Larry W. Hurtado
American New Testament scholar and historian of early Christianity, best known for his influential work on early Christian devotion to Jesus and the origins of Christian worship; he taught at the University of Manitoba and later served as Professor of New Testament Language, Literature and Theology at the University of Edinburgh.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Lord Jesus Christ
Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity
A comprehensive study of the earliest Christian movement, arguing that reverence and cultic devotion to Jesus erupted remarkably early and produced a distinctive, dyadic pattern of worship within Jewish monotheism. Drawing on New Testament texts and early Christian artifacts, it maps practices such as prayer, hymns, and the use of sacred names, showing how belief and worship coalesced into an early high understanding of Jesus’ status. The analysis situates these developments within Second Temple Judaism and the Greco-Roman religious environment and follows their consolidation and debate into the second century.
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2. Destroyer Of The Gods
Early Christian Distinctiveness in the Roman World
A concise study of how early Christian communities in the Roman world forged a distinctive identity that challenged prevailing religious and social norms. It highlights features such as exclusive monotheistic worship centered on Jesus, rejection of idolatry, an unusually bookish culture of texts, ethical rigor, and a trans-ethnic sense of belonging, marking them as a novel kind of movement. It also traces the social costs and cultural impact of these innovations, showing how they reshaped concepts of religion, community, and devotion in antiquity.
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3. The Earliest Christian Artifacts
Manuscripts and Christian Origins
A concise study of the earliest surviving Christian manuscripts as material artifacts, showing how features such as the rapid and distinctive adoption of the codex, the system of nomina sacra, the staurogram, and various reader aids reveal a unique book culture and devotional life. It examines what these physical traits disclose about communal reading practices, scribal habits, textual transmission, and the emerging sense of scripture, arguing that manuscript evidence opens a window onto early Christian identity and devotion to Jesus.
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