M David Litwa: 4 books
Iesus Deus
The Early Christian Depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean God
Language: English
Release Date: January 4, 2014
What does it mean for Jesus to be “deified” in early Christian literature? Although the divinity of Jesus was a topic of profound and contested discussion in Christianity’s early centuries, believers did not simply assert that Jesus was divine; in their literature, they depicted Jesus with the...
Desiring Divinity
Self-deification in Early Jewish and Christian Mythmaking
Language: English
Release Date: October 3, 2016
Perhaps no declaration incites more theological and moral outrage than a human's claim to be divine. Those who make this claim in ancient Jewish and Christian mythology are typically represented as the most hubristic and dangerous tyrants. Their horrible punishments are predictable and still serve...
Hermetica II
The Excerpts of Stobaeus, Papyrus Fragments, and Ancient Testimonies in an English Translation with Notes and Introduction
Language: English
Release Date: June 30, 2018
This volume presents in new English translations the scattered fragments and testimonies regarding Hermes Thrice Great that complete Brian Copenhaver's translation of the Hermetica (Cambridge, 1992). It contains the twenty-nine fragments from Stobaeus (including the famous Kore Kosmou), the Oxford...
Becoming Divine
An Introduction to Deification in Western Culture
Language: English
Release Date: October 30, 2013
Some have called it the essence of sin, others the depth of salvation. Regardless of one's evaluation of it, however, deification throughout Western history has been a part of human aspiration. From the ancient pharaohs to modern transhumanists, people have envisioned their own divinity. These visionaries...