelations" in the religiosity reflected in earliest Christiansources, it is then entirely plausible to attribute an important efficacy torevelatory experiences in accou nting for the innovation s that characterizeearly Christian beliefs and practices. As with other matters, I prefer tobuild our historical unders tandin g as muc h as possible up on hypothesesthan can be developed and tested through empirical observation ofanalogous phenomena wherever poss ib le , ra ther than by a prionsinsufficiently informed by the data of religious history and currentscholarly analysis.

    Although I have not bee n persuad ed by the criticisms I have m entionedhere , and thus feel comfortable with this reprint of my book withoutmaking changes in my argument, there are other matters related to theplace of Jesus in early Christianity that have received attention in theyears since th e first editio n and th at shou ld be me ntion ed . Several usefulstudies have drawn attention to the way in which Jesus is associatedwith God in the appropriat ion of Old Testament texts and themes.Kreitzer's book o n the association of Jesus and G od in Pau l's eschatologyappeared while this boo k was in the pre ss .

    2 2

    David Capes analysed Paul'sapplication to Jesus of Ofd Testament texts that originally referred toG o d . 2 3 More recently, Carl Davis has offered a study of the adaptationof Isa. 40:3 an d Joel 2:32 in the N ew T est am en t in the context of ancientJewish application of Old Testament passages to other divine agentfigures.24

    Carey New m an showed how P aul's attribution of divine glory to therisen Jesus draws upon Old Testament/Jewish glory-tradit ions andindicates a high C hristology . 2 5 Fo cusing on a selection of key passages,N eil Richardso n discussed P au l's ways of referring to Go d a nd to Jesus,dem onstra ting how Pa ul's Christology always involves linking Jesus withG od , and also how P au l's view of G od is shaped very m uc h by his beliefsabout Jesu s . 2 6

    Philip Da vis has offered a set of thre e pat ter ns of m ed iato r figures an ddivine m ediation to com plem ent m y three basic types of "divine ag en t"figures: (1) the " leg acy " patte rn, in which the role of the m ediato r figurehas to do with some crucial event of the past such as creation; (2) the"present" pattern, the emphasis placed on the mediator figure's significance and/or activity in the present time; and (3) the "future" pattern,in which the m ed iato r's role is set in eschatological events (e.g., messianicfigures).27 He has also sided with Rainbow in doubting that religiousexperiences could have been as im po rtan t as I suggest in generating theworship of Jesus, and proposes instead that "triple-pattern me diation

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    Preface xv i i[by which he seems to mean the attribution to one figure of all threetypes of significance] wou ld prov ide a me ntal m ode w ithin which w orshipof the divine agent is po ssib le." Bu t then on th e same page Davis a dm itsth at "triple-pattern m edia tion " was not in fact adequa te for accounting forthe cultic devotion given to Jesus, though in some unspecified way hethinks that bestowing such co m bined significance up on Jesus m ight havehelped dispose believers toward worship of him. 2 8 I have already indicatedthat the inability to see tha t revelatory religious experiences can gen eratereligious inno vatio ns is simply an insufficient acq ua inta nc e with the da taof history and of con tem pora ry obse rvation. Da vis' m ediation schem a isuseful for organizing the kinds of roles assigned to various divine agentfigures, but by his own admission really does not have any explanatorypower for the innovation in devotional practice characteristic of earlyChristianity.

    In his recen t study of ancient messianic figures and ide as, Joh n Collinsrightly (in my view) emphasizes the relevance of royal-Davidic messianicthemes in the Christology of the New Testament, and even for understanding som ething of the historical m inistry of Jesus and his crucifixion.

    29

    In answer to his mild complaint about my not discussing the "import ofroyal messianism," I make the following comments. 3 0 As indicated earlyin Chap ter 1 (p. 1 8), there are several types of divine agent figures othe rthan those I discuss here, including Messiah(s). I made it clear that I didno t intend a comprehensive d iscussion of divine agentfigures,but restrictedthe analysis to figures that more directly might be comparable to theheavenly status of the risen Jesus in early Christian faith, divine agentfigures who are picture d as heavenly in origin and/o r sta tus. In the Jewishsources, Messiah figures (whether royal, priestly or prophetic) are morecharacteristically earthly figures, though of very imposing attrib utes . T h eone major exception is, of course, the "Elec t O ne/Son of M a n " figure of1 Enoch, which in fact I do discuss (pp . 51 -5 4) . Collins prefers to em phasizethe m essianic features of this figure, which I do no t d ispu te; but I chose torespect the identification of this figure as Enoch, as given in the text of 1Enoch, and so provided my discussion of this figure in my chapter on"exalted patr iarchs."

    These studies all focus on aspects of the christological language andthought reflected in the New Testament, whereas in this book I wasconcerned mainly with the religious practices of early Christian groupsas they manifest a view of Jesus as holding a divine sta tus. B ut, thou ghthey address different que stions , I see the m all as com plem entary workin helping us to gain a fuller understanding of how Jesus was regarded

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    x v i i i Prefacein first-century Christian circles. Richard Bauckham has contributedvaluable studies that have both helped to stimulate my own thinkingand have supported my approach and emphases. 3 1

    From another angle, Max Turner has argued cogently that the wayPaul links the Holy Spirit with Jesus reflects what he calls a "divine"Christology, and that this link probably arose experientially. 32 Tu rn e rpropo ses that experiences of being inspired prophetically and otherwiseblessed by a power early Christians took to be the Spirit sent by theexalted Jesus contributed heavily to the understanding of him as divineand thus w orthy of worship. T ur ne r's argum ent has now been developedm ore fully in a larger study of the m atter by on e of his studen ts, M ehr dadF a t e h i . 3 3 1 think that these scholars highlight an important matter, but Ido not think that the worship of Jesus arose by inference. Somethingm ore direct was required for such a m om en tou s step to have been taken .

    When I commenced talking to colleagues in the f ie ld about myresearch interests in earliest Christ-devotion back in the late 1970s, Ioften encountered the notion that all matters had received adequateanswers in the nu m ero us studies of christological tides of the 1960s andin such classics as Bousset's Kyrios Christos and Cullmann's volume onNew Testament Christology. In the last twenty years, and particularlyin the last decad e, it has beco m e clear tha t ther e is in fact mu ch m ore tobe learned than some suspected then. We are currently in a period ofrenewed in teres t in how Chris t -devot ion began , and I take someconsiderable satisfaction in thinking that this little book has helped toencourage and s t imula te th is exc i t ing research work . Among theindications of the vigourous interest, there is this year 's importantInternational Conference on the Historical Origins of the Worship ofJesus in the University of St Andrews. I look forward to the furtherfruits of this investigation, and I ho pe th at the re app earan ce of this bookwill make it easier for researchers to interact with it in their own studies.EdinburghApril 1998

    L . W . H .

