Origins of Christianity

What if everything we thought we knew about the origins of Christianity was wrong? This groundbreaking work presents the radical arguments of Dutch theologian Willem Christiaan van Manen, whose critical analysis of the New Testament scandalized the scholarly world of the late nineteenth century. Van Manen maintained that none of the letters attributed to Paul were actually written by the apostle himself, a conclusion that struck at the very foundation of Christian theology. Thomas Whittaker brings these controversial views to an English-speaking audience for the first time, arguing persuasively that the entire New Testament corpus belongs to the second century, and that the Christian movement as we know it likely began only after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. With Paul himself receding into historical uncertainty, Whittaker invites readers to reconsider the most fundamental assumptions about the foundations of Western religion. This is essential reading for anyone interested in the intersection of biblical scholarship, critical theory, and the contested origins of Christianity.