I have to disagree with Prof. Ehrman on one point in his “How Jesus Became God” book and lecture series. It seems to me that a high Christology (the belief that Jesus is God) was not critical to the spread of Christianity and the conversion of Constantine. A lower Christology, such as Jesus was Son of God (did not exist until immaculate conception) would have sufficed. The thought processes and arguments over a higher Christology were important to church leaders but probably had little impact on the spread of Christianity. I don’t think most folks have too much interest in the fine points of the Christian faith.
I’ve come to this conclusion mostly through interactions with the faithful today. Many people believe in the “Jesus IS God” concept but many other practicing Christians do not. Jeff Siker, in a post a little while ago, indicates a belief where “Jesus trusts in God, even to the point of death”. This indicates a fairly low Christology. For myself, the Trinity concept (which makes no sense) is what initially drove me away from my Catholic upbringing. A lower Christology may have been more palatable.
The real key to the spread and resilience of Christianity seems to be the messages of love and hope that come from writings about Jesus, especially the letters of Paul and the Gospel of John. Without the belief that “Jesus died for our sins” or John 3:16 (which permeates popular culture to a large extent) Christianity would not be very widespread, if even existing at all to this day. The belief that Jesus is God, not so important.
I will agree with you that “Jesus is God” was not necessarily important to the spread of Christianity. I would disagree with you that the concept that “Jesus died for our sins” necessarily was. We must bare in mind that the many Gnostic sects may have been just as or more popular than proto orthodox Christianities. Many of these sects did not necessarily believe that Jesus actually died for our sins but was an apparition, or substituted by another on the cross as Dr. Herman makes very clear in many of his books. Elaine Pagels makes the point that Christianity in general gives an answer to why there is suffering in the world, that is that there is a cosmic spiritual battle going on that is beyond the control or perception of man. This explains why whether the Jews were faithful or not bad things could happen. Christianity provided a solution to this problem. The cosmic battle was beyond his control, but now it was his soul and spirit in the afterlife that was now important. In many of the Gnostic systems Gnosis (knowledge) that one was like God or had a God like spirit was the answer. In proto orthodox traditions a Savior was the means to gain access to a similar “heavenly” afterlife. For whatever reason proto orthodox Christianities gained power and was eventually adopted by the Emperor Constantine and the Gnostic sects were surpassed into virtual extinction by the proto orthodox. These proto orthodox systems of belief included the “Jesus is God and love and hope” belief systems of which we are most familiar with today.
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FreedomBen
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Robert
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