One Jesus, many Christs

An expert on the historical context in which Christianity arose, Riley illuminates the Greco-Roman world of the early Christians, a world steeped in heroic ideals. Jesus was embraced as a new and compelling hero that one could follow into a whole new life of caring community and transcendent hope. Riley boldly asserts that it was only as Christianity became the religion of the empire that the myth of the Apostles' Creed was created, thereby promulgating the illusion that the Apostles had gathered together and agreed upon a core set of doctrines essential to Christian faith. But the reality is that doctrinal orthodoxy was not an issue for the early Christians. Rather, they focused, in quite varied ways, on following Jesus as a model for living. This book not only provides a whole new understanding of the nature of earliest Christianity, but it also conveys a vital message for today about what Christian faith is really about. Riley reveals the authentic character of Christianity as inherently pluralistic and tolerant of diverse ideas while passionately centered in Jesus.

First sentence: We take the existence of Christianity for granted today, but early in the first century it did not exist at all, and, after its inception, it long suffered the ridicule of both Jewish and pagan detractors that it was founded by a bunch of low-class types with bad grammar and bad accents.

Year

1997

Language

English

Publisher

Augsburg Fortress Publishers

Editions

1

Pages

240

ISBN

9780800632427

Data source: Wikidata