Larry Hurtado Starts a Blog

I'm excited to see that Larry Hurtado, professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, has started his own blog.  His book, Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity, is a masterpiece of Christological scholarship.  If anyone wants to know if the early Church had a high view of Jesus this is must reading.  His scholarship is characterized by careful attention to detail without overplaying the evidence.  Here's just a sample:

"I reiterate the observation that, in terms of the religious scruples of the ancient Jewish tradition, the most striking innovation in earliest Christian circles was to include Christ with God as recipient of cultic devotion.  What could have prompted such a major innovation in the devotional scruples and practices that were inherited from the Jewish tradition?  What might have moved Christian Jews to feel free to offer to Christ this unparalleled cultic devotion?  In light of the characteristic reluctance of devout Jews to accord cultic reverence to any figure other than God, it seems likely that those very early circles who took the step of according Christ such reverence would have done so only if they felt compelled by God.  That is, in these groups there must have been some who experienced what they took to be revelations sent by God that convinced them that obedience to God demanded of them this cultic reverence of Christ." (Emphasis his, 72) 

His blog will warrant frequent visits.  Here's his YouTube feature on How Did Jesus Become a God?