Christianity in the 1st century covers the formative

history of Christianity The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, Christian countries, and the Christians with their various denominations, from the 1st century to the present. Christianity originated with the ministry of Jesus, a Jewish te ...

from the start of the

ministry of Jesus The ministry of Jesus, in the canonical gospels, begins with his baptism in the countryside of Roman Judea and Transjordan, near the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and ends in Jerusalem, following the Last Supper with his disciples.''Ch ...

(–29 AD) to the death of the last of the

Twelve Apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

() and is thus also known as the Apostolic Age.

Early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

developed out of the eschatological ministry of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

. Subsequent to Jesus' death, his earliest followers formed an apocalyptic messianic Jewish sect during the late

Second Temple period The Second Temple period in Jewish history lasted approximately 600 years (516 BCE - 70 CE), during which the Second Temple existed. It started with the return to Zion and the construction of the Second Temple, while it ended with the First Je ...

of the 1st century. Initially believing that Jesus' resurrection was the start of the end time, their beliefs soon changed in the expected

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messia ...

of Jesus and the start of

God's Kingdom The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...

at a later point in time.

Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

, a Pharisee Jew who had persecuted the early Jewish Christians,

converted Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series * "The Conversion" ...

–36 and started to proselytize among the

Gentiles Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...

. According to Paul, Gentile converts could be allowed exemption from Jewish commandments, arguing that all are justified by their faith in Jesus. This was part of a gradual split of early Christianity and Judaism, as Christianity became a distinct religion including predominantly Gentile adherence.

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

had an early Christian community, which was led by

James the Just James the Just, or a variation of James, brother of the Lord ( la, Iacobus from he, יעקב, and grc-gre, Ἰάκωβος, , can also be Anglicized as "Jacob"), was "a brother of Jesus", according to the New Testament. He was an early lea ...

, Peter, and

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

. According to Acts 11:26,

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

was where the followers were first called Christians. Peter was later

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed in Rome, the capital of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

. The apostles went on to spread the message of the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

around the classical world and founded

apostolic see An apostolic see is an episcopal see whose foundation is attributed to one or more of the apostles of Jesus or to one of their close associates. In Catholicism the phrase, preceded by the definite article and usually capitalized, refers to the ...

s around the

early centers of Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

. The last apostle to die was John in .

Etymology

Early

Jewish Christians Jewish Christians ( he, יהודים נוצרים, yehudim notzrim) were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD). The Nazarene Jews integrated the belief of Jesus a ...

referred to themselves as "The Way" (), probably coming from Isaiah 40:3, "prepare the way of the Lord."Larry Hurtado (August 17, 2017)
''"Paul, the Pagans’ Apostle"''
/ref>''Sect of “The Way”, “The Nazarenes” & “Christians” : Names given to the Early Church''
/ref> Since, the former was actually a quote of John the Baptizer about Yeshua, Jesus, more likely it connected to Yeshua's (Jesus') own words, declaring Himself the following, saying, "I am the WAY, the Truth, and the Life no one comes to the Father but by Me." (John 14:6) Other Jews also called them "the Nazarenes," while another Jewish-Christian sect called themselves "

Ebionites Ebionites ( grc-gre, Ἐβιωναῖοι, ''Ebionaioi'', derived from Hebrew (or ) ''ebyonim'', ''ebionim'', meaning 'the poor' or 'poor ones') as a term refers to a Jewish Christian sect, which viewed poverty as a blessing, that existed during ...

" (lit. "the poor"). According to Acts 11:26, the term "Christian" () was first used in reference to Jesus's

disciples A disciple is a follower and student of a mentor, teacher, or other figure. It can refer to: Religion * Disciple (Christianity), a student of Jesus Christ * Twelve Apostles of Jesus, sometimes called the Twelve Disciples * Seventy disciples in t ...

in the city of

, meaning "followers of Christ," by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch. The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" () was by

Ignatius of Antioch Ignatius of Antioch (; Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, ''Ignátios Antiokheías''; died c. 108/140 AD), also known as Ignatius Theophorus (, ''Ignátios ho Theophóros'', lit. "the God-bearing"), was an early Christian writer ...

, in around 100 AD.

Origins

Jewish–Hellenistic background

The earliest followers of

were a sect of apocalyptic

within the realm of

Second Temple Judaism Second Temple Judaism refers to the Jewish religion as it developed during the Second Temple period, which began with the construction of the Second Temple around 516 BCE and ended with the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The Second Temple ...

. The early Christian groups were strictly Jewish, such as the

, and the early Christian community in

, led by James the Just, brother of Jesus. Christianity "emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Palestine" in the

syncretist Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, th ...

ic Hellenistic world of the first century AD, which was dominated by Roman law and Greek culture.

Hellenistic culture In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

had a profound impact on the customs and practices of Jews everywhere. The inroads into Judaism gave rise to Hellenistic Judaism in the Jewish diaspora which sought to establish a Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism. Hellenistic Judaism spread to Ptolemaic Egypt from the 3rd century BC, and became a notable '' religio licita'' after the

Roman conquest of Greece Greece in the Roman era describes the Roman conquest of Greece, as well as the period of Greek history when Greece was dominated first by the Roman Republic and then by the Roman Empire. The Roman era of Greek history began with the Corinthian ...

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

Judea Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous Latin, and the modern-day name of the mountainous so ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. During the early first century AD there were many competing Jewish sects in the

Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...

, and those that became

Rabbinic Judaism Rabbinic Judaism ( he, יהדות רבנית, Yahadut Rabanit), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, or Judaism espoused by the Rabbanites, has been the mainstream form of Judaism since the 6th century CE, after the codification of the Babylonia ...

and Proto-orthodox Christianity were but two of these. Philosophical schools included

Pharisees The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs b ...

Sadducees The Sadducees (; he, צְדוּקִים, Ṣədūqīm) were a socio- religious sect of Jewish people who were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. T ...

, and

Zealots The Zealots were a political movement in 1st-century Second Temple Judaism which sought to incite the people of Judea Province to rebel against the Roman Empire and expel it from the Holy Land by force of arms, most notably during the First Jew ...

, but also other less influential sects, including the

Essenes The Essenes (; Hebrew: , ''Isiyim''; Greek: Ἐσσηνοί, Ἐσσαῖοι, or Ὀσσαῖοι, ''Essenoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi'') were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st ce ...

. The first century BC and first century AD saw a growing number of charismatic religious leaders contributing to what would become the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Tor ...

; and the

, which would lead to the emergence of the first Jewish Christian community. A central concern in 1st century Judaism was the covenant with God, and the status of the Jews as the chosen people of God. Many Jews believed that this covenant would be renewed with the coming of the Messiah. Jews believed the Law was given by God to guide them in their worship of the Lord and in their interactions with each other, "the greatest gift God had given his people." The Jewish messiah concept has its root in the

apocalyptic literature Apocalyptic literature is a genre of prophetical writing that developed in post- Exilic Jewish culture and was popular among millennialist early Christians. ''Apocalypse'' ( grc, , }) is a Greek word meaning " revelation", "an unveiling or u ...

of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC, promising a future leader or

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

from the

Davidic line The Davidic line or House of David () refers to the lineage of the Israelite king David through texts in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and through the succeeding centuries. According to the Bible, David, of the Tribe of Judah, was the ...

who is expected to be anointed with

holy anointing oil The holy anointing oil ( he, שמן המשחה, , "oil of anointing") formed an integral part of the ordination of the priesthood and the High Priest as well as in the consecration of the articles of the Tabernacle (Exodus 30:26) and subsequent ...

and rule the Jewish people during the

Messianic Age In Abrahamic religions, the Messianic Age is the future period of time on Earth in which the messiah will reign and bring universal peace and brotherhood, without any evil. Many believe that there will be such an age; some refer to it as the cons ...

and

world to come The world to come, age to come, heaven on Earth, and the Kingdom of God are eschatological phrases reflecting the belief that the current world or current age is flawed or cursed and will be replaced in the future by a better world, age, or ...

. The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah" ( he, מלך משיח, translit=melekh mashiach) or ''malka meshiḥa'' in Aramaic.

Life and ministry of Jesus

Sources

Christian sources, such as the four

canonical gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

, the

Pauline epistles The Pauline epistles, also known as Epistles of Paul or Letters of Paul, are the thirteen books of the New Testament attributed to Paul the Apostle, although the authorship of some is in dispute. Among these epistles are some of the earliest ex ...

, and the

New Testament apocrypha The New Testament apocrypha (singular apocryphon) are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cite ...

, include detailed stories about Jesus, but scholars differ on the historicity of specific episodes described in the Biblical accounts of Jesus. The only two events subject to "almost universal assent" are that Jesus was baptized by

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

and was crucified by the order of the Roman Prefect

Pontius Pilate Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of ...

. States that baptism and crucifixion are "two facts in the life of Jesus command almost universal assent". The Gospels are theological documents, which "provide information the authors regarded as necessary for the religious development of the Christian communities in which they worked." They consist of short passages, '' pericopes'', which the Gospel-authors arranged in various ways as suited their aims. Non-Christian sources that are used to study and establish the historicity of Jesus include Jewish sources such as

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; grc-gre, Ἰώσηπος, ; 37 – 100) was a first-century Romano-Jewish historian and military leader, best known for '' The Jewish War'', who was born in Jerusalem—then part of Roman Judea—to a father of priestly ...

, and Roman sources such as

Tacitus Publius Cornelius Tacitus, known simply as Tacitus ( , ; – ), was a Roman historian and politician. Tacitus is widely regarded as one of the greatest Roman historians by modern scholars. The surviving portions of his two major works—the ...

. These sources are compared to Christian sources such as the Pauline epistles and the

Synoptic Gospels The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose ...

. These sources are usually independent of each other (e.g. Jewish sources do not draw upon Roman sources), and similarities and differences between them are used in the authentication process.

Historical person

There is widespread disagreement among scholars on the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in the gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings. Scholars often draw a distinction between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith, and two different accounts can be found in this regard. Critical scholarship has discounted most of the narratives about Jesus as

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

ary, and the mainstream historical view is that while the gospels include many legendary elements, these are religious elaborations added to the accounts of a historical Jesus who was crucified under the Roman prefect

in the 1st-century Roman province of

. His remaining disciples later believed that he was resurrected.Ehrman, ''The Triumph of Christianity: How a Forbidden religion swept the World'' Academic scholars have constructed a variety of portraits and profiles for Jesus. Contemporary scholarship places Jesus firmly in the Jewish tradition,Theissen, Gerd and Annette Merz. The historical Jesus: a comprehensive guide. Fortress Press. 1998. translated from German (1996 edition) and the most prominent understanding of Jesus is as a Jewish apocalyptic prophet or eschatological teacher. Other portraits are the charismatic healer, the Cynic philosopher, the Jewish Messiah, and the prophet of social change.

Ministry and eschatological expectations

In the

, the ministry of Jesus begins with his baptism in the countryside of

Roman Judea Judaea ( la, Iudaea ; grc, Ἰουδαία, translit=Ioudaíā ) was a Roman province which incorporated the regions of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea from 6 CE, extending over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdom ...

and Transjordan, near the

Jordan River The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...

, and ends in

, following the

Last Supper Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...

with his

. The

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascensi ...

() states that

was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry.''The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown: An Introduction to the New Testament''
by

Andreas J. Köstenberger Andreas Johannes Köstenberger (born November 2, 1957), usually cited as Andreas J. Köstenberger, is Research Professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Until 2018 he was Senior Research Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theolo ...

, L. Scott Kellum 2009 p. 140.

Paul L. Maier Paul L. Maier (born May 31, 1930) is a historian and novelist. He has written several works of scholarly and popular non-fiction about Christianity and novels about Christian historians. He is the former Russell H. Seibert Professor of Ancient H ...

"The Date of the Nativity and Chronology of Jesus" in ''Chronos, kairos, Christos: nativity and chronological studies'' by Jerry Vardaman, Edwin M. Yamauchi 1989 pp. 113–29 A

chronology of Jesus A chronology of Jesus aims to establish a timeline for the events of the life of Jesus. Scholars have correlated Jewish and Greco-Roman documents and astronomical calendars with the New Testament accounts to estimate dates for the major even ...

typically has the date of the start of his ministry estimated at around AD 27–29 and the end in the range AD 30–36. In the

(Matthew, Mark and Luke),

Jewish eschatology Jewish eschatology is the area of Jewish philosophy, Jewish theology concerned with events that will happen in the Eschatology, end of days and related concepts. This includes the ingathering of the exiled Jewish diaspora, diaspora, the coming ...

stands central. After being baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus teaches extensively for a year, or maybe just a few months, about the coming

Kingdom of God The concept of the kingship of God appears in all Abrahamic religions, where in some cases the terms Kingdom of God and Kingdom of Heaven are also used. The notion of God's kingship goes back to the Hebrew Bible, which refers to "his kingdom" ...

(or, in Matthew, the

Kingdom of Heaven Kingdom of Heaven may refer to: Religious * Kingdom of Heaven (Gospel of Matthew) ** Kingship and kingdom of God, or simply Kingdom of God, the phrase used in the other gospels * Kingdom of Heaven (Daviesite), a schismatic sect, founded by Wil ...

), in

aphorism An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by ...

s and

parable A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...

s, using

simile A simile () is a figure of speech that directly ''compares'' two things. Similes differ from other metaphors by highlighting the similarities between two things using comparison words such as "like", "as", "so", or "than", while other metaphors c ...

s and

figures of speech A figure of speech or rhetorical figure is a word or phrase that intentionally deviates from ordinary language use in order to produce a rhetorical effect. Figures of speech are traditionally classified into '' schemes,'' which vary the ordinary ...

. In the Gospel of John, Jesus himself is the main subject. The Synoptics present different views on the Kingdom of God. While the Kingdom is essentially described as eschatological (relating to the end of the world), becoming reality in the near future, some texts present the Kingdom as already being present, while other texts depict the Kingdom as a place in heaven that one enters after death, or as the presence of God on earth.. Jesus talks as expecting the coming of the " Son of Man" from heaven, an apocalyptic figure who would initiate "the coming judgment and the redemption of Israel." According to Davies, the

Sermon on the Mount The Sermon on the Mount ( anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It ...

presents Jesus as the new Moses who brings a New Law (a reference to the

Law of Moses The Law of Moses ( he, תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה ), also called the Mosaic Law, primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The law revealed to Moses by God. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew ...

, the Messianic Torah.

Death and resurrection

Jesus' life was ended by his execution by crucifixion. His early followers believed that three days after his death, Jesus rose bodily from the dead. Paul's letters and the Gospels contain reports of a number of post-resurrection appearances. Progressively, Jewish scriptures were reexamined in light of Jesus's teachings to explain the crucifixion and visionary post-mortem experiences of Jesus, and the resurrection of Jesus "signalled for earliest believers that the days of eschatological fulfilment were at hand."Larry Hurtado (December 4, 2018)
{{"'When Christians were Jews": Paula Fredriksen on "The First Generation{{'"
/ref> Some New Testament accounts were understood not as mere visionary experiences, but rather as real appearances in which those present are told to touch and see. The resurrection of Jesus gave the impetus in certain Christian sects to the exaltation of Jesus to the status of divine Son and Lord of

{{sfn, Ehrman, 2014, pp=109–10 and the resumption of their missionary activity. His followers expected Jesus to return within a generation and begin the Kingdom of God.{{r, group=web, "EB.Sanders.Pelikan.Jesus"

Apostolic Age

{{Main, Acts of the Apostles, Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles Traditionally, the period from the death of Jesus until the death of the last of the

is called the Apostolic Age, after the missionary activities of the apostles.{{sfn, Franzen, 1988, p=20 According to the

Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...

the Jerusalem church began at

Pentecost Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers ...

with some 120 believers, in an "upper room," believed by some to be the

Cenacle The Cenacle (from the Latin , "dining room"), also known as the Upper Room (from the Koine Greek and , both meaning "upper room"), is a room in Mount Zion in Jerusalem, just outside the Old City walls, traditionally held to be the site o ...

, where the apostles received the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

and emerged from hiding following the death and resurrection of Jesus to preach and spread his message.{{sfn, Vidmar, 2005, pp=19–20Schreck, ''The Essential Catholic Catechism'' (1999), p. 130 The New Testament writings depict what orthodox Christian churches call the

Great Commission In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission is outlined in Matthew 28:16– 20, where on a mountain i ...

, an event where they describe the resurrected Jesus Christ instructing his

to spread his eschatological message of the coming of the Kingdom of God to all the

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by th ...

s of the world. The most famous version of the Great Commission is in Matthew 28 ({{bibleref2, Matthew, 28:16–20), where on a mountain in

Galilee Galilee (; he, הַגָּלִיל, hagGālīl; ar, الجليل, al-jalīl) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon. Galilee traditionally refers to the mountainous part, divided into Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and Lower Gali ...

Jesus calls on his followers to make disciples of and

baptize Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

all nations in the name of the

Father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. An adoptive fathe ...

, the

Son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some curren ...

, and the

.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced Paul's conversion on the Road to Damascus is first recorded in Acts 9 ({{bibleverse, , Acts, 9:13–16). Peter

d the Roman

centurion Cornelius Cornelius ( el, Κορνήλιος, translit=Kornélios; la, Cornelius) was a Roman centurion who is considered by Christians to be the first Gentile to convert to the faith, as related in Acts of the Apostles (see Ethiopian eunuch for the com ...

, traditionally considered the first Gentile convert to Christianity, in {{bibleverse, Acts, , 10. Based on this, the Antioch church was founded. It is also believed that it was Antioch where the name

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...

was first used.

Jewish Christianity

{{Main, Jewish Christian {{See also, Early Christianity, Biblical law in Christianity After the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christianity first emerged as a sect of Judaism as practiced in the Roman province of Judea.{{sfn, Burkett, 2002, p=3 The first Christians were all

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, who constituted a

Second Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

Jewish sect with an apocalyptic

eschatology Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...

. Among other schools of thought, some Jews regarded Jesus as

Lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the Peerage ...

and resurrected

messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

, and the eternally existing Son of God,{{sfn, McGrath, 2006, p=174{{sfn, Cohen, 1987, pp=167–68{{refn, group=note, According to

Shaye J.D. Cohen Shaye J. D. Cohen (born October 21, 1948) is a modern scholar of Hebrew Bible. Currently he is the Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of Harvard University. Backgro ...

, Jesus's failure to establish an independent Israel, and his death at the hands of the Romans, caused many Jews to reject him as the Messiah.{{sfn, Cohen, 1987, p=168 Jews at that time were expecting a military leader as a Messiah, such as Bar Kohhba. expecting the

second coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messia ...

of Jesus and the start of

. They pressed fellow Jews to prepare for these events and to follow "the way" of the Lord. They believed

Yahweh Yahweh *''Yahwe'', was the national god of ancient Israel and Judah. The origins of his worship reach at least to the early Iron Age, and likely to the Late Bronze Age if not somewhat earlier, and in the oldest biblical literature he po ...

to be the only true God, the god of Israel, and considered Jesus to be the

(

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label= Hebrew/ Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and relig ...

), as prophesied in the Jewish scriptures, which they held to be authoritative and sacred. They held faithfully to the Torah,{{refn, group=note, Perhaps also

Jewish law ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...

which was being formalized at the same time including acceptance of Gentile converts based on a version of the

Noachide laws In Judaism, the Seven Laws of Noah ( he, שבע מצוות בני נח, ''Sheva Mitzvot B'nei Noach''), otherwise referred to as the Noahide Laws or the Noachian Laws (from the Hebrew pronunciation of "Noah"), are a set of universal moral law ...

.{{refn, group=note, {{bibleverse, , Acts, 15 and {{bibleverse, , Acts, 21

The Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''

{{Main, Jerusalem in Christianity {{See also, Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles The

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chris ...

and

Epistle to the Galatians The Epistle to the Galatians is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Scholars have suggested that this is either the Roman province of Galatia in southe ...

record that an early Jewish Christian community{{refn, group=note, Hurtado: "She refrains from referring to this earliest stage of the "Jesus-community" as early "Christianity" and {{sic, comprised , hide=y, of "churches," as the terms carry baggage of later developments of "organized institutions, and of a religion separate from, different from, and hostile to Judaism" (185). So, instead, she renders ekklēsia as "assembly" (quite appropriately in my view, reflecting the quasi-official connotation of the term, often both in the LXX and in wider usage)." centered on Jerusalem, and that its leaders reportedly included Peter, James, the brother of Jesus, and

John the Apostle John the Apostle ( grc, Ἰωάννης; la, Ioannes ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ;) or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebede ...

. The Jerusalem community "held a central place among all the churches," as witnessed by Paul's writings.{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, p=160 Reportedly legitimised by Jesus' appearance, Peter was the first leader of the Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''.{{sfn, Pagels, 2005, p=45{{sfn, Lüdemann, Özen, 1996, p=116 Peter was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord,"{{sfn, Pagels, 2005, pp=45–46{{sfn, Lüdemann, Özen, 1996, pp=116–17 which may explain why the early texts contain scant information about Peter.{{sfn, Lüdemann, Özen, 1996, pp=116–17 According to Lüdemann, in the discussions about the strictness of adherence to the Jewish Law, the more conservative faction of James the Just gained the upper hand over the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence.{{sfn, Lüdemann, Özen, 1996, pp=116–17 According to Dunn, this was not an "usurpation of power," but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities. The

relatives of Jesus Relatives can refer to: * Kinship * ''Relatives'' (1985 film), a 1985 Australian movie * ''Relatives'' (2006 film), a 2006 Hungarian movie * "Relatives", a song by Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; ...

were generally accorded a special position within this community,{{sfn, Taylor, 1993, p=224 which also contributed to the ascendancy of James the Just in Jerusalem.{{sfn, Taylor, 1993, p=224 According to a tradition recorded by

Eusebius Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Chris ...

and

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφάνιος; c. 310–320 – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by both the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Churches. He ...

, the Jerusalem church fled to Pella at the outbreak of the

First Jewish–Roman War The First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE), sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt ( he, המרד הגדול '), or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire, fought in Roman-controlled ...

(AD 66–73). The Jerusalem community consisted of "Hebrews," Jews speaking both Aramaic and Greek, and "Hellenists," Jews speaking only Greek, possibly diaspora Jews who had resettled in Jerusalem.{{sfn, Dunn, 2009, pp=246–47 According to Dunn, Paul's initial persecution of Christians probably was directed against these Greek-speaking "Hellenists" due to their anti-Temple attitude.{{sfn, Dunn, 2009, p=277 Within the early Jewish Christian community, this also set them apart from the "Hebrews" and their

Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

observance.{{sfn, Dunn, 2009, p=277

Beliefs and practices

Creeds and salvation

{{Main, Salvation in Christianity The sources for the beliefs of the apostolic community include

oral traditions Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

(which included sayings attributed to Jesus, parables and teachings),{{sfn, Burkett, 2002 the Gospels, the New Testament

epistles An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...

and possibly lost texts such as the

Q source The Q source (also called Q document(s), Q Gospel, or Q; from german: Quelle, meaning "source") is a hypothetical written collection of primarily Jesus' sayings (λόγια : ). Q is part of the common material found in the Gospels of Matthew ...

and the writings of Papias. The texts contain the earliest Christian creeds{{sfn, Cullmann, 1949, p={{pn, date=February 2022 expressing belief in the resurrected Jesus, such as {{bibleverse, 1, Corinthians, 15:3–41:{{sfn, Neufeld, 1964, p=47 {{Blockquote, For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,{{refn, group=note, name="third day", Se
''Why was Resurrection on “the Third Day”? Two Insights''
for explanations on the phrase "third day." According to Pinchas Lapide, "third day" may refer to {{bibleref2, Hosea, 6:1–2:

"Come, let us return to the Lord;
for he has torn us, that he may heal us;
he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will raise us up,
that we may live before him."

See also {{bibleref2, 2 Kings, 20:8: "Hezekiah said to Isaiah, 'What shall be the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord on the third day?'" and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.{{cite web , website=oremus Bible Browser , url=http://bible.oremus.org/?passage=1+Corinthians+15:3%E2%80%9315:41&version=nrsv , title=1 Corinthians ''15:3–15:41'' The creed has been dated by some scholars as originating within the Jerusalem apostolic community no later than the 40s,{{sfn, O'Collins, 1978, p=112{{sfn, Hunter, 1973, p=100 and by some to less than a decade after Jesus' death,{{sfn, Pannenberg, 1968, p=90{{sfn, Cullmann, 1966, p=66 while others date it to about 56. Other early creeds include 1 John 4 ({{bibleverse, 1, John, 4:2),

2 Timothy 2 2 Timothy 2 is the second chapter of the Second Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The letter has been traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle, the last one written in Rome before his death (c. 64 or 67), addres ...

({{bibleverse, 2, Timothy, 2:8)

Romans 1 Romans 1 is the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It is authored by Paul the Apostle, while he was in Corinth in the mid-50s AD, with the help of an amanuensis (secretary), Tertius, who ...

({{bibleverse, , Romans, 1:3–4){{sfn, Pannenberg, 1968, pp=118, 283, 367 and

1 Timothy 3 1 Timothy 3 is the third chapter of the First Epistle to Timothy in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author was traditionally identified as Paul the Apostle since as early as AD 180,Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible P ...

({{bibleverse, 1, Timothy, 3:16).

Christology

{{Main, Christology Two fundamentally different Christologies developed in the early Church, namely a "low" or

adoptionist Adoptionism, also called dynamic monarchianism, is an early Christian nontrinitarian theological doctrine, which holds that Jesus was adopted as the Son of God at his baptism, his resurrection, or his ascension. How common adoptionist vie ...

Christology, and a "high" or "incarnation Christology."{{sfn, Ehrman, 2014, p=125 The chronology of the development of these early Christologies is a matter of debate within contemporary scholarship.{{sfn, Loke, 2017{{sfn, Ehrman, 2014{{sfn, Talbert, 2011, pp=3–6Larry Hurtado
''The Origin of “Divine Christology”?''
/ref> The "low Christology" or "adoptionist Christology" is the belief "that God exalted Jesus to be his Son by raising him from the dead,"{{sfn, Ehrman, 2014, pp=120, 122 thereby raising him to "divine status."{{cite web, last1=Ehrman, first1=Bart D., author-link1=Bart D. Ehrman, title=Incarnation Christology, Angels, and Paul , url=https://ehrmanblog.org/incarnation-christology-angels-and-paul-for-members/, website=The Bart Ehrman Blog, access-date=May 2, 2018, date=February 14, 2013 According to the "evolutionary model"{{sfn, Netland, 2001, p=175 c.q. "evolutionary theories,"{{sfn, Loke, 2017, p=3 the Christological understanding of Christ developed over time,{{sfn, Mack, 1995, p={{pn, date=February 2022 {{sfn, Ehrman, 2003Bart Ehrman, ''How Jesus became God'', Course Guide as witnessed in the Gospels,{{sfn, Ehrman, 2014 with the earliest Christians believing that Jesus was a human who was exalted, c.q.

adopted Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

as God's Son,{{sfn, Loke, 2017, pp=3–4{{sfn, Talbert, 2011, p=3 when he was resurrected. Later beliefs shifted the exaltation to his baptism, birth, and subsequently to the idea of his eternal existence, as witnessed in the Gospel of John. This evolutionary model was very influential, and the "low Christology" has long been regarded as the oldest Christology.{{sfn, Bird, 2017, pp=ix, xi{{sfn, Ehrman, 2014, p=132{{refn, group=note, Ehrman:
* "The earliest Christians held exaltation Christologies in which the human being Jesus was made the Son of God—for example, at his resurrection or at his baptism—as we examined in the previous chapter."{{sfn, Ehrman, 2014, p=132
* Here I’ll say something about the oldest Christology, as I understand it. This was what I earlier called a “low” Christology. I may end up in the book describing it as a “Christology from below” or possibly an “exaltation” Christology. Or maybe I’ll call it all three things ..Along with lots of other scholars, I think this was indeed the earliest Christology.Bart Ehrman (6 Feb. 2013)
''The Earliest Christology''
/ref> The other early Christology is "high Christology," which is "the view that Jesus was a pre-existent divine being who became a human, did the Father’s will on earth, and then was taken back up into heaven whence he had originally come,"{{sfn, Ehrman, 2014, p=122 and from where he appeared on earth. According to Hurtado, a proponent of an Early High Christology, the devotion to Jesus as divine originated in early Jewish Christianity, and not later or under the influence of pagan religions and Gentile converts.{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, p=650 The Pauline letters, which are the earliest Christian writings, already show "a well-developed pattern of Christian devotion ..already conventionalized and apparently uncontroversial."{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, p=155 Some Christians began to worship Jesus as a Lord.{{sfn, Dunn, 2005{{explain, date=February 2020

Eschatological expectations

{{Main, Jewish eschatology, Christian eschatology, Second coming Ehrman and other scholars believe that Jesus' early followers expected the immediate installment of the Kingdom of God, but that as time went on without this occurring, it led to a change in beliefs.{{sfn, Fredriksen, 2018Bart Ehrmann (June 4, 2016)
''Were Jesus’ Followers Crazy? Was He?''
/ref> In time, the belief that Jesus' resurrection signaled the imminent coming of the Kingdom of God changed into a belief that the resurrection confirmed the Messianic status of Jesus, and the belief that Jesus would return at some indeterminate time in the future, the

, heralding the expected endtime.{{sfn, Fredriksen, 2018 When the Kingdom of God did not arrive, Christians' beliefs gradually changed into the expectation of an immediate reward in heaven after death, rather than to a future divine kingdom on Earth, despite the churches' continuing to use the major creeds' statements of belief in a coming resurrection day and

.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced

Angels and Devils

Coming from a Jewish background, early Christians believed in

angels In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...

(derived from the Greek word for "messengers").{{Cite book , last=Hitchcock , first=James , url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/796754060 , title=History of the Catholic Church : from the Apostolic Age to the Third Millennium , date=2012 , publisher=Ignatius Press , isbn=978-1-58617-664-8 , pages=23 , oclc=796754060 Specifically, early Christians wrote in the New Testament books that angels "heralded Jesus' birth, Resurrection, and Ascension; ministered to Him while He was on Earth; and sing the praises of God through all eternity." Early Christians also believed that protecting angels—assigned to each nation and even to each individual—would herald the

, lead the saints into

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in para ...

, and cast the damned into

Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an entity in the Abrahamic religions that seduces humans into sin or falsehoo ...

("the adversary"), similar to descriptions in the Old Testament, appears in the New Testament "to accuse men of sin and to test their fidelity, even to the point of tempting Jesus."

Practices

The Book of Acts reports that the early followers continued daily

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

attendance and traditional Jewish home prayer, Jewish

liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

, a set of scriptural readings adapted from

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wor ...

practice, and use of

sacred music Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...

in hymns and prayer. Other passages in the New Testament gospels reflect a similar observance of traditional Jewish piety such as

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

,{{cite web, url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=222&letter=B&search=Baptism, title=Baptism , website=jewishencyclopedia.com

fasting Fasting is the abstention from eating and sometimes drinking. From a purely physiological context, "fasting" may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight (see " Breakfast"), or to the metabolic state achieved after ...

, reverence for the

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

, and observance of

Jewish holy days Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' ( he, ימים טובים, , Good Days, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed in Judaism and by JewsThis article focuses on practices of mainstre ...

.{{sfn, White, 2004, p=127{{sfn, Ehrman, 2005, p=187

Baptism

{{main, Baptism in early Christianity Early Christian beliefs regarding baptism probably predate the New Testament writings. It seems certain that numerous Jewish sects and certainly Jesus's disciples practised baptism.

had baptized many people, before baptisms took place in the name of Jesus Christ. Paul likened baptism to being buried with Christ in his death.{{refn, group=note, Romans 6:3–4; Colossians 2:12

Communal meals and Eucharist

{{Main, Agape feast, Eucharist Early Christian rituals included communal meals.{{cite book, last=Coveney, first=John, title=Food, Morals and Meaning: The Pleasure and Anxiety of Eating, date=2006, publisher=Routledge, language=en, isbn=978-1134184484, page=74, quote=For the early Christians, the ''agape'' signified the importance of fellowship. It was a ritual to celebrate the joy of eating, pleasure and company.{{cite book, last=Burns , first=Jim, title=Uncommon Youth Parties, date=2012, publisher=Gospel Light Publications, language=en, isbn=978-0830762132, page=37, quote=During the days of the Early Church, the believers would all gather together to share what was known as an agape feast, or "love feast." Those who could afford to bring food brought it to the feast and shared it with the other believers. The

Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

was often a part of the Lovefeast, but between the latter part of the 1st century AD and 250 AD the two became separate rituals.{{cite book, last1=Walls, first1=Jerry L., last2=Collins, first2=Kenneth J., title=Roman but Not Catholic: What Remains at Stake 500 Years after the Reformation, date=2010, publisher=

Baker Academic Baker Publishing Group is a Christian book publisher that discusses historic Christian happenings for its evangelical readers. It is based in Ada, Michigan and has six subdivisions: namely Bethany House, Revell, Baker Books, Baker Academic, Cho ...

, language=en, isbn=978-1493411740, page=169, quote=So strong were the overtones of the Eucharist as a meal of fellowship that in its earliest practice it often took place in concert with the Agape feast. By the latter part of the first century, however, as Andrew McGowan points out, this conjoined communal banquet was separated into "a morning sacramental ritual nd aprosaic communal supper."{{cite book, last=Davies, first=Horton, title=Bread of Life and Cup of Joy: Newer Ecumenical Perspectives on the Eucharist, date=1999, publisher= Wipf & Stock Publishers, isbn=978-1579102098, page=18 , quote=Agape (love feast), which ultimately became separate from the Eucharist...{{cite book, last=Daughrity, first=Dyron, title=Roots: Uncovering Why We Do What We Do in Church , date=2016 , publisher=ACU Press, language=en, isbn=978-0891126010, page=77, quote=Around AD 250 the lovefeast and Eucharist seem to separate, leaving the Eucharist to develop outside the context of a shared meal. Thus, in modern times the Lovefeast refers to a Christian ritual meal distinct from the Lord's Supper.{{cite dictionary , place=Oxford , title=Dictionary of the Christian Church , publisher=Oxford University Press , year=2005 , isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 , entry=agape

Liturgy

During the first three centuries of Christianity, the

Liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

ritual was rooted in the Jewish

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. ...

Siddur A siddur ( he, סִדּוּר ; plural siddurim ) is a Jewish prayer book containing a set order of daily prayers. The word comes from the Hebrew root , meaning 'order.' Other terms for prayer books are ''tefillot'' () among Sephardi Jews, '' ...

, Seder, and

services, including the singing of

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn ...

s (especially the

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

) and reading from the scriptures.{{cite web, url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=475&letter=L&search=Liturgy#1418, title=Liturgy , website=jewishencyclopedia.com Most early Christians did not own a copy of the works (some of which were still being written) that later became the

Christian Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

or other church works accepted by some but not canonized, such as the writings of the

Apostolic Fathers The Apostolic Fathers, also known as the Ante-Nicene Fathers, were core Christian theologians among the Church Fathers who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD who are believed to have personally known some of the Twelve Apostles or to have ...

, or other works today called

. Similar to Judaism, much of the original church

services functioned as a means of learning these scriptures, which initially centered around the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

and the Targums.{{cite book , editor1-last=Salvesen , editor1-first=Alison G , editor2-last=Law , editor2-first=Timothy Michael , title=The Oxford Handbook of the Septuagint , date=2021 , publisher=Oxford University Press , location=Oxford , isbn=978-0199665716 , page=22 At first, Christians continued to worship alongside Jewish believers, but within twenty years of Jesus' death, Sunday (the Lord's Day) was being regarded as the primary day of worship.{{sfn, Davidson, 2005, p=115

Emerging church – mission to the Gentiles

{{See also, Proto-orthodox Christianity With the start of their missionary activity, early Jewish Christians also started to attract proselytes, Gentiles who were fully or partly

converted to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( he, גיור, ''giyur'') is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. ...

.{{sfn, Dunn, 2009, p=297{{refn, group=note, name="proselyte
Catholic Encyclopedia: Proselyte
"The English term "proselyte" occurs only in the New Testament where it signifies a convert to the Jewish religion ({{bibleverse, , Matthew, 23:15, NAB; {{bibleverse, , Acts, 2:11, NAB; {{bibleverse-nb, , Acts, 6:5, NAB; etc.), though the same Greek word is commonly used in the

to designate a foreigner living in

. The term seems to have passed from an original local and chiefly political sense, in which it was used as early as 300 BC, to a technical and religious meaning in the Judaism of the New Testament epoch."

Growth of early Christianity

{{See also, Great Commission, Early centers of Christianity

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

ary activity spread "the Way" and slowly created

with Gentile adherents in the predominantly

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

-speaking eastern half of the Roman Empire, and then throughout the

Hellenistic In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...

world and even beyond the

.{{sfn, Vidmar, 2005, pp=19–20{{sfn, Bokenkotter, 2004, p=18{{sfn, Franzen, 1988, p=29{{refn, group=note, Ecclesiastical historian Henry Hart Milman writes that in much of the first three centuries, even in the Latin-dominated western empire: "the Church of Rome, and most, if not all the Churches of the West, were, if we may so speak, Greek religious colonies ee_Greek_colonies_for_the_background.html" ;"title="Greek_colonies.html" ;"title="ee Greek colonies">ee Greek colonies for the background">Greek_colonies.html" ;"title="ee Greek colonies">ee Greek colonies for the background Their language was Greek, their organization Greek, their writers Greek, their scriptures Greek; and many vestiges and traditions show that their ritual, their Liturgy, was Greek."{{cite web, url=http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-orthodox-history.asp, title=Greek Orthodoxy – From Apostolic Times to the Present Day, work=ellopos.net Early Christian beliefs were proclaimed in ''kerygma'' (preaching), some of which are preserved in

scripture. The early Gospel message spread orally, probably originally in

Aramaic The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated i ...

,{{sfn, Ehrman, 2012, pp=87–90 but almost immediately also in

. A process of

cognitive dissonance In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information, and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environmen ...

reduction may have contributed to intensive missionary activity, convincing others of the developing beliefs, reducing the cognitive dissonance created by the delay of the coming of the endtime. Due to this missionary zeal, the early group of followers grew larger despite the failing expectations.Bart Ehrmann (June 4, 2016)
''Were Jesus’ Followers Crazy? Was He?''
/ref> The scope of the Jewish-Christian mission expanded over time. While Jesus limited his message to a Jewish audience in Galilee and Judea, after his death his followers extended their outreach to all of Israel, and eventually the whole Jewish diaspora, believing that the Second Coming would only happen when all Jews had received the Gospel.{{sfn, Fredriksen, 2018 Apostles and preachers traveled to

Jewish communities Jewish ethnic divisions refer to many distinctive communities within the world's ethnically Jewish population. Although considered a self-identifying ethnicity, there are distinct ethnic subdivisions among Jews, most of which are primarily the ...

around the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

, and initially attracted Jewish converts.{{sfn, Bokenkotter, 2004, p=18 Within 10 years of the death of Jesus, apostles had attracted enthusiasts for "the Way" from

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built i ...

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part ...

Thessalonica Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

and Rome.{{sfn, Duffy, 2015, p=3{{sfn, Vidmar, 2005, pp=19–20{{sfn, Bokenkotter, 2004, p=18 Over 40 churches were established by 100,Hitchcock, ''Geography of Religion'' (2004), p. 281{{sfn, Bokenkotter, 2004, p=18 most in

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, such as the

seven churches of Asia The Seven Churches of Revelation, also known as the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse and the Seven Churches of Asia, are seven major Churches of Early Christianity, as mentioned in the New Testament Book of Revelation. All of them are located in ...

, and some in

Greece in the Roman era Greece in the Roman era describes the Roman conquest of Greece, as well as the period of Greek history when Greece was dominated first by the Roman Republic and then by the Roman Empire. The Roman era of Greek history began with the Corinthian ...

and

Roman Italy Roman Italy (called in both the Latin and Italian languages referring to the Italian Peninsula) was the homeland of the ancient Romans and of the Roman empire. According to Roman mythology, Italy was the ancestral home promised by Jupiter to ...

.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced According to Fredriksen, when early Christians broadened their missionary efforts, they also came into contact with Gentiles attracted to the Jewish religion. Eventually, the Gentiles came to be included in the missionary effort of Hellenised Jews, bringing "all nations" into the house of God.{{sfn, Fredriksen, 2018 The "Hellenists," Greek-speaking diaspora Jews belonging to the early Jerusalem Jesus-movement, played an important role in reaching a Gentile, Greek audience, notably at Antioch, which had a large Jewish community and significant numbers of Gentile "God-fearers."{{sfn, Dunn, 2009, p=297 From Antioch, the mission to the Gentiles started, including Paul's, which would fundamentally change the character of the early Christian movement, eventually turning it into a new, Gentile religion.{{sfn, Dunn, 2009, p=302 According to Dunn, within 10 years after Jesus' death, "the new messianic movement focused on Jesus began to modulate into something different ... it was at Antioch that we can begin to speak of the new movement as 'Christianity'."{{sfn, Dunn, 2009, p=308 Christian groups and congregations first organized themselves loosely. In Paul's time{{when, date=February 2020 there were no precisely delineated territorial jurisdictions for

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, elders, and

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

s. Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985.{{refn, group=note, Despite its mention of bishops, there is no clear evidence in the New Testament that supports the concepts of dioceses and monepiscopacy, i.e. the rule that all the churches in a geographic area should be ruled by a single bishop. According to Ronald Y. K. Fung, scholars point to evidence that Christian communities such as Rome had many bishops, and that the concept of monepiscopacy was still emerging when Ignatius was urging his tri-partite structure on other churches. {{See also, Apostolic see, Seven deacons

Paul and the inclusion of Gentiles

{{Main, Paul the Apostle

Conversion

{{Main, Conversion of Paul Paul's influence on Christian thinking is said to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author.{{sfn, Cross, Livingstone, 2005, loc="Paul" According to the New Testament, Saul of Tarsus first persecuted the early

Jewish Christian Jewish Christians ( he, יהודים נוצרים, yehudim notzrim) were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Judea during the late Second Temple period (first century AD). The Nazarene Jews integrated the belief of Jesus ...

s, but then

. He adopted the name Paul and started proselytizing among the

Gentile Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...

s, calling himself "Apostle to the Gentiles." Paul was in contact with the early Christian community in

, led by

.{{sfn, Mack, 1997, p={{pn, date=February 2022 According to Mack, he may have been converted to another early strand of Christianity, with a High Christology.{{sfn, Mack, 1997, p=109 Fragments of their beliefs in an exalted and deified Jesus, what Mack called the "Christ cult," can be found in the writings of Paul.{{sfn, Mack, 1997, p={{pn, date=February 2022 {{refn, group=note, According to Mack, "Paul was converted to a Hellenized form of some Jesus movement that had already developed into a Christ cult. ..Thus his letters serve as documentation for the Christ cult as well." Yet, Hurtado notes that Paul valued the linkage with "Jewish Christian circles in Roman Judea," which makes it likely that his Christology was in line with, and indebted to, their views.{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, pp=156–157 Hurtado further notes that " is widely accepted that the tradition that Paul recites in 1 Corinthians 15:1-7 must go back to the Jerusalem Church."{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, p=168

Inclusion of Gentiles

Broad overview of geography relevant to paul of tarsus

{{Main, Paul the Apostle and Judaism, New Perspective on Paul, Pauline Christianity {{See also, Circumcision in the Bible Paul was responsible for bringing Christianity to

Philippi Philippi (; grc-gre, Φίλιπποι, ''Philippoi'') was a major Greek city northwest of the nearby island, Thasos. Its original name was Crenides ( grc-gre, Κρηνῖδες, ''Krenides'' "Fountains") after its establishment by Thasian colo ...

, and

.{{sfn, Cross, Livingstone, 2005, pp=1243–1245{{better source needed, date=February 2020 According to

Larry Hurtado Larry Weir Hurtado, (December 29, 1943 – November 25, 2019), was an American New Testament scholar, historian of early Christianity, and Emeritus Professor of New Testament Language, Literature, and Theology at the University of Edinburgh ( ...

