How did a Jewish teacher executed around 30 CE become, within a few centuries, the centre of an elaborate theology defining him as fully divine? This article follows the development from Paul and the Gospels through Marcion, Irenaeus, Arius, Athanasius, Constantine and the great councils of the fourth and fifth centuries.
What happens to the memory of a charismatic teacher after his death? From Jesus to Osho, the growth of institutions, rival interpretations and later doctrines may be less surprising than it first appears.