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    Notes1 . I n the per iod 1 9 9 1- 9 7 , the annua l m eet in g program o f the Soc ie ty o f

    B ib l ica l L it era ture inc lud ed a uni t on "D iv ine M edia tor F igures in A nt iqui ty ,"which f ea tured the work o f a number o f thes e younger s cho lars and prov idedexcel lent opportunit ies for scholarly interact ion.

    2 . Th es e o ther wr i t ing comm itme nts have inc lud ed opportuni t i e s to focuson a number of matters re levant to my larger research plans , in part icular inseveral large reference work articles: "Christ ," in Dictionary of Jesus and theGospels, eds . J . B . Green , S . McKnight , I . H . Mars ha l l (Downers Grove: I nter -V a r si ty P r e ss , 1 9 9 2 ) ; " L o r d , " " S o n o f G o d , " " P r e - e x i s t e n c e , " i n Dictionary ofPaul and His Letters, eds . G . F . Hawthorne , R. P . Mart in , D . G. Re id (DownersGrove: Inter-Vars i ty Press , 1993); "Chris to logy ," in Dictionary of the Later NewTestament and its Developments, eds . R . P . M art in , P . H . Dav id s (Dow ners Grove:Inter-Vars i ty Press , 1997) .

    3 . In a recen t essay I hav e sketch ed the ap proach to be tak en and the desiderataI ho pe to s erve in th i s book : L . W . Hu rtad o , "C hr is t -D evot io n in the F irst T w oCentur ies : Ref lec t ions an d a Propos a l ," Toronto Journal of Theology 1 2 ( 1 9 9 6 ) :1 7 - 3 3 .

    4 . Henge l ' s comment appeared on the back cover o f the Amer ican (Fortres sPres s ) ed i t ion . No te a l s o Jarl Fo s s u m , "T he N e w Religionsgeschkhdkhe Schule:T h e Q ues t for Jewish Ch r is to logy ," Society of Biblical Literature S emina r Papers1991, e d . E . L o v e r i n g ( A t l a n t a : S c h o l a r s P r e s s , 1 9 9 1 ) , 6 3 8 - 4 6 ; a n d P a u lR a i n b o w ' s c o m m e n t s i n " Je w is h M o n o t h e i s m a s t h e M a t r i x fo r N e w T e s t a m e n tChr is to logy: A R ev iew Ar t ic le ," NovT 33 ( 1 9 9 1 ) : 7 8 - 7 9 .

    5 . Hu rtado , "C hr is t -D evot ion in the F irst T w o Ce ntu r ies ." M y cr i ti c is ms o fBous s e t appear in the pres ent book a t a number o f po int s , and a l s o in "NewTe s tam ent C hr is to logy: A C r i tique o f Bou s s e t ' s I nf luen ce ," TS 4 0 ( 1 9 7 9 ) : 3 0 6 -17 .

    6 . M a u r i c e C a s e y , From Jewish Prophet to Gentile G od: The Origins andDevelopment of New Testament C hristology (Louis v il l e : W es tmins ter /John Kn oxPres s ; Cam bridge: James Clarke & C o . , 19 91 ) .

    xix

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    x x Preface7. Saul /Paul refers to his v igorous ef forts in support of ioudaismos ( G a l .

    1 :13 -14 ) , making i t c l ear tha t the t erm repres ent s the s or t o f concern fort r a d i t io n - l o y a l ty t h a t i s v a r i o u s ly m a n i f e s t e d a m o n g R o m a n - p e r i o d J e w i s hg r o u p s .

    8 . L . W . Hu rtado , "Firs t -Century Jewis h M on oth e i s m ," JSNT ( forthcoming) ,a revis ion of m y earl ier essay , "W hat D o W e M ea n by 'Firs t -Cen tury JewishM o n o t h e i s m ' ? " Society of Biblical Literature S emina r P apers 19 93, ed. E. Lovering( A d a n t a : S c h o l a r s P r e s s , 1 9 9 3 ) , 3 4 8 - 6 8 .

    9 . Dav id Steenburg , "Th e Wors hip o f Ad am and Chr ist as the Image o f G od ,"JSNT39 ( 1 9 9 0 ) : 9 5 - 1 0 9 .

    1 0 . A n d r e w C h e s t e r , " J e w i s h M e s s i a n i c E x p e c t a t i o n s a n d M e d i a t o r i a lF i g u r e s a n d P a u l i n e C h r i s t o l o g y , " i n Paulus und das antike Judentum, e d s .M . H e n g e l , U . H e c k e l ( W U N T 5 8 ; T u b i n g e n : M o h r - S ie b e c k , 1 9 9 1 ) , 1 7 - 8 9 ,e s p . 6 4 .

    1 1 . C r i s p i n H . T . F l e t c h e r - L o u i s , Luke -Acts: Angels, Christology andSoteriology ( W U N T 2 /9 4 ; T u b i n g e n : M o h r - S ie b e c k , 1 9 9 7 ) , 1 2 0 - 2 9 . I n d e e d ,Fletcher-Louis later c la ims to have of fered four precedents for the worship ofJes us (p . 21 4 ) , the Jewis h H igh Pr ies t, Mo s es (a s dep ic ted in the dream s cen ein The Exfagoge of Ezekiel the Tragedian, which I d i s cus s in the pres ent book,p p . 5 7 - 5 9 ) , t h e " S o n o f M a n " f i g u r e o f 1 Enoch, and the demand that thea n g e l s r e v e r e n c e A d a m i n Life of Adam and Eve, N o n e o f t h e s e p r o f fe r e dexamples f i t s the bi l l , however, as ev idence of an actual cult ic reverence to anyf igure other than G od in the wor ship pract ices of Jewish groups of the R om anera.

    12 . He cataeu s of Abdera's com m en t preserved in Dio dor us Siculu s , BibliothecaHistorica 4 0 . 3 . 3 -8 , t rans. C . H. Oldfa ther , etal (Lo eb C lassica l Library; Lon do n:H e i n e m a n n , 1 9 3 3 - 6 7 ) .

    1 3 . Loren T . Stuckenbruck, Angel Veneration and Christology ( W U N T 2 / 7 0 ;T u b i n g e n : M o h r - S i e b e c k , 1 9 9 5 ) , e s p . 2 6 9 - 7 3 . 1 a m p l e a s e d t o b e m e n t i o n e d i nhis preface as one of those scholars whose work helped inspire his own (p. v) .See a lso my review in JTS 4 7 ( 1 9 9 6 ) : 2 4 8 - 5 3 .

    1 4 . C l i n t o n E . A r n o l d , The Colossian Syncretism: The Interface BetweenChristianity and Folk Belief at Colossae ( W U N T 2 / 7 7 ; T u b i n g e n : M o h r - S i e b e c k ,1 9 9 5 ) , 8 2 .