, "Paul saw Jesus' resurrection as ushering in the eschatological time foretold by biblical prophets in which the pagan 'Gentile' nations would turn from their idols and embrace the one true God of Israel (e.g., {{bibleref2, Zechariah, 8:20–23), and Paul saw himself as specially called by God to declare God's eschatological acceptance of the Gentiles and summon them to turn to God." According to

Krister Stendahl Krister Olofson Stendahl (21 April 1921 – 15 April 2008) was a Swedish theologian, New Testament scholar, and Church of Sweden Bishop of Stockholm. He also served as dean, professor, and professor emeritus at Harvard Divinity School. Life ...

, the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role and salvation by faith is not the individual conscience of human sinners and their doubts about being chosen by God or not, but the main concern is the problem of the inclusion of Gentile (Greek) Torah-observers into God's covenant.{{sfn, Stendahl, 1963{{sfn, Dunn, 1982, p=n.49{{sfn, Finlan, 2004, p=2Stephen Westerholm (2015)
''The New Perspective on Paul in Review''
Direction, Spring 2015 · Vol. 44 No. 1 · pp. 4–15 The inclusion of Gentiles into early Christianity posed a problem for the Jewish identity of some of the early Christians:{{sfn, Bokenkotter, 2004, pp=19–21{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, pp=162–165{{sfn, McGrath, 2006, pp=174–175 the new Gentile converts were not required to be

circumcised Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. Topic ...

nor to observe the

Mosaic Law The Law of Moses ( he, תֹּורַת מֹשֶׁה ), also called the Mosaic Law, primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. The law revealed to Moses by God. Terminology The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebrew ...

.{{sfn, Bokenkotter, 2004, p=19 Circumcision in particular was regarded as a token of the membership of the

Abrahamic covenant According to the Old Testament, the covenant of the pieces or covenant between the parts () is an important event in Jewish history. In this seminal event God revealed himself to Abraham and made a covenant with him (in the site known nowadays a ...

, and the most traditionalist faction of Jewish Christians (i.e., converted

) insisted that Gentile converts had to be circumcised as well.{{Bibleref2c, Acts, 15:1{{sfn, Bokenkotter, 2004, pp=19–21{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, pp=162–165{{sfn, McGrath, 2006, pp=174–75{{sfn, Cross, Livingstone, 2005, pp=1243–1245 By contrast, the rite of circumcision was considered execrable and repulsive during the period of

Hellenization Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the adoption of Greek culture, religion, language and identity by non-Greeks. In the ancient period, colonization often led to the Hellenization of indigenous peoples; in the ...

of the

Eastern Mediterranean Eastern Mediterranean is a loose definition of the eastern approximate half, or third, of the Mediterranean Sea, often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It typically embraces all of that sea's coastal zones, referring to commun ...

,{{cite journal , last=Hodges , first=Frederick M. , year=2001 , title=The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme , journal=

Bulletin of the History of Medicine The ''Bulletin of the History of Medicine'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1933. It is an official publication of the American Association for the History of Medicine and of the Johns Hopkins Institute of the History ...

, publisher=

Johns Hopkins University Press The Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publ ...

, volume=75 , issue=Fall 2001 , pages=375–405 , url=http://www.cirp.org/library/history/hodges2/ , format=PDF , pmid=11568485 , doi=10.1353/bhm.2001.0119 , s2cid=29580193 , access-date=3 January 2020 {{cite journal , last1=Rubin , first1=Jody P. , title=Celsus' Decircumcision Operation: Medical and Historical Implications , journal=

Urology Urology (from Greek οὖρον ''ouron'' "urine" and '' -logia'' "study of"), also known as genitourinary surgery, is the branch of medicine that focuses on surgical and medical diseases of the urinary-tract system and the reproductive org ...

, publisher=

Elsevier Elsevier () is a Dutch academic publishing company specializing in scientific, technical, and medical content. Its products include journals such as '' The Lancet'', '' Cell'', the ScienceDirect collection of electronic journals, '' Trends'', ...

, volume=16 , issue=1 , pages=121–24 , date=July 1980 , url=http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/rubin/ , pmid=6994325 , doi=10.1016/0090-4295(80)90354-4 , access-date=3 January 2020{{sfn, Fredriksen, 2018, pp=10–11{{cite web , url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4391-circumcision#anchor4 , title=Circumcision: In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature , last1=Kohler , first1=Kaufmann , last2=Hirsch , first2=Emil G. , last3=Jacobs , first3=Joseph , last4=Friedenwald , first4=Aaron , last5=Broydé , first5=Isaac , author1-link=Kaufmann Kohler , author2-link=Emil G. Hirsch , author3-link=Joseph Jacobs , author5-link=Isaac Broydé , publisher=

Kopelman Foundation Joshua Kopelman is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. Kopelman is best known as a founder of First Round Capital, a pioneering seed-stage venture fund that led the seed round in Uber. Josh has consistently been ran ...

, website=

Jewish Encyclopedia ''The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day'' is an English-language encyclopedia containing over 15,000 articles on th ...

, access-date=3 January 2020 , quote=Contact with Grecian life, especially at the games of the arena hich_involved_nudity.html" ;"title="nudity.html" ;"title="hich involved nudity">hich involved nudity">nudity.html" ;"title="hich involved nudity">hich involved nudity made this distinction obnoxious to the Hellenists, or antinationalists; and the consequence was their attempt to appear like the Greeks by epispasm ("making themselves foreskins"; I Macc. i. 15; Josephus, "Ant." xii. 5, § 1; Assumptio Mosis, viii.; I Cor. vii. 18; Tosef., Shab. xv. 9; Yeb. 72a, b; Yer. Peah i. 16b; Yeb. viii. 9a). All the more did the law-observing Jews defy the edict of Antiochus Epiphanes prohibiting circumcision (I Macc. i. 48, 60; ii. 46); and the Jewish women showed their loyalty to the Law, even at the risk of their lives, by themselves circumcising their sons. and was especially adversed in Classical civilization both from

ancient Greeks Ancient Greece ( el, Ἑλλάς, Hellás) was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity ( AD 600), that comprised a loose collection of cult ...

and Romans, which instead valued the

foreskin In male human anatomy, the foreskin, also known as the prepuce, is the double-layered fold of skin, mucosal and muscular tissue at the distal end of the human penis that covers the glans and the urinary meatus. The foreskin is attached to the ...

positively.{{sfn, Fredriksen, 2018, pp=10–11 Paul objected strongly to the insistence on keeping all of the Jewish commandments,{{sfn, Cross, Livingstone, 2005, pp=1243–1245 considering it a great threat to his doctrine of salvation through faith in Christ.{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, pp=162–165{{sfn, McGrath, 2006, pp=174–76 According to Paula Fredriksen, Paul's opposition to male circumcison for Gentiles is in line with the Old Testament predictions that "in the last days the gentile nations would come to the God of Israel, as gentiles (e.g., {{bibleverse, Zechariah, 8:20–23, niv), not as proselytes to Israel." For Paul, Gentile male circumcision was therefore an affront to God's intentions. According to

, "Paul saw himself as what Munck called a salvation-historical figure in his own right", who was "personally and singularly deputized by God to bring about the predicted ingathering (the "fullness") of the nations ({{bibleverse, Romans, 11:25, niv)." For Paul, Jesus' death and resurrection solved the problem of the exclusion of Gentiles from God's covenant,{{sfn, Cross, Livingstone, 2005, pp=1244–1245{{sfn, Mack, 1997, pp=91–92 since the faithful are redeemed by participation in Jesus' death and rising. In the Jerusalem ''ekklēsia'', from which Paul received the creed of {{bibleverse, 1 Corinthians, 15:1–7, NRSV, the phrase "died for our sins" probably was an apologetic rationale for the death of Jesus as being part of God's plan and purpose, as evidenced in the Scriptures. For Paul, it gained a deeper significance, providing "a basis for the salvation of sinful Gentiles apart from the Torah."{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, p=131 According to E. P. Sanders, Paul argued that "those who are baptized into Christ are baptized into his death, and thus they escape the power of sin ..he died so that the believers may die with him and consequently live with him."E.P. Sanders
''Saint Paul, the Apostle''
Encyclopedia Britannica By this participation in Christ's death and rising, "one receives forgiveness for past offences, is liberated from the powers of sin, and receives the Spirit." Paul insists that salvation is received by the grace of God; according to Sanders, this insistence is in line with

of c. 200 BC until 200 AD, which saw God's covenant with Israel as an act of grace of God. Observance of the Law is needed to maintain the covenant, but the covenant is not earned by observing the Law, but by the grace of God.Jordan Cooper
''E.P. Sanders and the New Perspective on Paul''
/ref> These divergent interpretations have a prominent place in both Paul's writings and in Acts. According to {{bibleverse, Galatians, 2:1–10, niv and Acts chapter 15, fourteen years after his conversion Paul visited the "Pillars of Jerusalem", the leaders of the Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''. His purpose was to compare his Gospel{{clarify, date=February 2020 with theirs, an event known as the

Council of Jerusalem The Council of Jerusalem or Apostolic Council was held in Jerusalem around AD 50. It is unique among the ancient pre-ecumenical councils in that it is considered by Catholics and Eastern Orthodox to be a prototype and forerunner of the later ...

. According to Paul, in his letter to the Galatians,{{refn, group=note, Four years after the Council of Jerusalem, Paul wrote to the Galatians about the issue, which had become a serious controversy in their region. There was a burgeoning movement of

Judaizers The Judaizers were a faction of the Jewish Christians, both of Jewish and non-Jewish origins, who regarded the Levitical laws of the Old Testament as still binding on all Christians. They tried to enforce Jewish circumcision upon the Gentile c ...

in the area that advocated adherence to the Mosaic Law, including circumcision. According to McGrath, Paul identified

as the motivating force behind the Judaizing movement. Paul considered it a great threat to his doctrine of salvation through faith and addressed the issue with great detail in {{bibleref, Galatians, 3, NRSV.{{sfn, McGrath, 2006, pp=174–75 they agreed that his mission was to be among the Gentiles. According to Acts, Paul made an argument that circumcision was not a necessary practice, vocally supported by Peter.{{sfn, McGrath, 2006, p=174McManners, ''Oxford Illustrated History of Christianity'' (2002), p. 37{{refn, group=note, According to 19th-century German theologian

F. C. Baur Ferdinand Christian Baur (21 June 1792 – 2 December 1860) was a German Protestant theologian and founder and leader of the (new) Tübingen School of theology (named for the University of Tübingen where Baur studied and taught). Following Hegel ...

early Christianity was dominated by the conflict between Peter who was law-observant, and Paul who advocated partial or even complete freedom from the Law.{{citation needed, date=March 2019 Scholar

James D. G. Dunn James Douglas Grant Dunn (21 October 1939 – 26 June 2020), also known as Jimmy Dunn, was a British New Testament scholar, who was for many years the Lightfoot Professor of Divinity in the Department of Theology at the University of Durh ...

has proposed that Peter was the "bridge-man" between the two other prominent leaders: Paul and James the Just. Paul and James were both heavily identified with their own "brands" of Christianity. Peter showed a desire to hold on to his Jewish identity, in contrast with Paul. He simultaneously showed a flexibility towards the desires of the broader Christian community, in contrast to James.

Marcion Marcion of Sinope (; grc, Μαρκίων ; ) was an early Christian theologian in early Christianity. Marcion preached that God had sent Jesus Christ who was an entirely new, alien god, distinct from the vengeful God of Israel who had created ...

and his followers stated that the polemic against false apostles in Galatians was aimed at Peter, James and

, the "Pillars of the Church", as well as the "false" gospels circulating through the churches at the time.

Irenaeus Irenaeus (; grc-gre, Εἰρηναῖος ''Eirēnaios''; c. 130 – c. 202 AD) was a Greek bishop noted for his role in guiding and expanding Christian communities in the southern regions of present-day France and, more widely, for the de ...

and

Tertullian Tertullian (; la, Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus; 155 AD – 220 AD) was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He was the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of L ...

argued against Marcionism's elevation of Paul and stated that Peter and Paul were equals among the apostles. Passages from Galatians were used to show that Paul respected Peter's office and acknowledged a shared faith.{{sfn, Keck, 1988, p={{pn, date=February 2022 {{sfn, Pelikan, 1975, p=113 While the Council of Jerusalem was described as resulting in an agreement to allow Gentile converts exemption from most Jewish commandments, in reality a stark opposition from "Hebrew" Jewish Christians remained,{{sfn, Cross, Livingstone, 2005, p=1244 as exemplified by the

. The relaxing of requirements in Pauline Christianity opened the way for a much larger Christian Church, extending far beyond the Jewish community. The inclusion of Gentiles is reflected in Luke-Acts, which is an attempt to answer a theological problem, namely how the Messiah of the Jews came to have an overwhelmingly non-Jewish church; the answer it provides, and its central theme, is that the message of Christ was sent to the Gentiles because the Jews rejected it.{{sfn, Burkett, 2002, p=263

Persecutions

{{See also, Persecution of Christians in the New Testament , Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire occurred sporadically over a period of over two centuries. For most of the first three hundred years of Christian history, Christians were able to live in peace, practice their professions, and rise to positions of responsibility.{{cite book, last=Moss, first=Candida, author-link=Candida Moss, title=The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom, date=2013, publisher=HarperCollins, isbn=978-0-06-210452-6, page=129 Sporadic persecution took place as the result of local pagan populations putting pressure on the imperial authorities to take action against the Christians in their midst, who were thought to bring misfortune by their refusal to honour the gods.{{sfn, Croix, 2006, pp=105–52 Only for approximately ten out of the first three hundred years of the church's history were Christians executed due to orders from a Roman emperor. The first persecution of Christians organised by the Roman government took place under the emperor

Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68), was the fifth Roman emperor and final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 un ...

in 64 AD after the

Great Fire of Rome The Great Fire of Rome ( la, incendium magnum Romae) occurred in July AD 64. The fire began in the merchant shops around Rome's chariot stadium, Circus Maximus, on the night of 19 July. After six days, the fire was brought under control, but befor ...

.{{sfn, Croix, 2006, pp=105–52 There was no empire-wide persecution of Christians until the reign of

Decius Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251. A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procl ...

in the third century.Martin, D. 2010
"The 'Afterlife' of the New Testament and Postmodern Interpretation"
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160608093412/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1Bh_SAEU90 , date=2016-06-08
lecture transcript
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812141627/https://cosmolearning.org/video-lectures/the-afterlife-of-the-new-testament-and-postmodern-interpretation-6819/ , date=2016-08-12 ). Yale University. The Edict of Serdica was issued in 311 by the Roman emperor

Galerius Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus (; 258 – May 311) was Roman emperor from 305 to 311. During his reign he campaigned, aided by Diocletian, against the Sasanian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 299. He also campaigned across th ...

, officially ending the

Diocletianic persecution The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rig ...

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...

in the East. With the passage in 313 AD of the

Edict of Milan The Edict of Milan ( la, Edictum Mediolanense; el, Διάταγμα τῶν Μεδιολάνων, ''Diatagma tōn Mediolanōn'') was the February 313 AD agreement to treat Christians benevolently within the Roman Empire. Frend, W. H. C. ( ...

