A History of the First Christians

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Description

This work provides a survey of the history of the earliest Christian church in the period up to the fall of Jerusalem. It concentrates on: the figure of Paul; judicious and critical use of information in the Book of Acts; Judaizing versions of Christianity; and the Johannine tradition. The approach steers a middle way between an over-simplified account which fails to warn students where scholarly opinion is divided, and an in-depth academic study which attempts to document and discuss every hypothesis. Wedderburn focuses on aspects of central importance: the changing shape of church life and developing Christianity in relation to the Roman Empire and to Judaism. This book seeks to draw together and make more readily accessible many new insights gained from an enormous range of recent scholarly studies in German and English, and places them in the context of a more general account.

Reviews

'For some years students have lacked a good textbook on the first decades of Christianity. Professor Wedderburn has now met that lack... He weighs the evidence and the debates with a judicious even-handedness. This is a book which is thoroughly accessible to those with little specialist knowledge, which will provide an authoritative guide to current debates on Christianity's beginnings and which, more important, will give a clearer grasp of the historical complexities of these beginnings.' James D. G. Dunn, Emeritus Lightfoot Professor of Divinity, University of Durham
Review ~ International Review of Biblical Studies, vol 51, 2004/05
Review in German in Theologische Literaturzeitung 131 (2006) * Theologische Literaturzeitung *

Author Bio

Alexander J. M. Wedderburn is Professor of New Testament in the Evangelisch-Theologische Facultat, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich.