After Jesus before Christianity : a historical exploration of the first two centuries of Jesus movements / Erin Vearncombe, Bernard Brandon Scott, Hal Taussig, for The Westar Christianity Seminar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vearncombe, Erin K., author.

Scott, Bernard Brandon, 1941- author.

Taussig, Hal, author.

Contributor:

Kidd, Sue Monk, writer of foreword.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600.

Church history.

Church history--Primitive and early church.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxii, 342 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

[New York] : HarperOne, [2021]

Summary:

From the creative minds of the scholarly group behind the groundbreaking Jesus Seminar comes this provocative and eye-opening look at the roots of Christianity that offers a thoughtful reconsideration of the first two centuries of the Jesus movement, transforming our understanding of the religion and its early dissemination. Christianity has endured for more than two millennia and is practiced by billions worldwide today. Yet that longevity has created difficulties for scholars tracing the religion's roots, distorting much of the historical investigation into the first two centuries of the Jesus movement. But what if Christianity died in the fourth or fifth centuries after it began? How would that change how historians see and understand its first two hundred years? Considering these questions, three Bible scholars from the Westar Institute summarize the work of the Christianity Seminar and its efforts to offer a new way of thinking about Christianity and its roots. Synthesizing the institute's most recent scholarship--bringing together the many archaeological and textual discoveries over the last twenty years -- they have found : there were multiple Jesus movements, not a singular one, before the fourth century ; there was nothing called Christianity until the third century ; there was much more flexibility and diversity within Jesus's movement before it became centralized in Rome, not only regarding the Bible and religious doctrine, but also understandings of gender, sexuality and morality. Exciting and revolutionary, After Jesus Before Christianity provides fresh insights into the real history behind how the Jesus movement became Christianity.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. The Experiment

2. If Not Christian, What?

pt. I LIVING WITH THE EMPIRE

3. Engine of Empire: Violence

4. Gospel of Empire, Gospel of Jesus

5. Violence in Stone

6. The Deaths of Heroes

pt. II BELONGING AND COMMUNITY

7. Testing Gender, Testing Boundaries

8. Forming New Identities Through Gender

9. Belonging to Israel

10. Experimental Families

11. Join the Club

12. Feasting and Bathing

pt. III REAL VARIETY, FICTIONAL UNITY

13. Inventing Orthodoxy Through Heresy

14. Demolishing Gnosticism

15. Paul Obscured

16. Jesus by Many Other Names

pt. IV FALLING INTO WRITING

17. Hiding in Plain Sight

18. Romancing the Martyr

19. Better than a New Testament?

20. Conclusion.

Notes:

Foreword by Sue Monk Kidd.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9780063062153

0063062151

OCLC:

1281677086