    1 5 . In the decade s ince the f irs t appearance of One God, One Lord, two o thervaluable studies of Jewish interest in angels have app eared, wh ich an yon e p ursu ingt h e s u b j e c t m u s t c o n s u l t : M i c h a e l M a c h , Entw icklungsstadien des judischenEngelglaubens in vorrabbinischer Zeit ( T S A T 3 4 ; T u b i n g e n : M o h r - S i eb e c k , 1 9 9 2 ) ;Saul Olyan, A Thousand Thousands Served H im: Exegesis and the Nam ing of Angelsin Ancient Judaism ( T S A T 3 6 ; T u b i n g e n : M o h r - S i e b e c k , 1 9 9 3 ) . It i s a p le a su r eto have Olyan's endors ement o f my v iews on the ques t ion o f whether we canproperly s peak o f "hypo s tas es " in Jewis h s ources (Olyan, 8 9 -9 1 ) .

    1 6 . See h i s m os t recent d i s cus s ion o f th i s in J . D . G . D u n n , The Theology ofPaul the Apostle (Grand Rapids : Eerdm ans ; Edinburgh: T . & T . Clark , 1 99 8) ,2 5 7 - 6 0 .

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    Preface x x i17 . L . W. Hurtado , "The B in i tar ian Shape o f Ear ly Chr is t ian Wors hip ,"

    a paper prepared for the Internat ional Conference on the His torica l Orig inso f t h e W o r s h i p o f J e s u s (S t A n d r e w s U n i v e r s i t y , 1 3 - 1 7 J u n e 1 9 9 8 ) , a n df o r t h c o m i n g i n t h e c o n f e r e n c e v o l u m e e d i t e d b y J a m e s D a v i l a a n d C a r e yN e w m a n .

    1 8 . D u n n , " F o r e w o r d t o S e c o n d E d i t i o n , " Christology in the M aking (2d ed . ;Lo nd on: S C M Pres s , 19 89 ) , e s p . xxv i i i -xxx i , xxxv i i i -xxx ix ; id.. The Partings ofthe Ways: Between Judaism and Christianity and Their Significance For the Characterof Christianity (London: SCM Pres s ; Phi lade lphia : Tr in i ty Pres s I nternat iona l ,1991) , 183 -229 , e s p . 205 ; idem, "How Controvers ia l Was Paul ' s Chr i s to logy?"in From Jesus to John: Essays on Jesus and N ew Testament Christology in honour ofMarinus de Jonge, e d . M . C . D e B o e r Q S N T S u p 8 4 ; S h e ff ie ld : J S O T P r e ss ,1 9 9 3 ) , 1 4 8 - 6 7 , es p . 1 6 2 - 6 5 ; M . C a s e y , From Jewish Prophet to Gentile God, e s p .chaps . 3 ,8 - 9 ; and idem, " Th e De i f ica t ion o f Jes us ," in Society of Biblical LiteratureSeminar Papers 3 3 ( 1 9 9 4 ) , 6 9 7 - 7 1 4 .

    1 9 . L. W . H urtad o , "Pre-7 0 C.E . Jewis h Op pos i t ion to C hr is t -D evo t ion ,"or ig inal ly an inv i t ed paper read to the 199 6 Br i ti sh N e w T es tam ent Con ference(Aberdeen Univers i ty) . A revised form is forthcoming in JTS.

    2 0 . P a u l R a i n b o w , " J e w is h M o n o t h e i s m a s t h e M a t r i x fo r N e w T e s t a m e n tC h r i s t o l o g y , " 8 6 - 8 7 .2 1 . L. W. Hurtado , "Rel ig ious Exper ience and Re l ig ious I nnovat ion in theN e w T e s t a m e n t , " e s s a y f o r t h c o m i n g .

    2 2 . L. J. Kreitzer, Jesus and God in Paul's Eschatology (JSNTSup 19 ; Shef f i e ld:J S O T P r e ss , 1 9 8 7 ) .

    2 3 . D a v i d B . C a p e s , Old Testament Yahweh Texts in Paul's Christology ( W U N T2 / 4 7 ; T u b i n g e n : M o h r - S i e b e c k , 1 9 9 2 ) .

    2 4 . Carl Juds on D av is , The Name and Way of the Lord: Old Testament Themes,New Testament Christology Q S N T S up 129 ; Shef fi e ld: Sheff ie ld Ac ade m ic Press ,1 9 9 6 ) .

    2 5 . C a r e y C . N e w m a n , Paul's Glory-C hristology: Tradition and Rhetoric( N o v T S u p 6 9 ; L e i d e n : B r il l, 1 9 9 2 ) .

    2 6 . N e i l R i c h a r d s o n , Paul's Language about God (JSNTSup 99 ; Shef f i e ld:Shef f i e ld Academic Pres s , 1994) .

    2 7 . P h i li p G . D a v i s , " D i v i n e A g e n t s , M e d i a t o r s , a n d N e w T e s t a m e n tChr is to logy ," JTS 4 5 ( 1 9 9 4 ) : 4 7 9 - 5 0 3 .

    2 8 . I b i d . , 4 9 8 .2 9 . J. J. Coll ins , The Scepter and the Star: The Messiahs of the Dead Sea Scrollsand O ther Ancient Literature ( N e w Y o r k : D o u b l e d a y , 1 9 9 5 ) , e s p . 2 0 4 - 1 4 .3 0 . I b id . , 214 (n . 80 ) .3 1 . Bauck ham 's e s say ("T he W ors hip o f Jes us in Apo ca lypt ic Chr i s t ianity ,"

    N T S 27 [19 80 /81 ] : 3 2 2 -4 1 ) tha t was helpfu l in s harpening the research pro jec ttha t l ed to th i s book has now appeared in an expanded vers ion: "The Wors hipof Jes us ," in The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation (Edinburgh:T . & T . Clark, 19 93 ) , 1 1 8 -4 9 . See a lso his art ic le , "Jesus , W orship of ," ABD3 : 8 1 2 - 1 9 .

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    x x i i Preface3 2 . M ax Turn er , "T he Spiri t o f Chr i s t and 'D iv ine ' Ch r i s to logy ," in Jesus of

    Nazareth, Lord and Christ: Essays on the Historical Jesus and New TestamentChristology, eds . J . B . Green , Max Turner (Grand Rapids : Eerdmans ; Car l i s l e :P a t e r n o s t e r , 1 9 9 4 ) , 4 1 3 - 3 6 .

    3 3 . Mehrdad Fatehi , "The Spir i t ' s Re la t ion to the Ris en Lord in Paul : AnExam inat ion of it s Chris to logica l Implicat ions ," ( P h. D . thes is , Brunei U nivers i ty ,1 9 9 8 ) .

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    PrefaceThe details of the religious innovation represented by earliest Chris

    tianity are only imperfectly preserved in the historical sources, and anyattem pt to organize into an orderly pictu re wh at scattered details surviverun s the risk of being charged w ith being m ore clever than persuasive or,almost certainly, of suffering eventual correction or even refutation. Ihope that I have not been mo re clever than the data warran t, bu t I cherishno illusion of having produced the last word on the origins of the culticveneration of Jesus in earliest Christianity.

