Iesus deus
Subtitle: the early Christian depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean god
By: M. David Litwa
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2014
Place of publication: Minneapolis
Language: eng
Number of pages: 281
ISBN-13: 9781451473032; 9781451479850
Copyright date: 2014
Subjects: Primitive and early church; Church history; Person and offices; History of doctrines; Doctrinal Theology; Christology
Other titles: Early Christian depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean god; Jesus deus
Description: "What does it mean for Jesus to be 'deified' in early Christian literature? Early Christians did not simply assert Jesus' divinity; in their literature, they depicted Jesus with the specific and widely recognized traits of Mediterranean deities. Relying on the methods of the history of religions and ranging judiciously across Hellenistic literature, M. David Litwa shows that at each stage in their depiction of Jesus' life and ministry, early Christian writings from the beginning relied on categories drawn not from Judaism alone, but on a wide, pan-Mediterranean understanding of deity."--Publisher's website.
Notes: Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Virginia, 2013.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-277) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: The "deification" of Jesus Christ; title: "Not through semen, surely": Luke and Plutarch on divine birth; title: "From where was this child born?": divine children and the infancy Gospel of Thomas; title: Deus est iuvare: miracle, norals, and euergetism in Origen's contra celsum; title: "Light was that godhead": transfiguration as epiphany; title: "We worship one who rose from his tomb": resurrection and deification; title: The name above every name: Jesus and Greco-Roman theonymy.