, in which the Roman Emperors

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

and

Licinius Valerius Licinianus Licinius (c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan, AD 313, that granted official toleration to C ...

legalised the

religion, persecution of Christians by the Roman state ceased.{{cite web , title=Persecution in the Early Church , url=http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/history/persecution.htm , publisher=Religion Facts , access-date=2014-03-26 , archive-date=2014-03-25 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325154903/http://religionfacts.com/christianity/history/persecution.htm , url-status=dead

Development of the Biblical canon

{{Main, Development of the Christian biblical canon In an ancient culture before the

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

and the majority of the population illiterate, most early Christians likely did not own any Christian texts. Much of the original church liturgical services functioned as a means of learning

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exeg ...

. A final uniformity of liturgical services may have become solidified after the church established a

Biblical canon A biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible. The English word ''canon'' comes from the Greek , meaning " rule" or " measuring stick". The ...

, possibly based on the

Apostolic Constitutions The ''Apostolic Constitutions'' or ''Constitutions of the Holy Apostles'' (Latin: ''Constitutiones Apostolorum'') is a Christian collection divided into eight books which is classified among the Church Orders, a genre of early Christian liter ...

and

Clementine literature Clementine literature (also called Clementina, Pseudo-Clementine Writings, Kerygmata Petrou, Clementine Romance) is the name given to the religious romance which purports to contain a record made by one Clement (whom the narrative identifies as ...

. Clement (d. 99) writes that liturgies are "to be celebrated, and not carelessly nor in disorder" but the final uniformity of liturgical services only came later, though the '' Liturgy of St James'' is traditionally associated with James the Just. Books not accepted by Pauline Christianity are termed

biblical apocrypha The biblical apocrypha (from the grc, ἀπόκρυφος, translit=apókruphos, lit=hidden) denotes the collection of apocryphal ancient books thought to have been written some time between 200 BC and AD 400. The Roman Catholic, Eastern Ort ...

, though the exact list varies from denomination to denomination.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced

Old Testament

{{Main, Development of the Old Testament canon The

began with the Jewish Scriptures. The

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

translation of the Jewish scriptures, later known as the ''

''{{sfn, McDonald, Sanders, 2002, p=72 and often written as "LXX," was the dominant translation from very early on.{{cite web, url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/swete/greekot/Page_112.html , title=Swete's Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, p. 112 , publisher=Ccel.org , access-date=2019-05-20 Perhaps the earliest Christian canon is the ''Bryennios List'', dated to around 100, which was found by Philotheos Bryennios in the

Codex Hierosolymitanus Codex Hierosolymitanus (also called the Bryennios manuscript or the Jerusalem Codex, often designated simply "H" in scholarly discourse) is an 11th-century Greek manuscript. It contains copies of a number of early Christian texts including the only ...

. The list is written in

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. In the 2nd century,

Melito of Sardis Melito of Sardis ( el, Μελίτων Σάρδεων ''Melítōn Sárdeōn''; died ) was the bishop of Sardis near Smyrna in western Anatolia, and a great authority in early Christianity. Melito held a foremost place in terms of bishops in Asia ...

called the Jewish scriptures the "

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

" and also specified an early canon.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced

Jerome Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is co ...

(347–420) expressed his preference for adhering strictly to the Hebrew text and canon, but his view held little currency even in his own day.

New Testament

{{Books of the New Testament {{Main, Development of the New Testament canon The

(often compared to the

New Covenant The New Covenant (Hebrew '; Greek ''diatheke kaine'') is a biblical interpretation which was originally derived from a phrase which is contained in the Book of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 31:31-34), in the Hebrew Bible (or the Old Testament of the ...

) is the second major division of the Christian Bible. The books of the

canon of the New Testament A biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible. The English word ''canon'' comes from the Greek , meaning " rule" or " measuring stick". The ...

include the

Canonical Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

Acts The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

, letters of the

Apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

, and

Revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

. The original texts were written by various authors, most likely sometime between c. AD 45 and 120 AD,{{cite book , author=Bart D. Ehrman , title=The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings , url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xpoNAQAAMAAJ , year=1997 , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-508481-8 , page=8 , quote=The New Testament contains twenty-seven books, written in Greek, by fifteen or sixteen different authors, who were addressing other Christian individuals or communities between the years 50 and 120 (see box 1.4). As we will see, it is difficult to know whether any of these books was written by Jesus' own disciples. in

, the

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

of the eastern part of the Roman Empire, though there is also a minority argument for Aramaic primacy. They were not defined as "canon" until the 4th century. Some were disputed, known as the

Antilegomena ''Antilegomena'' (from Greek ) are written texts whose authenticity or value is disputed. Eusebius in his ''Church History'' (c. 325) used the term for those Christian scriptures that were "disputed", literally "spoken against", in Early Christi ...

.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced Writings attributed to the

circulated among the earliest Christian communities. The

were circulating, perhaps in collected forms, by the end of the

1st century AD The 1st century was the century spanning AD 1 ( I) through AD 100 ( C) according to the Julian calendar. It is often written as the or to distinguish it from the 1st century BC (or BCE) which preceded it. The 1st century is considered part of t ...

.{{refn, group=note, Three forms are postulated, from {{Citation , title = The Canon Debate , chapter = 18 , page = 300, note 21 , first = Harry Y , last = Gamble , quote = (1) Marcion's collection that begins with Galatians and ends with Philemon; (2) Papyrus 46, dated about 200, that follows the order that became established except for reversing Ephesians and Galatians; and (3) the letters to seven churches, treating those to the same church as one letter and basing the order on length, so that Corinthians is first and Colossians (perhaps including Philemon) is last.

Early orthodox writings – Apostolic Fathers

The

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

are the early and influential

Christian theologians Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exegesis ...

and writers, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. The earliest Church Fathers, within two generations of the Twelve Apostles of Christ, are usually called

for reportedly knowing and studying under the apostles personally. Important Apostolic Fathers include

Clement of Rome Pope Clement I ( la, Clemens Romanus; Greek: grc, Κλήμης Ῥώμης, Klēmēs Rōmēs) ( – 99 AD) was bishop of Rome in the late first century AD. He is listed by Irenaeus and Tertullian as the bishop of Rome, holding office from 88 AD ...

(d. AD 99), Durant, Will. ''Caesar and Christ''. New York: Simon and Schuster. 1972

(d. AD 98 to 117) and Polycarp of Smyrna (AD 69–155). The earliest Christian writings, other than those collected in the New Testament, are a group of letters credited to the Apostolic Fathers. Their writings include the

Epistle of Barnabas The ''Epistle of Barnabas'' ( el, Βαρνάβα Ἐπιστολή) is a Greek epistle written between AD 70 and 132. The complete text is preserved in the 4th-century ''Codex Sinaiticus'', where it appears immediately after the New Testament ...

and the Epistles of Clement. The

Didache The ''Didache'' (; ), also known as The Lord's Teaching Through the Twelve Apostles to the Nations (Διδαχὴ Κυρίου διὰ τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων τοῖς ἔθνεσιν), is a brief anonymous early Christian tre ...

and

Shepherd of Hermas A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. ''Shepherd'' derives from Old English ''sceaphierde (''sceap'' 'sheep' + ''hierde'' 'herder'). ''Shepherding is one of the world's oldest occupations, i ...

are usually placed among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, although their authors are unknown.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced Taken as a whole, the collection is notable for its literary simplicity, religious zeal and lack of Hellenistic philosophy or rhetoric. They contain early thoughts on the organisation of the Christian ''ekklēsia'', and are historical sources for the development of an early Church structure.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced In his letter

1 Clement The First Epistle of Clement ( grc, Κλήμεντος πρὸς Κορινθίους, Klēmentos pros Korinthious, Clement to Corinthians) is a letter addressed to the Christians in the city of Corinth. Based on internal evidence some scholars s ...

calls on the Christians of Corinth to maintain harmony and order. Some see his epistle as an assertion of Rome's authority over the church in Corinth and, by implication, the beginnings of

papal supremacy Papal supremacy is the doctrine of the Catholic Church that the Pope, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, the visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful, and as pastor of th ...

.{{cite web, url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04012c.htm, title=Pope St. Clement I, website=newadvent.org Clement refers to the leaders of the Corinthian church in his letter as bishops and

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros,'' which means elder or senior, although many in the Christian antiquity would understand ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning a ...

s interchangeably, and likewise states that the bishops are to lead God's flock by virtue of the chief shepherd (presbyter), Jesus Christ.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced

advocated the authority of the apostolic episcopacy (bishops). The

(late 1st century){{sfn, Draper, 2006, p=178 is an anonymous Jewish-Christian work. It is a pastoral manual dealing with Christian lessons, rituals, and Church organization, parts of which may have constituted the first written

catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adul ...

, "that reveals more about how Jewish-Christians saw themselves and how they adapted their Judaism for Gentiles than any other book in the Christian Scriptures."{{sfn, Milavec, 2003, p=vii

Split of early Christianity and Judaism

Split with Judaism

{{Main, Split of early Christianity and Judaism {{See also, Schisms among the Jews, List of events in early Christianity There was a slowly growing chasm between Gentile Christians, and Jews and Jewish Christians, rather than a sudden split. Even though it is commonly thought that Paul established a Gentile church, it took a century for a complete break to manifest. Growing tensions led to a starker separation that was virtually complete by the time Jewish Christians refused to join in the Bar Kokhba Jewish revolt of 132.{{sfn, Davidson, 2005, p=146 Certain events are perceived as pivotal in the growing rift between Christianity and Judaism.{{Citation needed, date=August 2020, reason=Unsourced The destruction of Jerusalem and the consequent dispersion of Jews and Jewish Christians from the city (after the

Bar Kokhba revolt The Bar Kokhba revolt ( he, , links=yes, ''Mereḏ Bar Kōḵḇāʾ‎''), or the 'Jewish Expedition' as the Romans named it ( la, Expeditio Judaica), was a rebellion by the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, ag ...

) ended any pre-eminence of the Jewish-Christian leadership in Jerusalem. Early Christianity grew further apart from Judaism to establish itself as a predominantly Gentile religion, and

became the first Gentile Christian community with stature.{{sfn, Franzen, 1988, p=25 The hypothetical

Council of Jamnia The Council of Jamnia (presumably Yavneh in the Holy Land) was a council purportedly held late in the 1st century CE to finalize the canon of the Hebrew Bible. It has also been hypothesized to be the occasion when the Jewish authorities decide ...

c. 85 is often stated to have condemned all who claimed the Messiah had already come, and Christianity in particular, excluding them from attending synagogue.{{sfn, Wylen, 1995, p=190{{sfn, Berard, 2006, pp=112–113{{sfn, W1992, pp=164–165{{quote needed, date=January 2020 However, the formulated prayer in question (birkat ha-minim) is considered by other scholars to be unremarkable in the history of Jewish and Christian relations. There is a paucity of evidence for Jewish persecution of "heretics" in general, or Christians in particular, in the period between 70 and 135. It is probable that the condemnation of Jamnia included many groups, of which the Christians were but one, and did not necessarily mean excommunication. That some of the later church fathers only recommended against

attendance makes it improbable that an anti-Christian prayer was a common part of the synagogue liturgy. Jewish Christians continued to worship in synagogues for centuries.{{sfn, Wylen, 1995, p=190{{sfn, W1992, pp=164–165 During the late 1st century, Judaism was a legal religion with the protection of

Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...

, worked out in compromise with the Roman state over two centuries (see Anti-Judaism in the Roman Empire for details). In contrast, Christianity was not legalized until the 313

. Observant Jews had special rights, including the privilege of abstaining from civic pagan rites. Christians were initially identified with the Jewish religion by the Romans, but as they became more distinct, Christianity became a problem for Roman rulers. Around the year 98, the emperor

Nerva Nerva (; originally Marcus Cocceius Nerva; 8 November 30 – 27 January 98) was Roman emperor from 96 to 98. Nerva became emperor when aged almost 66, after a lifetime of imperial service under Nero and the succeeding rulers of the Flavian dy ...

decreed that Christians did not have to pay the annual tax upon the Jews, effectively recognizing them as distinct from

. This opened the way to Christians being persecuted for disobedience to the emperor, as they refused to worship the state pantheon.{{sfn, Wylen, 1995, pp=190–192{{sfn, Dunn, 1999, pp=33–34{{sfn, BoatwGargola, Talbert, 2004, p=426 From c. 98 onwards a distinction between Christians and Jews in Roman literature becomes apparent. For example,

Pliny the Younger Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus, born Gaius Caecilius or Gaius Caecilius Cilo (61 – c. 113), better known as Pliny the Younger (), was a lawyer, author, and magistrate of Ancient Rome. Pliny's uncle, Pliny the Elder, helped raise and educate ...

postulates that Christians are not Jews since they do not pay the tax, in his letters to

Trajan Trajan ( ; la, Caesar Nerva Traianus; 18 September 539/11 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared ''optimus princeps'' ("best ruler") by the senate, Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presi ...

.{{sfn, Wylen, 1995, pp=190–192{{sfn, Dunn, 1999, pp=33–34

Later rejection of Jewish Christianity

Jewish Christians constituted a separate community from the Pauline Christians but maintained a similar faith. In Christian circles, '' Nazarene'' later came to be used as a label for those faithful to Jewish Law, in particular for a certain sect. These Jewish Christians, originally the central group in Christianity, generally holding the same beliefs except in their adherence to Jewish law, were not deemed heretical until the dominance of

orthodoxy Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Church ...

in the

4th century The 4th century (per the Julian calendar and Anno Domini/Common era) was the time period which lasted from 301 ( CCCI) through 400 ( CD). In the West, the early part of the century was shaped by Constantine the Great, who became the first Roma ...

.{{sfn, Dauphin, 1993, pp=235, 240–242 The

may have been a splinter group of Nazarenes, with disagreements over Christology and leadership. They were considered by Gentile Christians to have unorthodox beliefs, particularly in relation to their views of Christ and Gentile converts. After the condemnation of the Nazarenes, ''Ebionite'' was often used as a general pejorative for all related "heresies".{{sfn, Tabor, 1998{{sfn, Esler, 2004, pp=157–159 There was a post-Nicene "double rejection" of the Jewish Christians by both Gentile Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism. The true end of ancient Jewish Christianity occurred only in the 5th century. Gentile Christianity became the dominant strand of orthodoxy and imposed itself on the previously Jewish Christian sanctuaries, taking full control of those houses of worship by the end of the 5th century.{{sfn, Dauphin, 1993, pp=235, 240–242{{refn, group=note, Jewish Virtual Library: "A major difficulty in tracing the growth of Christianity from its beginnings as a Jewish messianic sect, and its relations to the various other normative-Jewish, sectarian-Jewish, and Christian-Jewish groups is presented by the fact that what ultimately became normative Christianity was originally but one among various contending Christian trends. Once the "gentile Christian" trend won out, and the

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution. Teaching is closely ...

of Paul became accepted as expressing the doctrine of the Church, the Jewish Christian groups were pushed to the margin and ultimately excluded as heretical. Being rejected both by normative Judaism and the Church, they ultimately disappeared. Nevertheless, several Jewish Christian sects (such as the Nazarenes,

Elchasaites The Elcesaites, Elkasaites, Elkesaites or Elchasaites were an ancient Jewish Christian sect in Lower Mesopotamia, then the province of Asoristan in the Sasanian Empire that was active between 100 and 400 CE. The members of this sect, which origi ...

