He is the author of several monographs including Iesus Deus (2014),How the Gospels Became History (2019),and The Evil Creator (2021).[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]
Litwa's early work on deification argued that Paul's soteriology includes transformative participation in the divine life.[13] In Iesus Deus he traced how early Christians depicted Jesus with traits of Mediterranean gods,framing divinization within Greco-Roman religious idioms.[14]How the Gospels Became History analyzes gospel narrative techniques that present mythic episodes as credible history,a study that one reviewer said "nicely blends readability with complexity."[4][15]
His work on transformation,which he calls "becoming angels and demons," situates Christian angelification within wider ancient philosophies of self-transformation.[5] In The Evil Creator he reconstructs how some early Christians,including Marcionites and other alternative groups,read scripture to portray the creator as morally compromised.[6] In a widely cited article he argues that the Beloved Disciple in the Fourth Gospel is a "purely literary character" used for authentication,not a historical eyewitness.[16]
Reception
Reviewers have described his scholarship as "skillful historical and philological inquiry" and "nicely blends readability with complexity," noting both its accessibility and methodological ambition.[17][15]
Alan Kirk described Litwa’s How the Gospels Became History as a ‘original and thought-provoking’study that soundly demonstrates cultural narratives as a factor in the gospel tradition. However,Kirk finds that this does not support Litwa’s conclusion that the gospels are myths historicized,noting the realistic historical complexion the gospels provide and Litwa’s lack of engagement with the Synoptic problem.[18]
Selected works
We Are Being Transformed:Deification in Paul's Soteriology,Berlin,De Gruyter,2012[13]
Iesus Deus:The Early Christian Depiction of Jesus as a Mediterranean God,Minneapolis,Fortress Press,2014[14]
How the Gospels Became History:Jesus and Mediterranean Myths,New Haven,Yale University Press,2019[4]
Posthuman Transformation in Ancient Mediterranean Thought:Becoming Angels and Demons,Cambridge,Cambridge University Press,2021[5]
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