Larry W. Hurtado has invested his career in unpacking and expanding this key insight: worship > doctrines. That is, if you want to know what people believe, look at how they worship.

When you look at the early Christian community, you find a people who worship Jesus in all aspects of their devotion:

1. Prayer
2. Invocation
3. Baptism
4. The Lord’s Supper
5. Songs
6. Prophecy

Evidence from these practices demonstrate the following:

First, the cultic veneration of the risen Jesus presumed already as typical of Jewish and gentile circles of the early Jesus movement in Paul’s Letters originated remarkably early. Second, originating in Jewish circles of believers, it constituted a novel and remarkable “mutation” in the devotional pattern otherwise characteristic of Roman-era Jewish tradition. (50)

Hurtado has written many books and articles on this theme—the bibliography at the end of this book lists no less than twenty-seven! In this very small “Snapshot” book (95 pages), Hurtado condenses the trajectory of his entire career into one concise argument.

There is no better way to become acquainted with Hurtado’s work. If you have read Hurtado before, this slim volume puts his career into perspective.

Hurtado, Larry W. Honoring the Son: Jesus in Earliest Christian Devotional Practice. Snapshots. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2018.