, and others) existed for some time, and a few of them seem to have endured for several centuries. Some sects saw in Jesus mainly a

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the ...

and not the "Christ," others seem to have believed in him as the Messiah, but did not draw the

christological In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Di ...

and other conclusions that subsequently became fundamental in the teaching of the Church (the divinity of the Christ, trinitarian conception of the Godhead, abrogation of the Law). After the disappearance of the early Jewish Christian sects and the triumph of gentile Christianity, to become a Christian meant, for a Jew, to

apostatize Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that is ...

and to leave the Jewish community.{{r, group=web, "JVL"

Timeline

{{hidden, 1st century timeline, {{disputed, talkpage=Talk:Christianity in the 1st century#Bethlehem, date=March 2019 ''Earliest dates must all be considered approximate'' *6 BC Judean King

Herod Archelaus Herod Archelaus (, ''Hērōidēs Archelaos''; 23 BC – ) was ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea and Jaffa, for a period of nine years (). He was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace the Samar ...

deposed by the Roman Emperor

Augustus Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian, was the first Roman emperor; he reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14. He is known for being the founder of the Roman Pr ...

;

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

, and

Idumea Edom (; Edomite: ; he, אֱדוֹם , lit.: "red"; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east ...

annexed as Iudaea Province under direct Roman administration, capital at

Caesarea Caesarea () ( he, קֵיסָרְיָה, ), ''Keysariya'' or ''Qesarya'', often simplified to Keisarya, and Qaysaria, is an affluent town in north-central Israel, which inherits its name and much of its territory from the ancient city of Caesar ...

Quirinius Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius, was a Roman aristocrat. After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, to ...

became

Legate Legate may refer to: * Legatus, a higher ranking general officer of the Roman army drawn from among the senatorial class :*Legatus Augusti pro praetore, a provincial governor in the Roman Imperial period *A member of a legation *A representative, ...

(Governor) of

, conducted

Census of Quirinius The Census of Quirinius is generally believed to be a census of Judea taken by Publius Sulpicius Quirinius, governor of Roman Syria, upon the imposition of direct Roman rule in 6 CE. The Gospel of Luke uses it to date the birth of Jesus, wh ...

, opposed by the

JA18
{{bibleverse, , Luke, 2:1–3, {{bibleverse, , Acts, 5:37). *c. 4 BC

Jesus is born ''Jesus Is Born'' is the debut studio album by American gospel group Sunday Service Choir, with American rapper Kanye West acting as executive producer. It was released on December 25, 2019, through INC. The album was released to coincide with C ...

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital ...

(according to the

Gospels Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

of Luke and

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Chi ...

) *7–26 AD Brief period of peace, relatively free of revolt and bloodshed in Iudaea and

Pharisee The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jews, Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70), destruction of the Second Temp ...

leader

Hillel the Elder Hillel ( he, הִלֵּל ''Hīllēl''; variously called ''Hillel HaGadol'', ''Hillel HaZaken'', ''Hillel HaBavli'' or ''HaBavli'', was born according to tradition in Babylon c. 110 BCE, died 10 CE in Jerusalem) was a Jewish religious leader, s ...

dies, temporary rise of

Shammai Shammai (50 BCE – 30 CE, he, שַׁמַּאי, ''Šammaʾy'') was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an important figure in Judaism's core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah. Shammai was the most eminent contemporary of Hill ...

*14–37 Rule of the Roman Emperor

Tiberius Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus (; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was the second Roman emperor. He reigned from AD 14 until 37, succeeding his stepfather, the first Roman emperor Augustus. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC. His father ...

*18–36

Caiaphas Joseph ben Caiaphas (; c. 14 BC – c. 46 AD), known simply as Caiaphas (; grc-x-koine, Καϊάφας, Kaïáphas ) in the New Testament, was the Jewish high priest who, according to the gospels, organized a plot to kill Jesus. He famous ...

, appointed

High Priest The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste. Ancient Egypt In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rev ...

Herod's Temple The Second Temple (, , ), later known as Herod's Temple, was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem between and 70 CE. It replaced Solomon's Temple, which had been built at the same location in the United Kingdom of Israel before being inherited ...

by Prefect Valerius Gratus, deposed by Syrian Legate Lucius Vitellius *19

, Jewish Proselytes, Astrologers, expelled from

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

{{cite web, url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=352&letter=R&search=Sejanus#1006, title=Rome , website=jewishencyclopedia.com *26–36

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

(governor) of Iudaea, recalled to Rome by Syrian Legate Vitellius on complaints of excess violence (JA18.4.2) *28 or 29

began his ministry in the "15th year of Tiberius" ({{bibleverse, Luke, , 3:1–2) ({{bibleverse, , Matt, 3:1–2) *30 –

of Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations;{{sfn, Barnett, 2002, p=23 *30–36 Jesus is crucified on order of Pontius Pilate. Christians believe he rose from the dead 3 days later.

, a day in which 3000 Jews from a variety of Mediterranean-basin nations are converted to faith in Jesus Christ. *34 –

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

baptizes a convert in Gaza, an Ethiopian eunuch who was already a

God-fearer God-fearers ( grc-x-koine, φοβούμενοι τὸν Θεόν, ''phoboumenoi ton Theon'') or God-worshippers ( grc-x-koine, θεοσεβεῖς, ''Theosebeis'') were a numerous class of Gentile sympathizers to Hellenistic Judaism that existed ...

.{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, pp=15, 38-39, 41-42 *39 – Peter preaches to a Gentile audience in the house of the Roman soldier Cornelius, who was already a

.{{sfn, Hurtado, 2005, pp=15, 38-39, 41-42 *37–41 Crisis under

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germani ...

*42 –

Mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Finn ...

goes to

{{sfn, Kane, 1982, p=10 *44?

James the Great James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob ( Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin ...

: According to ancient local tradition, on 2 January of the year AD 40, the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

appeared to James on a Pilar on the bank of the Ebro River at

Caesaraugusta Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributar ...

, while he was preaching the Gospel in

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...

(modern-day

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

). Following that apparition, James returned to Judea, where he was beheaded by King

Herod Agrippa I Herod Agrippa (Roman name Marcus Julius Agrippa; born around 11–10 BC – in Caesarea), also known as Herod II or Agrippa I (), was a grandson of Herod the Great and King of Judea from AD 41 to 44. He was the father of Herod Agrippa II, the ...

in the year 44 during a

(Nisan 15) ({{bibleverse, Acts, , 12:1–3). *44 Death of

JA19
8.2, {{bibleverse, , Acts, 12:20–23) *44–46? Theudas beheaded by

Procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title o ...

Cuspius Fadus for saying he would part the Jordan river (like

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu ( Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pr ...

and the Red Sea or

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

and the Jordan)
JA20
5.1, {{bibleverse, , Acts, 5:36–37 places it before the

) *45–49? Mission of

Barnabas Barnabas (; arc, ܒܪܢܒܐ; grc, Βαρνάβας), born Joseph () or Joses (), was according to tradition an early Christian, one of the prominent Christian disciples in Jerusalem. According to Acts 4:36, Barnabas was a Cypriot Jew. Name ...

and Paul ({{bibleverse, , Acts, 13:1–14:28) to the island of Cyprus, Pisidian Antioch,

Iconium Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

Lystra Lystra ( grc, Λύστρα) was a city in central Anatolia, now part of present-day Turkey. It is mentioned six times in the New Testament. Lystra was visited several times by Paul the Apostle, along with Barnabas or Silas. There Paul met a youn ...

, and

Derbe Derbe or Dervi ( gr, Δέρβη), also called Derveia ( gr, Δέρβεια), was a city of Galatia in Asia Minor, and later of Lycaonia, and still later of Isauria and Cappadocia. It is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles at , , and . Der ...

(there they were called "gods ... in human form"), then return to Syrian

Map1
*47? St. Thomas Christianity, now in several forms, is begun in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

. * 47 – Paul (formerly known as Saul of Tarsus) begins his first missionary journey to

(modern-day

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

).{{sfn, Walker, 1959, p=26 *48–100 Herod Agrippa II appointed King of the Jews by

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54) was the fourth Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Drusus and Antonia Minor ...

, seventh and last of the

Herodians The Herodians (''Herodiani'') were a sect of Hellenistic Jews mentioned in the New Testament on two occasions — first in Galilee, and later in Jerusalem — being hostile to Jesus (, ; ; cf. also , , ). In each of these cases their name is co ...

*50

riot in

, 20–30,000 killed (JA20.5.3
JW2
12.1) *50 –

on admitting

into the Church{{sfn, Walker, 1959, p=26 *50?

and the "Apostolic Decree", {{bibleverse, Acts, , 15:1–35, same as {{bibleverse, , Galatians, 2:1–10?, which is followed by the "Incident at Antioch", at which Paul publicly accused Peter of "

Judaizing Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the M ...

" towards the Gentiles ({{bibleverse-nb, , Galatians, 2:11–21){{cite journal , last=Dunn , first=James D. G. , author-link=James Dunn (theologian) , date=Autumn 1993 , title=Echoes of Intra-Jewish Polemic in Paul's Letter to the Galatians , editor-last=Reinhartz , editor-first=Adele , editor-link=Adele Reinhartz , journal=

Journal of Biblical Literature The ''Journal of Biblical Literature'' (''JBL'') is one of three academic journals published by the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL). First published in 1881, ''JBL'' is the flagship journal of the field. ''JBL'' is published quarterly and incl ...

, publisher=

Society of Biblical Literature The Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), founded in 1880 as the Society of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, is an American-based learned society dedicated to the academic study of the Bible and related ancient literature. Its current stated mis ...

, volume=112 , issue=3 , pages=459–477 , doi=10.2307/3267745 , issn=0021-9231 , jstor=3267745 *51 – Paul begins his second missionary journey, a trip that takes him through

(modern-day

) and on into

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

{{sfn, Walker, 1959, p=27 *50–53? Paul's second mission ({{bibleverse, , Acts, 15:36–18:22), split with Barnabas, preaches the Gospel in

Galatia Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace ...

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; grc, Φρυγία, ''Phrygía'' ) was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. After its conquest, it became a region of the great empir ...

, Macedonia,

Berea Berea may refer to: Places Greece * Beroea, a place mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, now known as Veria or Veroia Lesotho * Berea District Romania * Berea, a village in Ciumești Commune, Satu Mare County * Berea, a tributary of the Val ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, "he had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because of a vow he had taken", then returns to Antioch; 1 Thessalonians, Galatians written
Map2
*51–52 or 52–53 proconsulship of Gallio according to an inscription, only fixed date in chronology of Paul *52 –

arrives in

and founds an early Christian church that subsequently split into the

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church lat, Ecclesia Syrorum-Malabarensium mal, മലബാറിലെ സുറിയാനി സഭ , native_name_lang=, image = St. Thomas' Cross (Chennai, St. Thomas Mount).jpg , caption = The Mar Thoma Nasrani Sl ...

and the

Malankara Church The Malankara Church, also known as ''Puthenkur'' and more popularly as Jacobite Syrians, is the historic unified body of West Syriac Saint Thomas Christian denominations which claim ultimate origins from the missions of Thomas the Apostle. ...

(and its various descendants){{sfn, Neill, 1986, pp=44–45 *54 – Paul begins his third missionary journey{{cite web, title=Apostle Paul's Third Missionary Journey Map, website=biblestudy.org, url=http://www.biblestudy.org/maps/pauls-third-journey-map.html *53–57? Paul's third mission ({{bibleverse, , Acts, 18:23–22:30) to Galatia, Phrygia, Macedonia, Corinth,

, Greece, and Jerusalem, where

challenged him about rumor of teaching

antinomianism Antinomianism (Ancient Greek: ἀντί 'anti''"against" and νόμος 'nomos''"law") is any view which rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious or social norms (Latin: mores), or is at least considered to do so. The term ha ...

({{bibleverse-nb, Acts, , 21:21), he addressed a crowd in their language (most likely

); Romans,

1 Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-au ...

2 Corinthians The Second Epistle to the Corinthians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-author named Timothy, and is addressed to the church in Corinth and Christians in the ...

Philippians The Epistle to the Philippians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and Timothy is named with him as co-author or co-sender. The letter is addressed to the Christian ...

written
Map3
*55? " Egyptian prophet" (allusion to Moses) and 30,000 unarmed Jews doing

the Exodus The Exodus (Hebrew: יציאת מצרים, ''Yeẓi’at Miẓrayim'': ) is the founding myth of the Israelites whose narrative is spread over four books of the Torah (or Pentateuch, corresponding to the first five books of the Bible), namely E ...

reenactment massacred by

Antonius Felix (JW2.13.5, JA20.8.6, {{bibleverse, Acts, , 21:38) *58? Paul arrested, accused of being a

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

, "ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes", teaching

resurrection of the dead General resurrection or universal resurrection is the belief in a resurrection of the dead, or resurrection from the dead (Koine: , ''anastasis onnekron''; literally: "standing up again of the dead") by which most or all people who have died w ...

, imprisoned in

({{bibleverse, Acts, , 23–26) *59? Paul shipwrecked on the island of Malta, there he was called a god ({{bibleverse, Acts, , 28:6) * 60 – Paul sent to

under Roman guard, evangelizes on Malta after shipwreck{{sfn, Walker, 1959, p=27 *60? Paul in Rome: greeted by many "brothers" ( NRSV: "believers"), three days later called together the Jewish leaders, who hadn't received any word from Judea about him, but were curious about "this sect", which everywhere is spoken against; he tried to convince them from the "

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

and

Prophets In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

", with partial success, said the Gentiles would listen and spent two years proclaiming the

and teaching the "Lord Jesus Christ" ({{bibleverse, Acts, , 28:15–31);

Epistle to Philemon The Epistle to Philemon is one of the books of the Christian New Testament. It is a prison letter, co-authored by Paul the Apostle with Timothy, to Philemon, a leader in the Colossian church. It deals with the themes of forgiveness and recon ...

written? *62 James the Just stoned to death for law transgression by

Ananus ben Artanus, popular opinion against act results in Ananus being deposed by new procurator Lucceius Albinus (JA20.9.1) *63–107? Simeon, 2nd Bishop of Jerusalem, crucified under

*64–68 after July 18

blamed and

persecuted Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual or group. The most common forms are religious persecution, racism, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms ...

the ''Christians'' *64/67(?)–76/79(?)

