Book Review: After Jesus Before Christianity

 

After Jesus Before Christianity

A Historical Exploration of the First Two Centuries of Jesus Movements

by Erin Vearncombe; Brandon Scott; Hal Taussig; Westar Institute, The

Pub Date 02 Nov 2021 | Archive Date 28 Dec 2021

 HarperOne 

 Christian  |  History  |  Nonfiction (Adult)

I am reviewing a copy of After Jesus Before Christianity through HarperOne and Netgalley:

For over two millennia  Christianity has endured and today it 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 this book asks the questions 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?

Through 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:

Before the fourth century there were several Jesus movements not a singular one, and 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.

I give After Jesus Before Christianity Four out of five stars!

Happy Reading!