    Barring the discovery of major new ev idence , advances in the stud y ofChristian origins will come mainly through careful refinement of thescholarly analysis of w ha t data we have. T his bo ok contains prec ious littlein the way of evidence not previously examined, but I have tried toadvance our und erstan ding of the origins of Christianity by the organization and an alysis of th e evidence considered he re and b y focusing o n th epraxis of early Christian devotion rather than on christological rhetoricsuch as the much-discussed christological titles. I have found it necessaryto take issue with so me e arlier view s, a few of the m fairly w idely s hare d,and n aturally I hope tha t m y investigation may co nstitute a con tributionof some valu e.

    Several perso nal a cquaintanc es h ave read earlier versions of this wo rkand discussed these ideas with m e. Th ey have shown enthusiastic interestin this project, with whose conclusions they did not always agree, andtheir criticisms and suggestions have produc ed n um erou s im provem ents.But even the ir disagree m ents have been va luable , for they have forced m eto clarify m y thou gh ts and th e expression of m y views as no thin g elsecan.

    xxiii

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    xxiv PrefaceProfessors Martin Hengel and Peter Stuhlmacher both kindly enter

    tained me in their homes, discussed the project with me, and gaveencourag em ent at an early stage of th e writing of this m anu script du ring avisit to Tubingen in November 1984. I am especially grateful to Dr.Christopher Rowland, Dr. Jarl Fossum, and Professor Alan Segal, whoall kindly read the entire manuscript in an earlier draft and helped meimprove it at many points. Dr. Fossum also allowed me to examine theproofs of The Name of God and the Angel of the Lord, prio r to its publication, and arranged discussions with Professors Peter van der Horst andGilles Qu ispel. Both Dr. W illiam H orb ury an d Dr. Do uglas DeL acy provided helpful co m m ents on the first three chap ters. Professor Saul Olyanread chapters 1 and 2 , giving me som e valuable insights into the natu re ofpreexilic Israelite religion and the wider West Semitic religious atmosphe re of ancient t imes. Professor K en t Brower reviewed the wh ole m an uscript and helped me to improve more than a few passages. All thesescholars have shown exemplary cooperation, fairness, and commitmentto academic dialogue.

    A good deal of the research and w riting was don e du ring a sabbaticalresearch leave (1984-1985 academic year) spent in Cam bridg e, En glan d.I am grateful to the University of M anitoba for gran ting m e the leave andto the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for aLeave Fellowship and research grant w hich enabled m e and m y family totravel to England for the year. Du rin g ou r time in C am bridge , I was a ByeFellow of Robinson College, a thoroughly enjoyable association for mypart. I thank Professor Morna Hooker, Fellow of Robinson College, fornominating me for the Bye Fellowship, and my family joins me inexpressing ou r than ks to the W arden, Sir Jack Lew is, the Fellow ship, andth e staff of th e college for he lping to ma ke our tim e ther e so pleasant andmemorable .

    D urin g that sabbatical leave, I presented some portio ns of this book atProfessor Hooker's New Testament Seminar in Cambridge, ProfessorBarnabas Lindars 's Ehrhardt Seminar, and Professor J. D. G. Dunn'sNew Testament Seminar, and I wish to thank these colleagues for theirinvitations to address these meetings. Among the benefits of these presentations, I was particularly helped by conversations in M anchester withDr. R ichard Ba uckham a nd D r. Philip Alexander and his wife, L oveday;in Durham with Professor Dunn; and in Cambridge with Dr. Rowland.At my Cambridge presentation, Dr. Rowland gave a prepared response,m akin g that se m inar dou bly valuable for m e. I also profited from several

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    Preface xxvcolleagues at the 1985 meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature NewTestament Christology G ro up , w here I presen ted a similar paper.

    I wish to thank Fortress Press for undertaking the publication of thiswo rk, and particularly D r. John A . H ollar for his man y editorial improvements in my manuscript and for his general assistance in bringing thebook to pub lication.

    Th roug h th e whole process of prod ucing this bo ok , my wife, Shan non,has continued to ende ar herself to me throu gh her pa tient interest in mywork, her editorial assistance in clarifying numerous passages in myprose, and her warm com panion ship in life.

    I dedicate th e volume to Eldon Jay Ep p , whose high standards of scholarship I admire and whose help, both during student days and subseque ntly, has m ade m e his grateful debtor.University of ManitobaSeptember 1987 L A R R Y W . H U R T A D O

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    AbbreviationsG E N E R A L

    AGJU Arbeiten zu r Geschichte des antiken Jude ntum sund des Urchris tentums

    ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the OldTestament. 3d ed. J. B. Pritch ard, e d.

    ANRW Aufstiegund Niedergang der romischen Welt. H .Temporini and W. Haase, eds.

    AOAT Alter Orient un d Altes TestamentAOT The Apocryphal Old Testament, H . F. D . Sparks, ed.ATAbh Alttestamentliche AbhandlungenBA Biblical ArchaeologistB H T Beitrage zu r historischen TheologieBib BiblicaCBQ Catholic Biblical QuarterlyCBQ MS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph SeriesE T English TranslationExp Tim Expository TimesH SM Harvard Semitic M onographsH SS Harvard Semitic StudiesHTR Harvard Theological ReviewH T R D R Ha rvard Theological Review Dissertations in

    ReligionH T S Harvard Theological StudiesHUCA Hebrew Union College AnnualIC S Illinois Classical StudiesID B Interpreter's Dictionary of the Biblexxvi

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    Abbreviations xxviiIDBSup Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Supplementary

    VolumeITQ Irish Theological QuarterlyJBL Journal of Biblical LiteratureJJS Journal of Jewish StudiesJSJ Journa l for the Study of Judaism in the Persian,Hellenistic and Roman PeriodJSNT Journal for the Study o f the New TestamentJSS Journal of Semitic StudiesJSSR Journal for the Scientific Study of ReligionJTS Journal of Theological StudiesL C L Loeb Classical LibraryLXX SeptuagintNIDNTT New International Dictionary of New Testament

    Theology. 3 vols. C. B rown , ed .NovT Novum TestamentumNovTSup Novum Testamentum SupplementsN T New TestamentNTS New Testament Studiesor Old TestamentOTP Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. 2 vols. J. H .

    Charlesworth, ed.P VT G Pseu dep igraph a Veteris Testamenti graeceQ D Quaestiones DisputataeRB Revue bibliqueRelSRev Religious Studies ReviewRRR Review of Religious ResearchRSPT Revue des sciences philosophiques et theologiquesRSV Revised Stand ard Version of the B ibleS B L DS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation SeriesSBLMS Society of Biblical Literatu re M ono graph SeriesSBS Stuttgarter BibelstudienSBT Studies in Biblical T heolog ySJLA Studies in Judaism in L ate An tiquitySJT Scottish Journa l of TheologyS N T S M S Society for New Testament Studies M ono graph

    SeriesSR Studies in Religion/Sciences religieusesST Studia Theologica

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    xxvii i AbbreviationsTDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. 10 vols.

