Since the beginning of the quest for the historical Jesus, scholars have dismissed the idea that Jesus could have identified himself as God. Such high Christology is frequently depicted as an invention of the councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon, centuries later. Yet recent research has shown that the earliest Jewish followers of Jesus already regarded him as divine.

Brant Pitre tackles this paradox in his bold new monograph. Pitre challenges this widespread assumption and makes a robust case that Jesus did consider himself divine. Carefully explicating the Gospels in the context of Second Temple Judaism, Pitre shows how Jesus used riddles, questions, and scriptural allusions to reveal the apocalyptic secret of his divinity. Moreover, Pitre explains how Jesus acts as if he is divine in both the Synoptics and the Gospel of John. Carefully weighing the historical evidence, Pitre argues that the origins of early high Christology can be traced to the historical Jesus’s words and actions.

Jesus and Divine Christology sheds light on long-neglected yet key evidence that the historical Jesus saw himself as divine. Scholars and students of the New Testament—and anyone curious about the Jewish context of early Christianity—will find Pitre’s argument a necessary and provocative corrective to a critically underexamined topic.

“Too many attempts to explain the advent of early high Christology pay insufficient attention to the historical Jesus. This, as Pitre rightly recognizes, is a huge blunder. The error not only leaves much about early Christianity unexplained but overlooks much in the Synoptics that should count as history. Even if one disagrees with some of his answers, Pitre is asking the right questions and pushing the guild in the right direction.”

~Dale C. Allison Jr., Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament, Princeton Theological Seminary

“Brant Pitre has established himself as the preeminent Catholic historical-Jesus scholar alive today—and indeed as one of the most important Christian thinkers of the twenty-first century. In a series of major works he has taken on such themes as Jesus’s understanding of the eschatological tribulation and the restoration of Israel, Jesus’s understanding of the Eucharist (and of himself as the New Passover Lamb and New Moses), and the meaning of Jesus’s kingdom proclamation. The present book engages perhaps the biggest question of all: did Jesus think of himself not only as human but also as divine? Immensely readable and erudite, this persuasive and brilliant book will be a touchstone for all future studies of this controversial topic.”

~Matthew Levering, James N. Jr. and Mary D. Perry Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary

Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Eerdmans (August 15, 2024)