The Birth of Christianity: The First Twenty Years

by Paul Barnett

Contrary to several popular works of Christian scholarship, historian Paul Barnett maintains that the first two decades of Christian history are hardly "lost years." As he shows in this penetrating book, the period between Jesus and the earliest Christian texts is open to historical investigation, and he richly details the time and setting in which the church was born.

Writing in a very accessible style, Barnett provides an informative, reliable chronology of the years immediately following Jesus' crucifixion. Just as important, he presents the historical sources, biblical clues, and other telling evidence that we have for accurately documenting this crucial period of time. Looking more widely, Barnett also surveys world events during Christianity's first twenty years and notes their impact on life in the early church.

The Birth of The First Twenty Years is Volume 1 of a trilogy titled After Jesus. Volume 2 will be Paul, Missionary of Jesus , and Volume 3 will be Finding the Historical Christ.

Genres: History, Christianity, Religion, Christian History, Christian, Church History

240 pages, Paperback

First published March 29, 2005

About the author

Paul Barnett, former Anglican Bishop of North Sydney, Australia, is a Visiting Fellow in Ancient History at Macquarie University and Teaching Fellow at Regent College, Vancouver and Moore College, Sydney. He is a frequent traveler to Israel, where Christianity began, and to Turkey and Greece, to which it rapidly spread.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall, there is not much to this book and its arguments are not backed up with extensive facts. Some information presented to consider the timeline between the crucifixion and the earliest writings, the possibility of writings contemporary with Jesus’ life, and the similarities in Paul’s teaching and Acts and the Gospels.

[Brian Chilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I have read in recent memory. Barnett discusses the written and oral sources that make up the pre-NT traditions. I was left wondering how anyone could deny the historicity of Jesus and his teachings and miracles (outside of bias) after reading this book. He shows that there are at least 5 independent sources in the Gospels and that all of the NT was written within 70 years of Jesus' death and resurrection. Great and important read!

[Ruth Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome book for anyone even vaguely interested in the subject and/or period, whether Christian or not. Paul Barnett sets out a really clear thesis and highly readable rationale for his dating of events and in doing so, provides an amazing window into the events of the times.

[Bryan Bigari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good

Good

interesting thesis that the time between the death of historical Jesus and the writings of Paul were only 15 years. Does a good job backing it up with references as well.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Useful historical description and argument to dip into (he is writing directly against folks like Crossan), not so gripping to read through cover to cover.