Was Jesus Treated as Divine in Early Christianity?

Larry Hurtado

Here is a short summary from Larry Hurtado on the state of play regarding the emergence of the belief in the divinity of Jesus. He dismisses those who say that the emergence of Nicean-type theologising is the beginning of the Christian assertion of Jesus' divinity. He says such a proposition "is actually scarcely defensible".  He says it is really a matter of whether belief in the divinity of Jesus was an eruption very soon after the resurrection (months, perhaps a few years) or whether it takes a few decades of development. He opts for the former, and while I started with the "scarcely defensible" position 30 years ago, I have been moved to the eruption theory (emanating from jerusalem) through the sheer consistency and (theo)logic of the evidence and argument.