At the Origins of Christian Worship: The Context and Character of Earliest Christian Devotion

by Larry Hurtado

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2000

Overview

This volume makes a valuable contribution to the debate about the origins and development of Christianity. Larry Hurtado argues that understanding the nature of Christianity in the first century requires taking full account of the first Christians’ devotional practices because worship was the context in which christological titles and other expressions of faith were given their specific meaning—a fact that has largely been ignored.

Hurtado focuses on two distinguishing characteristics of the earliest Christian worship: its exclusivity (rejecting the worship of other deities) and its “binitarian” shape (the veneration of Christ alongside God the Father). Setting early Christianity within the religious environment of the Roman era, Hurtado describes the features of Christianity that attracted followers and led them to renounce other religions. He then turns his attention to a more detailed discussion of the place of Christ in the monotheistic worship of the earliest Christians, showing that Christ figured in their public and corporate devotional life at a surprisingly early stage. Hurtado concludes with some reflections for Christian worship today based on the historical features of early Christian devotional practices.

Clear, illuminating, and relevant to the modern church, this volume will be of interest to scholars, pastors, students, and general readers seeking insight into the origins of Christian faith and practice.

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Key Features

• Focuses on two distinguishing characteristics of the earliest Christian worship
• Discusses the place of Christ in the monotheistic worship of the earliest Christians
• Describes the features of Christianity that attracted followers and led them to renounce other religions

Contents

• The Religious Environment
• Features of Early Christian Worship
• The Binitarian Shape of Early Christian Worship
• Reflections for Christian Worship Today

Top Highlights

“In its ancient Roman context, two features in particular characterised and distinguished early Christian worship. First, it was exclusivist, with disdain for the worship of the many deities of the Roman environment, and, secondly, it involved devotion offered exclusively to the God of the Bible and to Christ.” (Page 3)

“In the light of the important role and significance of cult images, we may better appreciate the significance of the honorific references to Christ as the image (eikon) of God (e.g., 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15).” (Page 23)

“We cannot appreciate early Christian worship unless we keep before our eyes the fact that for Gentile Christians it represented a replacement cultus. It was at one and the same time both a religious commitment and a renunciation, a stark and demanding devotional stance with profound repercussions.” (Page 4)

“We shall see that for early Christians their Christian worship gatherings provided alternative opportunities for shared religious experiences and the communal identity that they had formerly found in their pagan religious practices.” (Pages 4–5)

“We Christians worship God in Jesus’ name and through Jesus” (Page 107)

Praise for the Print Edition

This book proves to be pointed and helpful in coming to a greater understanding and appreciation of the origins of Christian worship. I recommend it especially to those wanting to better understand worship’s roots.

—Worship Leader

This brief, scholarly, and readable book considers—as its subtitle accurately puts it—the context and character of early Christian devotion. Larry Hurtado, a leading scholar of evangelical background, seeks to describe the setting in which the earliest Christian worship arose and certain of its features, and then to reflect on issues for contemporary Christian worship.

—Anglican Theological Review

Product Details

• Title: At the Origins of Christian Worship: The Context and Character of Earliest Christian Devotion
• Author: Larry W. Hurtado
• Edition: 3rd
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2000
• Pages: 150
• Christian Group: Evangelicals
• Resource Type: Topical
• Topic: Early Church

About Larry Hurtado

Larry Hurtado is an internationally respected New Testament scholar and is professor of New Testament Language, Literature and Theology at The University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He is an expert of the Gospels (esp. Gospel of Mark), the Apostle Paul, Early Christology, the Jewish Background of the New Testament, New Testament Textual Criticism.