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When Christians Were Jews

The First Generation

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When Christians Were Jews

Written by: Paula Fredriksen
Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
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A compelling account of Christianity’s Jewish beginnings, from one of the world’s leading scholars of ancient religion

How did a group of charismatic, apocalyptic Jewish missionaries, working to prepare their world for the impending realization of God's promises to Israel, end up inaugurating a movement that would grow into the gentile church? Committed to Jesus’s prophecy - “The Kingdom of God is at hand!” - they were, in their own eyes, history's last generation. But in history's eyes, they became the first Christians.

In this electrifying social and intellectual history, Paula Fredriksen answers this question by reconstructing the life of the earliest Jerusalem community. As her account arcs from this group’s hopeful celebration of Passover with Jesus, through their bitter controversies that fragmented the movement’s midcentury missions, to the city’s fiery end in the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, she brings this vibrant apostolic community to life. Fredriksen offers a vivid portrait both of this temple-centered messianic movement and of the bedrock convictions that animated and sustained it.

©2018 Paula Fredriksen. (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved. Ancient History Judaism Religious Studies Celebration City

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Profile Image for Dona Baker

Listened to this book twice

I really enjoyed this book as it has an in depth analysis of what is "more likely" to have been the actual story of Christ's mission and the Apostles who further spread the teachings after Christ's crucifixion. The author does this without denying beliefs about the faith, which I thought was a hard row to walk without taking a misstep. She sticks to historical evidence and what is known of practices and the language that was used to capture the first writings on the faith.

The only criticism I would give about the book is that it sometimes feels disjointed. It wasn't enough to make me feel that the writing was less than 5 stars for me.

As I say in my title, I have listened to it twice and plan to listen to it again. There is so much rich detail, that it takes multiple listenings to capture all the depth of the author's arguments.

The narration is superb. I felt like I was listening to an epic novel, rather than a book on history. Very well done.

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