    G. K ittel and G . Friedrich , eds .TRu Theologische RundschauTS Theological StudiesT U Texte und Un tersuchungenVC Vigiliae christianaeW M A N T W issenschaft liche Monographien zum Alten un d

    Neuen TestamentW U N T Wissenschaft liche Untersuchun gen zum Neu en

    TestamentZAW Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche WissenschaftZNW Zeitschrift fur die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

    B I B L I C A LGen. GenesisExod. ExodusN u m . N u m b e r sDeut . DeuteronomyJosh. JoshuaIsa. IsaiahJer. JeremiahEzek. EzekielMai. MalachiPs. PsalmsProv. ProverbsDan. DanielM att. Gospel of M atthewRom . Episde to the Romans1 Cor. Fir st Epistle to the Co rinthians2 Cor. Second Ep istle to the Co rinthiansGa l. Ep isd e to th e GalatiansEp h. Episde to the EphesiansPh il. Ep isde to the PhilippiansCol. Ep istle to the Colossians1 Th ess. First Ep isde to the Thessalonians1 Tim . First Episde to Timothy2 Ti m . Second Ep isde to Tim othyH e b . Episde to the Hebrews1 Pet. Firs t Ep isd e of Peter

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    Abbreviations xxix2 Pet. Second Ep isde of PeterRev. Revelation of St. John

    E A R L Y C H R I S T I A N L I T E R A T U R EComm. Joh. Commentary on John, OrigenDial Dialogue with Trypho, Justin MartyrStrom. The Stromm ata, Clement of Alexandria

    A P O C R Y P H A A N D P S E U D E P I G R A P H AApoc. Abr. Apoca lypse of AbrahamApoc. Zeph. Apoca lypse ofZepheniahAscen. Isa. Ascension of IsaiahBar. Baruch2 Bar. Second (Syriac) BaruchBib. Ant. Biblical Antiqu ities of Pseudo-PhiloJub. Jubilees4 Mace. 4 MaccabeesParal. Jer. The Paraleipomena ofJeremiahSir. Ben Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)Tob. TobitT. Abr. Testament of AbrahamT. Ash. Testament of AsherT. Benj. Testament of BenjaminT. Dan Testament of DanT.Judah Testament of JudahT. Levi Testament of LeviT. Mos. Testament (Assumption) of MosesT. Naph. Testament of NaphtaliT. Sim. Testament of SimeonT. Sol. Testament of SolomonT. Zeb. Testament of ZebulonWis. Wisdom of Solomon

    P H I L O O F A L E X A N D R I AConf. Ling. De Confusione LinguarumDeAgr. De AgriculturaCherub. De CherubimT>et. Quod D etenus Potiori insidiari soletFug. De Fuga et Inventione

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    xxx AbbreviationsGig. De GigantibusLeg. Alleg. Legum AllegoriaeMigr. Abr. De Migratione AbrahamiMut. De Mutatione Nom inumOpf. Mun. De Opficio MundiPost. De Posteritate CainiProb. De Quod Om nis Probus Liber sitQuaest. Exod. Quaestiones et Solutiones in ExodumQuaest. Gen. Quaestiones et Solutiones in GenesinSac. De Sacrificiis Abelis et CainiSomn. De SomniisSpec. Leg. De Specialibus LegibusVit. Mos. De Vita Mosis

    Q U M R A N T E X T S1QH 1Q Hodayot (Hymn Scroll)1QM 1Q Milchamah (War Scroll)UQ Melch HQ Melchizedek

    R A B B I N I C T E X T St. Hul. Tosephta Hullinb. Abod. Zar. Aboda Zaram. Hul. Mishnah Hullinb. Sank. Sanhedrinb. Ber. BerakotMidr. Ber. R. Midrash Bereshit Rabbah

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    IntroductionT H E P R O B L E M

    A lthou gh there may b e so-cal led go ds in heave n or on earth as ind eed thereare many " go d s " and many " lords " yet for us there i s on e Go d, the Father ,from w h om are a ll thin gs and for w h o m w e exis t , an d on e Lo rd , Jesus Chris t ,through w ho m are a ll th ings and through w ho m we ex i s t . (1 Cor. 8:5-6)In these lines, written only slightly more than twenty years after the

    crucifixion of Jesus, Paul the Apostle summarizes the distinctive natureof early Ch ristian devotion. At the sam e time he identifies t he pro blem tobe investigated. First, Paul distinguishes Christian devotion from othervarieties in the Greco-Rom an wo rld of his day. H e does so by rejecting th eplurality of deities otherw ise almost universally accepted in varying waysamong his pagan contemporaries as legitimate manifestations of "thedivine," insisting that for Christians there can be only "one God." Indoing this, Paul and early Christians were not entirely alone, nor werethey the first ones to take this position. This rather strict monotheisticstand indeed, offensively strict in th e eyes of virtually all pag ans of t ha ttimewas nothing but the common position taken by Judaism, something to wh ich Paul the Jewish Christian would have pointed happily asproof that he was truly serving the God of his fathers . 1

    Paul's statement also distinguishes early Christian faith from the Jewish backg roun d by his reference to Jesus in the same b rea th, so to sp eak,as th e men tion of the one G od, linking Jesus w ith God an d conferring onhim what is here to be seen as a tide of divine honor, " L o rd ." 2 Althoughwe do not actually have first-century Jewish documents that tell usdirecdy what Jewish religious leaders thought of Christian devotion,

    1

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    2 One God, One Lordthere seems to be every reason to assume that the attitude was probablyvery m uc h like the o ne reflected in slighdy later Jewish sources, w hichapparently reject cultic devodon to Jesus as constituting an exampleof the worship of "two powers in heaven," that is, the worship of twogods . 3

    We may have indirect evidence of this suggestion in the aposd e P aul. Itis , in my view, likely that Paul's persecution of Jewish Christians (Gal.1:13-14; 1 Cor. 15:9) pri or to his conversion exp erience was occasionedpartly by the reverence they gave to Jesus. Paul describes his change ofheart as broug ht abo ut because G od "w as pleased to reveal his Son to [or" in " ] m e " (G al. 1:16), w hich suggests th at the expe rience forced P aul toembrace a view of Jesus ' relationship to God that h e, as one "s o extremelyz e a lo u s . . . for the t rad it ions of [his] fathers," h ad been un able to acceptpreviously.4

    O ur starting poin t is th e fact th at , althou gh th eir devotion to Jesus mayhave caused o ther Jews to regard th em as having violated the uniqu enessof Go d, early Jewish Chris tian s, like Paul after his Dam ascu s road experience, apparently felt thoroughly justified in giving Jesus reverence interm s of divinity and at the same time tho ugh t of themselves as worshiping one God.

    T he p roble m to be investigated in this boo k is therefore precisely this :How did the early Jewish Christians accommodate the veneration of theexalted Jesu s alongside G od wh ile con tinu ing to see themselves as loyal tothe fundamental emphasis of their ancestral tradition on one God, andw ithout th e benefit of the succeeding four centu ries of Ch ristian theological discussion which led to the Ch ristian do ctrine of the T rinity? A s ananswer to this problem, I propose that early Christianity drew uponimportant resources in ancient Judaism and also developed a somewhatdistinctive "m u ta ti o n " or innovation in this mono theistic tradition.

