The first followers of Jesus, their ideas, their Jewish background.
This week, I found myself musing about the composition of the New Testament Gospels. Not so much about the content or theological propositions therein, but about the actual methodology involved in writing such texts. My focus shifted primarily to Luke-Acts, the first and second volumes of a second-century survey of Christian origins. I think that …
Continue reading A Historically Plausible (If Imaginary) Origin Story for Luke-Acts
I am pleased to announce the forthcoming release of my next book, Jesus Believing Jews: The Forgotten Story of Jesus' First Followers (Wipf & Stock, spring 2027). In this engaging study, I will tell you of a hidden chapter in Christian origins. The story of Jews who believed in Jesus has been ignored and even …
It is a standard canard that Jews were always monotheists and that Christians, whose movement began with Jewish believers in Jesus, followed suit. But is this true? First, we must clarify our terms before proceeding to look at early beliefs. "Monotheism" (or "one god-ism") can indicate a belief that there is only one God. But …
Continue reading Did Early Jews and Christians Believe in Multiple Gods?
This may seem like an obvious question. Many would answer that Christianity began with Christ. Others, thinking a bit deeper, might assert that the apostle Paul really began Christianity. But, historically speaking, both answers would be wrong. It is commonplace to assume that the religion called Christianity is as old as its namesake. Unfortunately, there …
Unfortunately, there are too many interpreters who read the New Testament as supporting the notion that Christianity (never mentioned in the NT) was intended to replace Judaism as God’s saving religion and Christians were intended to displace Jews as God’s favored people. After all, as some still claim, “the Jews killed Christ.” Doesn’t that warrant …
Continue reading How did Paul Understand the Fate of His Unbelieving Fellow Jews?
It may come as a surprise to many, but Christianity, if we define it as a religious movement intentionally separate and distinct from Judaism, is not apostolic. Let me state my thesis a bit more fully and then provide the evidence. First, to remind readers of the obvious, all of the apostles were Jews. Historically, …
Most people understand that Christianity grew out of Judaism. Jesus was Jewish. So were Peter, James, John, and Paul. So were the many other named and unnamed initial believers who hailed from Palestine and from the Greek-speaking world. But as followers of Jesus began to invite non-Jews to join their movement, questions immediately arose about …
Continue reading Early Christianity’s Uneasy Relationship with the Torah, Jews, and Judaism
Among the earliest messengers (Greek = apostolos) proclaiming the messiahship of Jesus were the twelve specially chosen disciples and, later, secondary followers of Jesus who learned about him from those who knew him. Initially, these messengers limited their target audience to Jews; after all, the Jewish messiah had come; they based their belief on prophecies …
Continue reading The First “Apostle to the Gentiles”? The Possessed Man from Gergesa
You may already be thinking that if this is to be a “historical” assessment, then it is likely that the entire concept of virginal conception (not “virgin birth”; that is something entirely different) will be dismissed as a mythical fable. But not so fast. History may mean one thing to us today and another thing …
Continue reading The Virginal Conception of Jesus: A Historian’s Assessment
With this post, we complete our historical survey of the lives of the twelve apostles. Here, we discuss the apostles Thaddaeus, Simon, Judas, “and the rest.” Thaddaeus/Lebbaeus/Judas son of James It is possible, though unlikely, that these three names all refer to the same person. Some suggest that the names Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus ultimately …
Continue reading The Twelve Apostles Part 6: Thaddaeus, Simon, Judas & the Rest
