When Jesus Became God
During my senior year in college Fr. Jerome, later Abbot Jerome, introduced us to historical-critical study of scripture. It was the permission I needed to begin my lifelong quest in search of what’s wrong and what’s right in religion. I’m not satisfied learning something for myself, I want others to know the fascinating truth too. I have read hundreds of books on Christian teaching and its evolvement, none clearer than Richard Rubenstein’s When Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight over Christ’s Divinity in the Last Days of Rome . It reads like a thriller novel, full of suspense and violence, hostile accusations, and surprising plot twists. But these events really happened; they were not contrived for a novel. Here I continue the tale started in the previous post. The first followers of Jesus were mesmerized by his unique teaching and, to use a modern term, his charisma. He seemed to have a privileged connection with God. Like all shamans, he put people in touch with Holiness. Jes...