    The origin of this "binitarian shape" of early Christian devotionreflected in 1 Cor. 8:6, w hich involved th e veneration of Jesus alongsideGod and a refusal to venerate all oth er div ine figures, con stitutes a m ajorhistorical problem. 5 But, given the investigation already carried out onthe origins of Christology, whoever dares to contribu te any thing furtherhas the double responsibility of demonstrating familiarity with the previous wo rk and of advancing the discussion in some way. Th e endno teswill show how inde bted I am to the wo rk of oth ers . In w hat follows, I shalltry to indicate why I offer this contribution to the literature on earlyChristology.

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    Introduction 3E A R L Y C H R I S T O L O G Y

    A N D C H R O N O L O G YConscious of the distinctive binitarian shape of early Christian devo

    tion over against the monotheistic emphasis of early Judaism and alsothat C hristianity began as a kind of Jewish sectarian m ovem ent, scholarshave sought to explain the veneration of Jesus as due to the influence ofthe veneration of a wid e variety of divine figures in Greco-R om an pagan ism. 6 But, given the general antipathy of ancient Judaism toward paganreligion, it ha s often be en claimed tha t the influence desc ribed h ere couldhave had its effect only at a secondary stage of early Christianity, whensignificant n um be rs of Gen tiles ha d been conve rted (who are portra yed asremaining open to the w orship of m ore tha n one divine figure) and in acultural and geographical setting somewhat removed from Palestine andtraditional Jewish devotion. 7 Thus the veneration of Jesus is seen asmerely a particular example of the syncretistic tendencies characteristicof Greco-Roman religion and as an early stage of the Hellenization ofChristianity that proceeded much further in the first several centuries ofthe church.

    However plausible this view appears at first glance, and how ever' 'com fortable" to particular historical schemes and theological preferences, acareful consid eration of the evidence available to us con cernin g th e earliest stages of Christian tr ad ition ma kes such a view virtually unte na ble , atleast as it has characteristically be en exp ressed . 8 T ha t is, the question ofhow the veneration of Jesus began in early Christianity cannot beanswered by invoking the influence of paga n polythe ism in Ch ristian circles insufficiently familiar with the monotheistic tradition of the firstJewish Christians. The chronological data concerning early Christianbelief and devotion do no t easily per m it this ap pro ach . 9

    Am ong scholars wh o study the origins of Christianity, it is agreed tha tthe earliest Christian writings we possess are the letters of the aposdePaul, sent to various churches in the course of his missionary travels(approximately 50 to 60 C.E. ) , wh ich take us back almost to the beginningof Paul's mission to the Gentiles and to within tw enty years of the beginning of Ch ristianity. Late r I shall m ore closely exam ine passages in theseletters that tell us what Paid believed about Christ and that reflect thereverence Paid approved. Here I want to anticipate this later discussionby emphasizing two po ints.

    F irst, Paul regarded th e resurrected Jesus as occupying a uniq ue posi-

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    4 One God, One Lordtion of heavenly auth ority and ho nor, and he wrote of the exalted Christand reverenced him in ways that seem to requ ire us to conclude th at Paultreated him as divine. Second, although Paul had clashes with peoplewho troubled his churches and whose view of Christian faith he foundseriously defective, and although he had differences with the Jerusalemchu rch over matters connected with the mission to the G entiles, nothingin Paul's letters indicates any awareness that his fundamental view ofChrist was un iqu e or th at h e had m ade any serious innovation in the wayChristians before him h ad regarded the exalted Jesus, however mu ch hemay have had his own emphases in the articulation of his message. 10Ind eed , the Pauline letters may enable us to catch glimpses of Christianbelief and de votion from the first few years of th e c hu rc h.

    Alth oug h P aid insisted tha t the basis for his Christia n faith an d apostle-ship lay in the direct call of God an d in a divine revelation to him of Jesusas the Son of God (G al. 1:11-17), he also wished to associate his m essageand the beliefs and practices he urged upo n his converts with th e faith ofothe r C hristian s, including those wh o were not a part of his own m issionwork(e .g . , 1 Cor. 11:23-2 6; 15:1 -8). In Pa ul's letters there are a nu m be rof passages that reflect the devotion of Christians of the period prior toPaul's gentile mission, which began no later than the 40s C.E.: credalstatements (e.g., Rom. 1:3-4; 10:9-10); fragments of church prayers(e.g ., Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor. 16:22; Gal. 4:6); and possibly some hymn s ( e.g .,Col. 1:15-20; Phil. 2:5-11). Some of these fragments of early churchtradition may take us back to churches of a Palestinian setting and toChristians whose native language was Aramaic (e.g., the untranslatedAramaic prayer fragment in 1 Cor. 16:22, "Maranatha") , 1 1T h us we seem to be afforded glimpses of Christian devotion from wh atmust include Jewish Christian groups very close in time, culture, andgeographical setting to th e origin of Christianity. A nd the indication s aretha t already in these gro up s the exalted Jesus had b eg un to play a significan t role as th e object of religious devotio n, ind eed as an object of culticveneration. In the gatherings of the C hristians with which P aid was familiar, i t appears that they sang " h y m n s " honoring and celebrating C hrist, 1 2baptized converts "i n the name of Jesus , " 1 3 and very likely had rituals of"call ing upon" Jesus and "confessing" him as "Lord" (e .g . , Rom.10:9-10; 1 Cor. 12:3). In all of this they seem to have seen themselves asreflecting th e heavenly and eschatological veneration of Jesus anticipatedin Phil. 2:9-11 (cf. Rev. 5:1-14). 1 4

    Further, when we recall the dramatic experience that caused Paul tobecome a follower of Jesus and a preacher of the gospel (ca. 32-34 C.E.)

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    Introduction 5and that from this point he began his association with Christians inDamascus, Jerusalem, and Antioch (Gal. 1:17-23), it becomes evidentthat the Christian tradition with which Paul was familiar was impressively broad in geographical extent a nd went ba ck to with in a few years ofthe beginning of the church. 1 5 Actually, we must conclude that Paul'sacquaintance with Christian beliefs went back even earlier than hisDamascus road experience, for he must have obtained some familiaritywith Jewish-Christian devotion in orde r to have been m oved to persecuteJewish Christians for their beliefs (Gal. 1:13; 1 Cor. 15:9). In P aul, the n,we have not only an impo rtant Jewish C hristian in his own right b ut alsoone who was familiar with, and discloses aspects of, the devotion ofJewish-Christian groups of the most primitive period of Christianity. 16Paid, whose own faith was decisively shaped within the very first fewyears of Ch ristianity, an d in contact wi th believers familiar w ith th e earliest Christian groups in Palestine, gives the impression that the exaltedstatus he accorded to the risen Jesus was reflective also of the faith of th osewho "w ere in Christ bef ore " him (Rom . 16:7).

