Did early Christians believe in the divine potential of humans?
One of the more tactful messages sent to me on this topic follows: “It is blasphemy to think you can become a god when you die. [I am a] member of the Greek Orthodox Church in America. The Orthodox Church is the oldest Christian church in the world. If the early church believed it we do. And we don’t believe … that you can become a God.” Actually, there have been some rather surprising changes in “mainstream” theology over the centuries, especially in terms of doctrine about the divine potential of human beings. In fact, many early Christians believed in theosis, the Greek term meaning deification, conveying the concept that Christians can become like Christ and like God.