Pope Linus Pope Linus (, , ''Linos''; died c. AD 76) was the bishop of Rome from c. AD 67 to his death. As with all the early popes, he was canonized. According to Irenaeus, Linus is the same person as the one mentioned in the New Testament. Linus is men ...

succeeds Peter as ''Episcopus Romanus'' ("Bishop of Rome") *65?

Q document The Q source (also called Q document(s), Q Gospel, or Q; from german: Quelle, meaning "source") is a hypothetical written collection of primarily Jesus' sayings (λόγια : ). Q is part of the common material found in the Gospels of Matthe ...

, a hypothetical Greek text thought by many critical scholars to have been used in writing of

and Luke * 66 – Thaddeus establishes the Christian church of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

Wood, Roger, Jan Morris and Denis Wright. ''Persia''. Universe Books, 1970, p. 35. *66–73

: destruction of

Qumran Qumran ( he, קומראן; ar, خربة قمران ') is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel's Qumran National Park. It is located on a dry marl plateau about from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli ...

community destroyed, site of

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

found in 1947 *68–107? Ignatius, third Bishop of Antioch, fed to the lions in the Roman Colosseum, advocated the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

(Eph 6:1, Mag 2:1, 6:1, 7:1, 13:2, Tr 3:1, Smy 8:1, 9:1), rejected

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, commanded by God to be kept as a holy day of rest, as ...

on Saturday in favor of The Lord's Day (Sunday). (Mag 9.1), rejected

(Mag 10.3), first recorded use of the term "

catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

" (Smy 8:2). *69 –

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is frequently shortened to "Andy" or "Drew". The word is derive ...

is crucified in

Patras ) , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 = , demographics1_info2 = , timezone1 = EET , utc_offset1 = +2 ...

on the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridge which ...

peninsula of

{{sfn, Herbermann, 1913, p=737 *70(+/−10)?

Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark), or simply Mark (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). is the second of the four canonical gospels and of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from his baptism by John the Baptist to h ...

, written in Rome, by Peter's interpreter (1 Peter 5:13), original ending apparently lost, endings added c. 400, see

Mark 16 Mark 16 is the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It begins after the sabbath, with Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bringing spices to the tomb to anoint Jesus' body. There the ...

*70? Signs Gospel written, hypothetical Greek text used in Gospel of John to prove that Jesus is the Messiah *70–100? additional

*70–200?

; Other Gospels: Gospel of the Saviour,

Gospel of Peter The Gospel of Peter ( grc, κατά Πέτρον ευαγγέλιον, kata Petron euangelion), or the Gospel according to Peter, is an ancient text concerning Jesus Christ, only partially known today. It is considered a non-canonical gospel and w ...

Gospel of Thomas The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate ...

, Oxyrhynchus Gospels, Egerton Gospel, Fayyum Fragment, Dialogue of the Saviour;

Gospels:

Gospel of the Ebionites The Gospel of the Ebionites is the conventional name given by scholars to an apocryphal gospel extant only as seven brief quotations in a heresiology known as the '' Panarion'', by Epiphanius of Salamis; he misidentified it as the "Hebrew" go ...

Gospel of the Hebrews The Gospel of the Hebrews ( grc, τὸ καθ' Ἑβραίους εὐαγγέλιον), or Gospel according to the Hebrews, is a lost Jewish–Christian gospel. The text of the gospel is lost, with only fragments of it surviving as brief quot ...

Gospel of the Nazarenes The Gospel of the Nazarenes (also ''Nazareans'', ''Nazaraeans'', ''Nazoreans'', or ''Nazoraeans'') is the traditional but hypothetical name given by some scholars to distinguish some of the references to, or citations of, non-canonical Jewish-Chri ...

*76/79(?)–88

Pope Anacletus Pope Anacletus (died ), also known as Cletus, was the bishop of Rome, following Peter and Linus. Anacletus served between and his death, . Cletus was a Roman who, during his tenure as pope, ordained a number of priests and is traditionally credi ...

first Greek Pope, who succeeds Linus as ''Episcopus Romanus'' ("Bishop of Rome") * 80 – First Christians reported in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

and

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

(modern-day

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

){{sfn, Barnett, 2002, p=23 *80(+/−20)?

Gospel of Matthew The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...

, theoretically based on Mark and Q, most popular in

early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewis ...

*80(+/−20)?

, theoretically based on Mark and Q, also

by same author *88–101? Clement, fourth ''Episcopus Romanus'' ("Bishop of Rome"), wrote Letter of the Romans to the Corinthians (Apostolic Fathers) *90?

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in th ...

(disputed),

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Fl ...

applied the Fiscus Iudaicus tax even to those who merely "lived like Jews"{{cite web, url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=183&letter=F&search=Fiscus%20Iudaicus, title=Fiscus Judaicus , website=jewishencyclopedia.com *90(+/−10)? 1 Peter *94 "

Testimonium Flavianum The extant manuscripts of the book ''Antiquities of the Jews'', written by the first-century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus around AD 93–94, contain two references to Jesus of Nazareth and one reference to John the Baptist. The first a ...

", disputed section of the ''

Jewish Antiquities ''Antiquities of the Jews'' ( la, Antiquitates Iudaicae; el, Ἰουδαϊκὴ ἀρχαιολογία, ''Ioudaikē archaiologia'') is a 20-volume Historiography, historiographical work, written in Greek language, Greek, by historian Josephus, F ...

'' by

, translated to

*95(+/−30)?

Gospel of John The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

and

Epistles of John The Johannine epistles, the Epistles of John, or the Letters of John are three of the catholic epistles of the New Testament, thought to have been written between 85 and 100 AD. Most scholars agree that all three letters are written by the same a ...

*95(+/−10)?

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of ...

written, by John (son of Zebedee) and/or a disciple of his *100(+/−30)?

(Apostolic Fathers) *100(+/−25)?

Epistle of James The Epistle of James). is a general epistle and one of the 21 epistles ( didactic letters) in the New Testament. James 1:1 identifies the author as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" who is writing to "the twelve tribe ...

*100(+/−10)?

Epistle of Jude The Epistle of Jude is the penultimate book of the New Testament as well as the Christian Bible. It is traditionally attributed to Jude, brother of James the Just, and thus possibly brother of Jesus as well. Jude is a short epistle written in ...

written, probably by doubting relative of Jesus (Mark 6:3), rejected by some early Christians due to its reference to apocryphal Book of Enoch (v14),

Epistle to the Hebrews The Epistle to the Hebrews ( grc, Πρὸς Ἑβραίους, Pros Hebraious, to the Hebrews) is one of the books of the New Testament. The text does not mention the name of its author, but was traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. Most ...

written *100 – First Christians are reported in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Mauretania Caesariensis Mauretania Caesariensis (Latin for " Caesarean Mauretania") was a Roman province located in what is now Algeria in the Maghreb. The full name refers to its capital Caesarea Mauretaniae (modern Cherchell). The province had been part of the King ...

(modern-day

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

), and the

Anuradhapura Kingdom The Anuradhapura Kingdom ( Sinhala: , translit: Anurādhapura Rājadhāniya, Tamil: ), named for its capital city, was the first established kingdom in ancient Sri Lanka related to the Sinhalese people. Founded by King Pandukabhaya in 437 ...

(modern-day

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

);{{sfn, Barnett, 2002, p=23 a missionary goes to Arbela, old sacred city of the Assyrians.{{sfn, Latourette, 1941, loc=vol. I, p. 103 , titlestyle=background-color:lavender;

Notes

{{Reflist, group=note, 2

References

{{Reflist, 30em

Sources

Printed sources {{Refbegin, 40em * {{Cite book , last=Barnett , first=Paul , year=2002 , title=Jesus, the Rise of Early Christianity: A History of New Testament Times , publisher=InterVarsity Press , isbn=0-8308-2699-8 * {{Citation , last=Berard , first=Wayne Daniel , year=2006 , title=When Christians Were Jews (That Is, Now) , publisher=Cowley Publications , isbn=1-56101-280-7 * {{Cite journal , author-last=Bermejo-Rubio , author-first=Fernando , year=2017 , title=The Process of Jesus' Deification and Cognitive Dissonance Theory , editor1-last=Feldt , editor1-first=Laura , editor2-last=Valk , editor2-first=Ülo , journal=

Numen Numen (plural numina) is a Latin term for " divinity", "divine presence", or "divine will." The Latin authors defined it as follows:For a more extensive account, refer to Cicero writes of a "divine mind" (''divina mens''), a god "whose numen ev ...

, volume=64 , issue=2–3 , publisher=

Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 2 ...

, location=

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

, pages=119–152 , doi=10.1163/15685276-12341457 , eissn=1568-5276 , issn=0029-5973 , jstor=44505332 , s2cid=148616605 * {{Citation , last =Bird , first =Michael F. , year =2017 , title =Jesus the Eternal Son: Answering Adoptionist Christology , publisher =Wim. B. Eerdmans Publishing * {{Citation , last1=Boatwright , first1=Mary Taliaferro , last2=Gargola , first2=Daniel J. , last3=Talbert , first3=Richard John Alexander , year=2004 , title=The Romans: From Village to Empire , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=0-19-511875-8 * {{Citation , last =Bokenkotter , first =Thomas , year =2004 , title =A Concise History of the Catholic Church , edition = Revised and expanded , publisher =Doubleday , isbn =0-385-50584-1 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=DISK1e7JXA8C * Brown, Schuyler. ''The Origins of Christianity: A Historical Introduction to the New Testament''. Oxford University Press (1993). {{ISBN, 0-19-826207-8 * {{Cite book , last=Boyarin , first=Daniel , title=The Jewish Gospels: the Story of the Jewish Christ , publisher=The New Press , year=2012 , author-link=Daniel Boyarin, isbn=978-1-59558-878-4 * {{Citation , last =Burkett , first =Delbert , year =2002 , title =An Introduction to the New Testament and the Origins of Christianity , publisher =Cambridge University Press , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EcsQknxV-xQC&q=%2213+The+Gospel+of+Luke%22&pg=PA195 , isbn=978-0-521-00720-7 * {{Citation, last=Cohen, first=Shaye J.D., year=1987, title=From the Maccabees to the Mishnah, publisher =The Westminster Press, isbn=0-664-25017-3 * {{Citation , last1=Cox , first1=Steven L. , last2=Easley , first2=Kendell H. , year=2007 , title=Harmony of the Gospels , isbn=978-0-8054-9444-0 * {{Cite journal , last =Croix , first =G. E. M. de Sainte , date =1963 , author-link =G. E. M. de Ste. Croix , title =Why Were The Early Christians Persecuted? , journal =Past and Present , volume =26 , issue =1 , pages =6–38 , doi =10.1093/past/26.1.6 * {{Citation , last=Croix , first=G. E. M. de Sainte , year=2006 , editor-last=Whitby , editor-first=Michael , title=Christian Persecution, Martyrdom, And Orthodoxy , location=

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, publisher=

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

, isbn=0-19-927812-1 * {{Citation , editor1-last=Cross , editor1-first=F. L. , editor1-link=F. L. Cross , editor2-last=Livingstone , editor2-first=E. A. , editor2-link=Elizabeth Livingstone , title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church , year=2005 , location=

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, edition=3rd Revised , doi=10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001 , isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ * {{Citation , last=Cullmann, first=Oscar, year=1949, title=The Earliest Christian Confessions , translator=J. K. S. Reid, location=London , publisher=Lutterworth , author-link=Oscar Cullmann * {{Citation , last=Cullmann , first=Oscar , title=The Early Church: Studies in Early Christian History and Theology , editor=A. J. B. Higgins , place=Philadelphia , publisher=Westminster , year=1966 * {{Citation , last =Cwiekowski , first =Frederick J. , year =1988 , title =The Beginnings of the Church , publisher =Paulist Press * {{Citation , last=Dauphin , first=C. , chapter=De l'Église de la circoncision à l'Église de la gentilité – sur une nouvelle voie hors de l'impasse , chapter-url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/SBFla93.html , title=Studium Biblicum Franciscanum. Liber Annuus XLIII , year=1993 , archive-date=2013-03-09 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309052451/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/sbf/SBFla93.html , url-status=dead * {{Citation , last=Davidson , first=Ivor , title=The Birth of the Church: From Jesus to Constantine, AD 30-312 , place=Oxford , year=2005 * {{Citation , last=Davies , first=W. D. , author-link=W. D. Davies , title=Paul and Rabbinic Judaism , edition=2nd , place=London , year=1965 * {{cite magazine , last=Draper , first=JA , date=2006 , title=The Apostolic Fathers: the Didache , magazine=Expository Times , volume=117 , issue=5 * {{cite book , last1=Duffy , first1=Eamon , title=Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes; Fourth Edition , date=13 January 2015 , publisher=Yale University Press , isbn=978-0-300-20708-8 , orig-date=1997 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fd8uBQAAQBAJ , language=en * {{Citation , last =Dunn , first =James D. G. , year =1982 , title =The New Perspective on Paul. Manson Memorial Lecture, 4 november 1982 * {{Citation , last=Dunn , first=James D. G. , title=Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways, AD 70 to 135 , publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing , year=1999 , isbn=0-8028-4498-7 ** {{harvc , last=Dunn , first=James D. G. , c=The Canon Debate , in1=McDonald , in2=Sanders , year=2002 * {{Citation , last =Dunn , first =James D. G. , year =2005 , title =Christianity in the Making: Jesus Remembered , volume =1 , publisher =Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing , isbn =978-0-8028-3931-2 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=G4qpnvoautgC * {{Citation , last =Dunn , first =James D. G. , year =2009 , title =Christianity in the Making: Beginning from Jerusalem , volume =2 , publisher =Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing , isbn =978-0-8028-3932-9 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=A_NgbeCRrIwC * {{cite journal , last=Dunn , first=James D. G. , date=Autumn 1993 , title=Echoes of Intra-Jewish Polemic in Paul's Letter to the Galatians , journal=

, publisher=

, volume=112 , issue=3 , pages=459–77 , doi=10.2307/3267745 , jstor=3267745 * {{Citation , last1=Eddy , first1=Paul Rhodes , last2=Boyd , first2=Gregory A. , year=2007 , title=The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition , publisher=Baker Academic , isbn= 978-0-8010-3114-4 * {{Citation , last =Ehrman , first =Bart D. , year =2003, author-link=Bart D. Ehrman , title =Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew , location=Oxford , publisher=Oxford University Press , isbn=978-0-19-972712-4 , lccn=2003053097 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vDzRCwAAQBAJ * {{cite book , last=Ehrman , first=Bart D. , author-link=Bart D. Ehrman , year=2005 , orig-year=2003 , title=Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew , chapter=At Polar Ends of the Spectrum: Early Christian Ebionites and Marcionites , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=URdACxKubDIC&pg=PA95 , location=Oxford , publisher=Oxford University Press , pages=95–112 , isbn=978-0-19-518249-1 * {{Citation , last =Ehrman , first =Bart , year =2012 , title =Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth, publisher =Harper Collins, isbn=978-0-06-208994-6, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hf5Rj8EtsPkC * {{Citation , last =Ehrman , first =Bart , year =2014 , title =How Jesus became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee , publisher =Harper Collins * {{Citation , last1 =Elwell , first1 =Walter , last2 =Comfort , first2 =Philip Wesley , year =2001 , title =Tyndale Bible Dictionary , publisher =Tyndale House Publishers , isbn =0-8423-7089-7 * {{Citation , last=Esler , first=Philip F. , title=The Early Christian World , publisher=Routledge , year=2004 , isbn=0-415-33312-1 * {{Citation , last =Finlan , first =Stephen , year =2004 , title =The Background and Content of Paul's Cultic Atonement Metaphors , publisher =Society of Biblical Literature * {{Citation , last=Franzen , first=August , year=1988 , title=Kirchengeschichte * {{Citation , last=Fredriksen , first=Paula , author-link=Paula Fredriksen , date=2018 , title=When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation , url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NW9yDwAAQBAJ , location=

