Contents
1. Introduction
2. History and the New Testament
Christianity and the rise of historical consciousness Past and future in the New Testament
The rise of modern historiography
The sources for earliest Christianity
The apostolic age and the apostolic writings
The problem of origins ih modern historiography
The critical function of historiography
The social history of earliest Christianity: reading between the lines
Historical criticism and the testimony of religious writers Ancient historiography
The problem of source material
The problem of canonicity
Fundamentalism and exaggerated scepticism
Historical affirmations and faith affirmations
Dating the New Testament books
New Testament references to the fall of Jerusalem
Literary and theological evidence
The expectation of Jesus' return
Theological similarity as evidance for contemporaneity
The Gallio inscription
The dating of Luke-Acts
The testimony of the New Testament books to their contemporary situation
The influence of literary genre
The sources of the New Testament authors
Biblical interpretation in the first crntury CE
Interaction between prophecy and fulfilment
Interaction between Judaism and Hellenism
Indications of earlier sources
Stylistic assimilation and imitatio
The sources of Acts
The sources of the Jesus tradition
Form criticism
A Scandinavian alternative
The origin of the Jesus tradition
The Gospels in the context of Graeco-Roan literature
3. Jesus of Nazareth
Jesus as a historical problem
Theological presuppositions of the new quest
Two theories of post-Easter creation of gospel tradition Jesus' condemnation and death: the starting point for historical reconstruction
Jesus' controvrsies with the scribes
Jesus and the Jesus tradition
Acts and Paul
Jesus, history, and the kerygma
Jesus' claim of authority
Jesus' understanding of his mission
Christ, Suffering Servant, or prophet?
Jesus' miracles
Jesus' parables
Jesus and the social order
Jesus and apocaliptic
Jesus the teacher of wisdom
Jesus' experience of God
Jesus' table fellowship with tax gatherers and sinners
The ethics of Jesus
Jesus and the Baptist
Jesus and new covenant
Conclusion
4. Lord and Spirit
The beginning of the Christian mission
The empty tomb
The flight of the disciples
The appearances of Jesus
The pre-Pauline credo
The appearance to Peter
Seeing, seeing that, and revealing
The Old Testament and intertestamental literature as background
The resurrection of Jesus and the historian
The gift of the spirit
Conclusion
5. Neither Jew nor Greek
Christian self-definition and the New Testament
Jewish self-understanding and the Jewish War
The Hellenists
Peter, James, and Paul
Paul's view of Israel
Paul in the Acts of the Apostles
Paul and Jerusalem
Matthew's special material
The Matthean community and the Jewish War
The Matthean community in Syria
The Mathean community and post-70 Pharisaism
The Matthean community and the Gentile mission The Gospel of Signs
The Johannine community and post-70 Judaism
The Johannine community and other Christian groups conclusion
6. The Church
From the churchers to the Church
The apostle as founder
Apostle of Jesus Christ - apostles of the churches
Apostleship and association with the earthly Jesus
From the Easer experience to the word of faith
Believing through hearing - believing through seeing
The basis for apostolic authority
Paul's authority in the churches he founded
Tradition in earliest Christianity
Paul and the apostles before him
The twelve
The second generation
The gospels
The formation of the Pauline corpus
The appeal to apostolic authority
The Johannine community and the Jesus tradition
The Johannine community's acceptance of apostolic authority
Luke-Acts
The Pastoral Epistles
Relations between christian communities
The Christian life
Gnosis
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index of Passages Cited
General Index

The life and death of Jesus of Nazareth and the beginnings of the movement which venerated him are of profound religious significance to Christian believers today. These events are also part of our common history and have had enormous influence on the development of Western civilization. This is a thorough historical introduction to the New Testament, considering many aspects of the formation of Christianity and how it has influenced subsequent secular and religious history. A revised edition of a classic text, The Origins of Christianity addresses the historical problems involved in the study of the New Testament, suggesting modern techniques for solving them. For the this revised edition, the author has not only corrected and updated the text, but also expanded and clarified some points with new material and further references.