Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

CHAPTER 1
Christianity in the Making
Christianity is without doubt the most significant and longest-lasting influence to
have shaped the character and culture of Europe (and so also of 'the West') over
the last two millennia. To understand Christianity better, its own character and the
core elements which made its beliefs and values so influential, remains therefore
an important task and a continuing challenge for historical inquiry. Within that
larger enterprise, the beginnings of Christianity call for special consideration.
Partly because the origins of such a major religious and social force are always of
interest for the student of history. And partly because Christianity is itself named
after the first-century CE figure, Jesus of Nazareth (Jesus Christ), and regards the
earliest Christian writings (the New Testament) as definitive ('canonical') for
these beliefs and values. To focus thus on Christianity's beginnings is not to claim
that only the 'original' is 'authentic', or that 'the apostolic age' was alone 'pure'.
It is simply to affirm the continuing relevance of formative factors in the determination
of features of Christianity which have been integral to its lasting impact.
And for Christianity itself the challenge of setting the texts which attest these beginnings
within their historical context and of understanding them better can
never be less than a challenge to Christianity's own self-understanding.
The task here envisaged was one more frequently tackled by earlier generations.
Subsequent to the influential overviews of F. C. Baur (particularly 1845 and
1854)' and the generally disregarded Ernest Renan (1863-81 ), 2 we could mention,
for example, Carl Weizsacker's Das apostolische Zeitalter der christlichen Kirche
1. F. C. Baur, Paul: The Apostle of Jesus Christ (1845; ET 2 vols. London: Williams and
Norgate, 1873, 1875); The Church History of the First Three Centuries (1854; ET 2 vols. London:
Williams and Norgate, 1878-79).
2. E. Renan, Histoire des origines du christianisme in 5 volumes, beginning with his Vie
de Jesus (1863), ET The History of the Origins of Christianity (London: Mathieson, n.d.).
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