1) In the early first century, among the apocalyptic preachers active in Judea was one Jesus of Nazareth.
2) This Jesus said or did controversial things which led to his crucifixion on a cross, a common practice at the time.
3) The resting place of Jesus’ body was unknown to his followers.
4) This Jesus had some followers while he was alive, but most disappeared into lives never recorded by reliable history, never to be heard from again… all except Simon Peter and possibly John.
5) Distraught after the death of his mentor, Simon Peter became sincerely, albeit mistakenly, convinced that Jesus had appeared to him.
6) James the brother of Jesus became part of Peter’s Jesus Movement. Perhaps also one of the disciples named John.
7) Stories about Jesus spread through person-to-person evangelism, with the focus on recruiting new followers rather than accurately transmitting historical events.
8) Paul (Saul), a Pharisee who had been persecuting the new Christians out of a sincere belief that he was serving God, experienced a non-veridical vision of the allegedly-resurrected Jesus.
9) Paul met Peter (and John), but they didn’t see eye-to-eye.
10) Several decades later, Greek-speaking individuals who had never met Jesus or Peter began documenting the circulating stories about Jesus, the sayings attributed to him, and their interpretations of these narratives.
11) Occasionally, some early Christians engaged in disruptive behavior and faced consequences as a result.
12) Centuries later, in 303 AD, Christianity was temporarily outlawed in Rome, but it gained legal protection ten years later and soon became the Roman Empire’s first official religion, marking its transformation toward the institution we know today.
I believe that this theory explains the origins and rise of the Christian faith very well and it makes much more sense and is much more realistic than supernatural explanations.
For an excellent elaboration on all of these points, please see Dr. Bart Ehrman's blog post here. For the excellent video from the Paulogia YouTube channel, please click here.
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