    Thus Paul's own letters, the earliest literary access to Christianityafforded to us, provide strong evidence that the period in which to seekthe decisive beginnings of the veneration of Jesus is not at all late butextremely early, easily w ithin the first decad e of th e Christian m ovem ent.They also indicate that the setting for the origin of Jesus veneration iswith in Chris tian group s led by, and a t least initially com prised m ainly of,Jewish Christian s, includin g Aram aic-speaking group s in Palestine. Th isin turn m eans th at a historical inquiry into the origins of Jesus venerationthat seeks to take into account the religious background must give primary attention to ancient Judaism and cannot easily resort to hypothesesinvolving the direct influence of pagan cults. For this reason I concentrate on the Jewish religious bac kgro und .

    Certainly ancient Jud aism was not im m une to the larger G reco-Rom anenviro nm ent. Both Philo of Alexandria and Paul himself, to take b ut twoexamples, show the ad aptation of concep ts and literary conventions circulating in their tim e. Bu t both auth ors also show strong reserve towardthe specifically religious beliefs and practices of the pagan world andillustrate the tendency of most Jews in the Greco-Roman setting to holdthemselves aloof from and superior to other religious groups. It is therefore appropriate to think of Judaism as distinguishable in some wayswithin the Greco-Roman setting. And on account of the evidence concerning the origin of the Christian veneration of Jesus mention ed above(cf. chap. 5), it is proper to insist that the correct history of religions

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    6 One God, One Lordappro ach is to see anc ien t Jud aism as the mo st im m ediately relevant religious background for this phenomenon, especially in its early stages.Exploring general connections of Jewish and early Christian traditionswith pagan thought and religious practices is a legitimate inquiry, ofcours e, bu t it is the top ic of anoth er b ook to be written by a specialist onthat complex issue. 1 7

    EXCURSUSMy focus on the Jewish background may cause some readers to wonder whetherI am not subject to the charge of arbitrarily and incorrecdy ignoring the paganreligious traditions of the Greco-Roman period, the sort of criticism directed by

    C. R. Holladay against J. D. G. Dunn's Christology in the Making.1* There is acertain similarity between Dun n's book and mine, in that we both investigate thehistorical origin of a feature of early Christianity and both concentrate on theJewish background. There are, however, also some significant differences.First, Dunn's M ur e to discuss more fully the pagan evidence was particularlypuzzling because he dated the emergence of the Christian doctrine of the incarnation late in the first century C . E . , when there would have been several decadesduring which Christian doctrines could have been direcdy influenced by pagancults and myths. If the cultic veneration of the exalted Christ, the subject of myinvestigation, were only a feature of gentile Christianity appearing after severaldecades had elapsed, the pagan evidence would be much more relevant. Such isnot the case. I am concerned with a characteristic of early Christian piety tha t hasits origins within the very first few years of Christianity, when it was thoroughlydominated by Jews and functioned as a sect of ancient Judaism .19Second, given D unn's concern to show that the early Christian doctrine of theincarnation of Christ did not find a parallel anywhere in the ancient world, hischoice not to discuss more thoroughly the apparent similarities to pagan ideas ofdivine beings appearing on the earth in human form or as humans was a mistake.For our problem the pagan evidence does not help us. There is simply no comparable tradition of exclusivist monotheism in the pagan religions of the Greco-Roman period. That Gentiles were able to accommodate numerous gods in theirtheologies and religious practices is interesting but does not tell us how thoseconcerned for the uniqueness of the God of Israel became functionally binitarianin religious practice. When scholars refer to ancient pagan monotheism they referto ideas of one god manifested through the many or one god high above the manyother divinities. And such ideas did not involve exclusivist devotion to one godsuch as distinguished Judaism and early Christianity.I am specifically concerned with the question of how pious Jews, who, likePaul, show a commitment to a rather exclusivist monotheism, were able to accommodate a second figure alongside God as an object of religious devotion. Since Iwant to see what precedents or stimuli for this Christian binitarianism there mayhave been in Jewish monotheistic tradition, choosing to omit discussion of Greco-Roman pagan religions is not arbitrary, nor a sign of some sort of bias, but seemsonly logical.

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    Introduction 7Since I ho pe to show that the em erge nce o f early Chris tian binitarian de vot ion

    to God and Jesus can be expla in ed on th e bas is of the Jewish backgrou nd a nd therel ig ious expe riences o f the early chu rch , a ful ler discu ss ion o f paga n rel ig ions ofthe Greco-Roman period would s imply be bes ide the point . I agree with Hol la-day's v iew that a com preh ens iv e descr ipt ion of early Chris tianity wou ld requiredeta iled cons iderat ion of a l l aspects of re lig ios ity in the G reco-Rom an p eriod . Butthe purpose of this book is much more modest , and the ev idence that i s direcdyrelevant is therefore m u ch m ore l imited in sco pe .

    C O M P L E X I T Y I N A N C I E N T J U D A I S MOne reason tha t th e older history of religions approach to the origin ofthe cultic veneration of Jesus resorted to the hypothesis of direct pagan

    influence is that ex pon ents of this view seem to have been bedeviled by asimplistic an d inaccu rate view of ancien t Ju da ism . Scholars in this schoolwere certainly aware of the evidence mentioned above that suggests thatthe origin of Jesus venera tion was in a Palestinian a nd Jewish settin g. Butit appears th at they felt com pelled to explain this evidence in othe r waysbecause they could not imagine Christians of a very traditional Jewishbackgrou nd being able to take the step of bestowing upo n th e risen Jesusthe exalted status clearly reflected in th e Pauline lett er s. 2 0 Th e attempts todeal w ith thi s evidence by representatives of this po int of view show thatno attempt was satisfactory and that strong notions about the nature ofancient Judaism (especially Palestinian Judaism) thoroughly controlledtheir investigation. H ere I want to sum ma rize how our unde rstand ing ofancient Juda ism has been enh ance d, especially in relation to the stud y ofthe origins of Christianity. I also want to indicate why the older notionsabout ancient Judaism m ust now be regarded as erroneous.

    The origins of Christianity lie in the context of Palestinian Judaism, tobe sure, bu t Palestine too had been in contact with Greek language an dculture for more than three hu nd red years by the tim e of Jesus ' crucifixion. Although there were Palestinian Jewish attempts to oppose thisinfluence, they met with only partial success. Therefore the overly rigiddistinctions between Hellenistic Judaism and Palestinian Judaism common in some past studies must be avoided. 21 Greek language, for example, was apparendy used throughout Palestine, even among local Jews,and not just among Jews who adopted G reek cu ltu re . 2 2 Fu rther , the Judaism of Palestine was much more diverse culturally than has sometimesbeen recognized.

