The author explores earliest Christianity immediately following the execution of Jesus. He establishes the contextual setting by a combination of anthropological, historical, and archaeological approaches. He identifies the textual sources by a literary analysis of the gospels, both inside and outside the New Testament challenging long-standing assumptions about the role of Paul and the meaning of resurrection to forge a new understanding of the birth of the Christian church.

In this national bestseller, John Dominic Crossan, the world's leading expert on the historical Jesus, reveals how Christianity emerged in the period following Jesus' death. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Crossan shines new light on the theological and cultural contexts from which the Christian church arose. He argues powerfully that Christianity would have happened with or without Paul and contends that Jesus' "resurrection" meant something vastly different for his early followers than it does for many traditional Christians today--what mattered was Christina origins finally illuminates the mysterious period that set Western religious history in its decisive course.

Crossan's hypothesis is that Christianity arose out of the interaction of the historical Jesus and his first companions. It was not invented by Paul. This work draws on aspects of social anthropological theory to elucidate the thought processes and human relationships behind the extant sources.

In this national bestseller, John Dominic Crossan, the world's leading expert on the historical Jesus, reveals how Christianity emerged in the period following Jesus' death. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, Crossan shines new light on the theological and cultural contexts from which the Christian church arose. He argues powerfully that Christianity would have happened with or without Paul and contends that Jesus' "resurrection" meant something vastly different for his early followers than it does for many traditional Christians today--what mattered was Christina origins finally illuminates the mysterious period that set Western religious history in its decisive course.

This book attempts to reconstruct what Christianity was in the two decades between Jesus' death and Paul's ministry.