The First Christians / pt. 5 The period between the death of Yeshu haNotsri ca. 65 BCE and the acceptance of the canonical gospels ca. 150 CE (215 years in all!) represents a lengthy period in which the theology of Jesus took forms that today we would scarcely recognize as “Christian.” A vast literature survives from this era, some of it denominated Christian, some denominated Jewish, some considered an amalgam of the two religions, and some whose theology remains frankly “uncertain.” This literature, because it did not enter either body of religious scripture, is termed “Jewish pseudepigrapha” and “Christian apocrypha.”  Both terms are treated pejoratively by the guild. Pseudepigrapha literally means “false writings,” and the term “apocryphal” immediately raises suspicion in biblical … Continue reading →