    Jewish travel betw een Diaspo ra locations and Palestine was steady, andat the time of the origin of Christianity Jews frequend y moved from Dias-

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    8 One God, One L ordpora locations to Palestine, bringing w ith them the use of Greek languageand other aspects of their Diaspora cu ltu re. 2 3 In the first Christian comm unity in Jerusalem the re were app aren dy suc h G reek-speaking Jews aswell as Palestinian-born Jews whose primary language was Aramaic.Th us C hristianity w as probably from the beginning a bilingual com munity. 24 So, if we use the term "Palestinian Ju da ism " to mean the religionand culture of Jews living in Palestine of that time, it designates a bilingual ph eno m eno n which included with in it significant variatio ns. 25

    Even in Palestinian Judaism, there was much ferment in beliefs andpractices, inclu ding no tions about God and oth er heavenly figures. T hismeans that previous ideas about what could or could not have beenincluded in Palestinian Jewish m ono theism may need to be reexam ined 26(see cha p. 1). T he re is some indication that Jewish belief in the uniq ueness of God was able to accommodate surprising kinds of reverence forand interest in other heavenly figures such as chief angels and exaltedpatriarchs a s well as personified attribute s or pow ers of God . Interest inthe role of these divine agents was appare ntly w idespread and probably ofsome importan ce in unde rstan ding how early Jewish Christians were ableto accommodate the exalted Jesus without feeling that they had violatedthe uniqueness of Go d. 2 7

    In short, the more complex picture of ancient Jewish monotheism inthe first centu ry m ay assist us in und erstan ding tha t early Jewish C hristians could think of themselves as holding to belief in "one God" whilealso viewing th e risen Je sus in the m ost exalted of categories. I shall argu elater that the early Christian veneration of Jesus involved somewhat newand distinctive developments beyond the reverence characteristicallygiven to divine agents in ancient Judaism. But these Jewish-Christiandevelopm ents are proba bly to be und ersto od as historically related to , andindebted to , the complex nature of m ono theism in the Jewish con text. 2 8 Ifprevious scholars thoug ht it impossible to accoun t for the beginning s ofthe cultic veneration of Jesus in a Jewish mono theistic se tting, this maynow be regarded as partly due to an incorrect and rigid view of whatJewish faith in one God could acco m m oda te, even in a Palestinian s etting .To some degree , the erro r just described is simply th e result of doinghistorical w ork, w hich is always in dang er of being show n to be erron eou sby later discoveries of evidence or by revised critical opinion s on the useof evidence. Of course, historical work is a complex interaction amongavailable evidence, critical opinions and methods, and the interpretersconducting the historical investigation. This is especially the case whenthe topic is religion. Since I have elsewhere discussed these matters as

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    Introduction 9they pertain to the study of Christian o rig ins , 2 91 will sum m arize the m atter here in order to illuminate the approach I take here and why it mayadvance the discussion beyond previous studies.

    T H E H I ST O R IC A L A P P R O A C HAll historical investigations of Christian origins today are influenced in

    varying ways by the s cholars who are often desc ribed as forming t he h istory of religions scho ol, which cam e to prom inence in the early decades ofthis century. 3 0 Dissatisfied w ith previous historical studies of early Christianity, ones basically conce rned w ith the deve lopm ent of Christian doctrines, this school of thought sought to deal with the whole of earlyChristian religion, including cultic practices and devotion. F urth erm ore ,concerned to treat early C hristianity in a truly historical way, they soughtto disclose th e relations hip of Christian beliefs an d p ractices to the surrounding Greco-Roman world. Current historical study of Christian origins at its best stil l em bodies these aims and draw s upo n th e work done bythese scholars. I m us t, however, lodge certain criticism s of the ir wo rk inorder to show the need for further investigation. Precisely because the irwork is still so influential, I believe that my criticisms are relevant tocurre nt scholarly discussions also.

    First, although the attempt to place early Christianity in its historicalsetting produced valuable studies of the religious environment of theGreco-Roman world, the attempt to find parallels for early Christianbeliefs and practices was sometimes insufficiently critical in attempt andtherefore errone ous in result . Th ere seems to have been th e assum ptionthat all characteristics of early Christianity (all beliefs, ethics, practices,and concepts) must have been borrowed from the su rroun ding religiousenvironment. That is, the religious influences were seen as coming onlyfrom the surrounding w orld into early Christianity. T he re was insufficientreadiness to entertain th e ques tion of w heth er influences m ight ever haverun in the other direct ion. 3 1 Nor was much consideration given to thepossibility tha t the early C hristians m ight have developed genuinely distinctive ideas and practice s. To some degree this is un de rstan da ble in th atthese scholars were reacting against descriptions of early Christianity tha tpaid little or no attention to the religious context out of which it developed . B ut, w ith the advantage of hind sigh t, their own approach m ust b eseen as an overreaction.

    EXCURSUSBecau se som e apolog is ts for Christ ian fa i th have tr ied to make wh at they un der-

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    10 One God, One Lordstand as the d ist inc tiven ess o f Ch rist ian ideas and prac tices a basis for argu ing forthe superiori ty of Chris t ianity , and because some scholars , aware of this type ofapologet ic , have then become chary of anyone referring to dis t inct ive developments in early Christ ianity, I wish to make my own posit ion clear. (1) I refer to"dis t inct iveness in early Chris t ianity" because I think that the his torica l ev i den ce l eads to s uch a con c lus ion . (2 ) I nde ed , a l though re l ig ious groups o f theGreco-Roman wor ld had much in common, many o f them a l s o had d i s t inc t ivepract ices or ide as , so I do n ot imp ly that Chris t ianity was the only Greco-R oma nrel ig ious m ove m ent that developed dis t inct ive characteris t ics . (3) To speak ofsom eth ing as dis t inct ive do es not m ean that i t i s therefore bet ter or mo re l ikely tobe va l id than s omething tha t i s common to more than one re l ig ious group. Myem ph as is up on the need to look for and d o just ice to th e dis tinct ive deve lopm entsin early Christ ianity is based upon a concern for detailed and accurate historicalun der stand ing, apart from on e's personal re l ig ious respon se to Chris t ianity .

    It is a reasonable assumption that early Christian beliefs and practiceswere conditioned in varying ways by th e ancient religious and social environment, an assumption that can be verified by many examples and anassum ption operative in the present study also. Bu t a genuine ly historicalinvestigation of any religious m ovem ent m us t also accou nt for th e partic ular ways in which each religious mov ement modifies an d converts term s,ideas, and practices for its own pu rpo ses , and even fills them w ith significantly new meaning. Just as modern linguists recognize that the samewords can acquire different meanings in the context of different sentenc es, so historians of religions m us t pay careful a ttentio n to the different meanings acquired by terms, rites, and even concepts in differentreligious movem ents and m ust avoid com m itting a kind of * 'etymologicalfallacy" by uncritically reading the m eaning of a phenomenon from onereligious setting into another sett ing . 3 2 Or, to borrow E . R San ders's language, one must always study a particular religious phenomenon in theove rall ' 'p a tt e rn " of each religious m ovem ent, for the overall patte rn m aygive to the pheno m eno n very different significance and m ea nin g. 3 3

    In addition to their somew hat on