BibleScholar

Cambridge History of Christianity: Volume 1, Origins to Constantine By Margaret M. Mitchell, Frances M. Young, K. Scott Bowie The earliest and most insistent analogy between the way Christ was celebrated and pagan cultic activity is to be found in the use of the language from the ruler-cult tradition, by then associated with the divinization of the Roman emperor, particularly but not solely in Asia Minor. An inscription from Ephesus speaks of Julius Caesar as 'the god made manifest, offspring of Ares and Aphrodite and common saviour of human life'. For Christians, Jesus was God manifest, God's offspring and the Saviour of all. In Pergamum an inscription reads:'Caesar, absolute ruler(autokrator), son of god, the god Augustus, overseer of every land and sea', For Christians, God was the autokrator who oversees everything, seeing even into the hearts of human beings, ultimately their judge, and Jesus was the one who exercised these powers on God's behalf. Inscripti...