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, publisher=

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

, isbn=978-0-300-19051-9 * {{Citation , last =Grant , first = M. , year =1977 , title =Jesus: An Historian's Review of the Gospels , place =New York , publisher =Scribner's * {{Citation , last=Gundry , first=R.H. , title=Soma in Biblical Theology , place=Cambridge , publisher=Cambridge University Press , year=1976 * {{cite book , last=Herbermann , first=Charles George , title=The Catholic Encyclopedia , publisher=The Encycylopedia Press , date=1913 * {{Citation , last=Hunter , first=Archibald , title=Works and Words of Jesus , year=1973 * {{Citation , last=Hurtado , first=Larry W. , year=2004 , title=Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k32wZRMxltUC , location=

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is th ...

and Cambridge, U.K. , publisher= Wm. B. Eerdmans , isbn=978-0-8028-3167-5 * {{Citation , last=Hurtado , first=Larry W. , author-link=Larry Hurtado , year=2005 , title=How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? Historical Questions about Earliest Devotion to Jesus , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xi5xIxgnNgcC , location=

and Cambridge, U.K. , publisher= Wm. B. Eerdmans , isbn=978-0-8028-2861-3 *Johnson, L.T., ''The Real Jesus'', San Francisco, Harper San Francisco, 1996 * {{cite book , last=Kane , first=J. Herbert. , title=A Concise History of the Christian World Mission , publisher=Baker , date=1982 * {{Citation , last=Keck , first=Leander E. , title=Paul and His Letters , publisher=Fortress Press , year=1988 , isbn=0-8006-2340-1 * {{Citation , last =Komarnitsky , first =Kris , year =2014 , title =Cognitive Dissonance and the Resurrection of Jesus , journal =The Fourth R Magazine , volume=27 , issue=5 , url =https://www.westarinstitute.org/resources/the-fourth-r/cognitive-dissonance-resurrection-jesus/ * {{Citation , last=Kremer , first=Jakob , title=Die Osterevangelien{{sndGeschichten um Geschichte , place=Stuttgart , publisher=Katholisches Bibelwerk , year=1977 * {{cite book , last=Latourette , first=Kenneth Scott , title=A History of the Expansion of Christianity , volume=1 , date=1941 , orig-date=1937 , url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.236561/page/n131/mode/2up , location=New York and London , publisher=Harper and Brothers * {{Citation , last =Lawrence , first =Arren Bennet , year =2017 , title =Comparative Characterization in the Sermon on the Mount: Characterization of the Ideal Disciple , publisher =Wipf and Stock Publishers * {{Citation , last =Loke , first =Andrew Ter Ern , year =2017 , title =The Origin of Divine Christology , volume =169 , publisher =Cambridge University Press , isbn =978-1-108-19142-5 , url =https://books.google.com/books?id=Et0qDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 *Ludemann, Gerd, ''What Really Happened to Jesus?'' trans. J. Bowden, Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995 * {{Citation , last1 =Lüdemann , first1 =Gerd , last2 =Özen , first2 =Alf , year=1996, title =De opstanding van Jezus. Een historische benadering (Was mit Jesus wirklich geschah. Die Auferstehung historisch betrachtet) , publisher =The Have/Averbode * {{Citation , editor1-last = McDonald , editor1-first = L. M. , editor2-first = J. A. , editor2-last = Sanders , year = 2002 , title = The Canon Debate , publisher = Hendrickson * {{Citation , last =Mack , first =Burton L. , year =1995 , author-link =Burton L. Mack , title =Who wrote the New Testament? The making of the Christian myth , publisher =HarperSan Francisco , isbn =978-0-06-065517-4 , url =https://archive.org/details/whowrotenewtesta00mack_0 * {{Citation , last =Mack , first =Burton L. , year =1997 , orig-year =1995 , title =Wie schreven het Nieuwe Testament werkelijk? Feiten, mythen en motieven. (Who Wrote the New Testament? The Making of the Christian Myth) , publisher =Uitgeverij Ankh-Hermes bv * {{Citation , last =Maier , first =P. L. , year =1975 , title =The Empty Tomb as History , journal =Christianity Today * {{Citation , last =McGrath , first =Alister E. , author-link =Alister McGrath , year =2006 , title =Christianity: An Introduction , publisher = Wiley-Blackwell , isbn =1-4051-0899-1 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=v26doW8jIyYC * {{cite book , last=Milavec , first=Aaron , year=2003 , title=The Didache: Faith, Hope, & Life of the Earliest Christian Communities, 50-70 C.E. , publisher=Newman Press , isbn=978-0-8091-0537-3 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=17v6sT1l-aYC * {{cite journal , last =Moss , first =Candida , year =2012 , author-link =Candida Moss , title=Current Trends in the Study of Early Christian Martyrdom , journal =Bulletin for the Study of Religion , volume =41 , issue=3 , pages =22–29 , url =http://www.equinoxpub.com/journals/index.php/BSOR/article/viewArticle/15719 , doi =10.1558/bsor.v41i3.22 *{{cite book , last=Neill , first=Stephen , title=A History of Christian Missions , publisher=Penguin Books , date=1986 Comprehensive survey * {{Citation , last =Netland , first =Harold , year =2001 , title =Encountering Religious Pluralism: The Challenge to Christian Faith & Mission , publisher =InterVarsity Press * {{Citation , last=Neufeld , title=The Earliest Christian Confessions , place=Grand Rapids , publisher=Eerdmans , year=1964 * {{Citation , last=O'Collins , first=Gerald , title=What are They Saying About the Resurrection? , place=New York , publisher=Paulist Press , year=1978 * {{Citation , last=Pagels , first=Elaine , author-link=Elaine Pagels , year=2005 , title=De Gnostische Evangelien (The Gnostic Gospels) , publisher=Servire * {{Citation , last=Pannenberg , first=Wolfhart , title=Jesus{{sndGod and Man , translator1=Lewis Wilkins , translator2=Duane Pribe , place=Philadelphia , publisher=Westminster , year=1968 * {{Citation , last =Pao , first =David W. , year =2016 , title =Acts and the Isaianic New Exodus , publisher =Wipf and Stock Publishers * {{Citation , last=Pelikan , first=Jaroslav Jan , title=The Christian Tradition: The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100–600) , publisher=University of Chicago Press , year=1975 , isbn=0-226-65371-4 * {{Citation , last=Redford , first=Douglas , year=2007 , title=The Life and Ministry of Jesus: The Gospels , isbn=978-0-7847-1900-8 * {{Citation , last=Rowland , first=Christopher , author-link=Christopher Rowland (theologian) , title=Christian Origins: An Account of the Setting and Character of the Most Important Messianic Sect of Judaism , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZfYAAAAMAAJ , year=1985 , publisher=

SPCK The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) is a UK-based Christian charity. Founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray, it has worked for over 300 years to increase awareness of the Christian faith in the UK and across the world. The SPCK is th ...

, isbn=9780281041107 * {{cite journal , last=Smith , first=J. L. , date=September 1969 , title=Resurrection Faith Today , journal=Theological Studies , volume=30 , issue=3 , pages=393–419 , doi=10.1177/004056396903000301 , s2cid=59022803 , url=http://cdn.theologicalstudies.net/30/30.3/30.3.1.pdf , access-date=2022-02-10 * {{cite journal , last=Stendahl , first=Krister , author-link=Krister Stendahl , date=July 1963 , title=The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West , url=http://www.scotthahn.com/s/01Stendahl.pdf , url-status=live , journal=

Harvard Theological Review The ''Harvard Theological Review'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal established in 1908 and published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Harvard Divinity School. It covers a wide spectrum of fields in theological and re ...

, location=

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, publisher=

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

on behalf of the

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

, volume=56 , issue=3 , pages=199–215 , doi=10.1017/S0017816000024779 , issn=1475-4517 , jstor=1508631 , lccn=09003793 , s2cid=170331485 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224045859/https://static1.squarespace.com/static/569543b4bfe87360795306d6/t/5a4d41fa085229a032376713/1515012617149/01Stendahl.pdf , archive-date=24 December 2021 , access-date=12 February 2022 * {{Citation , last=Tabor , first=James D. , author-link=James Tabor , chapter-url=http://www.religiousstudies.uncc.edu/JDTABOR/ebionites.html , chapter=Ancient Judaism: Nazarenes and Ebionites , title=The Jewish Roman World of Jesus , publisher=Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte , year=1998 * {{Citation , last =Talbert , first =Charles H. , year =2011 , title =The Development of Christology during the First Hundred Years: and Other Essays on Early Christian Christology. Supplements to Novum Testamentum 140. , location = Leiden , publisher = Brill Publishers * {{Citation , last =Taylor , first =Joan E. , year =1993 , title =Christians and the Holy Places: The Myth of Jewish-Christian Origins , publisher =Oxford University Press , isbn =0198147856 * {{cite journal , author-last=Thiessen , author-first=Matthew , date=September 2014 , title=Paul's Argument against Gentile Circumcision in Romans 2:17-29 , editor1-last=Breytenbach , editor1-first=Cilliers , editor2-last=Thom , editor2-first=Johan , journal= Novum Testamentum , location=

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, volume=56 , issue=4 , pages=373–391 , doi=10.1163/15685365-12341488 , eissn=1568-5365 , issn=0048-1009 , jstor=24735868 * {{Citation , last=Van Daalen , first=D. H. , title=The Real Resurrection , place=London , publisher=Collins , year=1972 * {{Citation , last =Vidmar , year =2005 , title =The Catholic Church Through the Ages * {{Citation , last=Walker , first=Williston , year=1959 , title=A History of the Christian Church{{fcn, date=February 2022 * {{Citation , last=Weiss , first=Johannes , title=Der erste Korintherbrief , edition=9th , place=Göttingen , publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht , year=1910 * {{Citation , last=White , first=L. Michael , title=From Jesus to Christianity , publisher=HarperCollins , year=2004 , isbn=0-06-052655-6 * {{cite book , last=Wilken , first=Robert Louis , year=2013a , chapter=Beginning in Jerusalem , title=The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iW1-JImrwQUC&pg=PA6 , location=

and

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, pages=6–16 , isbn=978-0-300-11884-1 , jstor=j.ctt32bd7m , lccn=2012021755 , s2cid=160590164 * {{cite book , last=Wilken , first=Robert Louis , year=2013b , chapter=Divisions Within , title=The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity , chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iW1-JImrwQUC&pg=PA37 , location=

and

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, pages=37–46 , isbn=978-0-300-11884-1 , jstor=j.ctt32bd7m , lccn=2012021755 , s2cid=160590164 * {{Citation , last=Wilckens , first=Ulrich , title=Auferstehung , place=Stuttgart and Berlin , publisher=Kreuz Verlag , year=1970 * {{Citation , last=Wright , first=N.T. , title=The New Testament and the People of God , publisher=Fortress Press , year=1992 , isbn=0-8006-2681-8 * {{Citation , last=Wylen , first=Stephen M. , title=The Jews in the Time of Jesus: An Introduction , publisher=Paulist Press , year=1995 , isbn=0-8091-3610-4 {{Refend Web-sources {{Reflist, group=web, refs= E.P. Sanders, Jaroslav Jan Pelikan
''Jesus''
Encyclopedia Britannica {{cite web, last=Schochet, first=Jacob Immanuel , title=Moshiach ben Yossef, work=Tutorial, publisher=moshiach.com , url=http://www.moshiach.com/discover/tutorials/moshiach_ben_yossef.php, access-date=2 December 2012, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021220182918/http://www.moshiach.com/discover/tutorials/moshiach_ben_yossef.php, archive-date=20 December 2002, url-status=dead {{cite web , date =2008 , title=Christianity: Severance from Judaism , website =

Jewish Virtual Library Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

, publisher = AICE , url =https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/christianity-2 , access-date=17 December 2018 {{cite encyclopedia, last=Blidstein, first=Gerald J., year=2008 , title=Messiah , url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0014_0_13744.html , via=Jewish Virtual Library and , encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Judaica , publisher=The Gale Group, access-date=2 December 2012 {{cite web, last=Flusser, first=David, title=Second Temple Period, url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0014_0_13744.html, work=Messiah, publisher=Encyclopaedia Judaica 2008 The Gale Group, access-date=2 December 2012 {{cite web, last=Telushkin, first=Joseph, title=The Messiah, url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/messiah.html, publisher=The Jewish Virtual Library Jewish Literacy. NY: William Morrow and Co., 1991. Reprinted by permission of the author., access-date=2 December 2012 {{cite web , last =Shiffman , first =Lawrence H. , date =2018 , title =How Jewish Christians Became Christians , website =My Jewish Learning , url =https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/how-jewish-christians-became-christians/

External links

{{Wikiquote, First Century Christianity
New Testament Reading Room
Extensive online NT resources (incl. commentaries), Tyndale Seminary
Scholarly articles on the New Testament from the Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary Library
{{Christianity by century , period =

, prev = Historical background of
the New Testament , years = First
century , followed = Christianity in
the ante-Nicene period {{Christian History, collapsed {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Christianity in the 1st century 01 01 Early Christianity and Judaism

Etymology

Origins

Jewish–Hellenistic background

Life and ministry of Jesus

Sources

Historical person

Ministry and eschatological expectations

Death and resurrection

Apostolic Age

Jewish Christianity

The Jerusalem ''ekklēsia''

Beliefs and practices

Creeds and salvation

Christology

Eschatological expectations

Angels and Devils

Practices

Baptism

Communal meals and Eucharist

Liturgy

Emerging church – mission to the Gentiles

Growth of early Christianity

Paul and the inclusion of Gentiles

Conversion

Inclusion of Gentiles

Persecutions

Development of the Biblical canon

Old Testament

New Testament

Early orthodox writings – Apostolic Fathers

Split of early Christianity and Judaism

Split with Judaism

Later rejection of Jewish Christianity

Timeline

See also

Notes

References

Sources

Further reading

Books

Book series

External links