many faces of Christ, The
the thousand-year story of the survival and influence …
Philip Jenkins
326 pages | ~9 hrs
many faces of Christ, The
the thousand-year story of the survival and influence of the lost gospels
By Philip Jenkins
Religious historian Philip Jenkins challenges everything you thought you knew about early Christianity and the development of Christian scripture. Rather than accepting the conventional narrative that alternative gospels were systematically destroyed and lost to history, Jenkins presents compelling evidence that these texts actually survived for centuries, continuing to influence both mainstream and alternative Christian communities long after the official canon was established.
This groundbreaking exploration reveals how texts like the Gospels of Thomas, Mary, and Judas were not simply suppressed curiosities, but remained active parts of Christian tradition well into the medieval period and beyond. Jenkins demonstrates that the Christian world maintained a far richer and more diverse scriptural landscape than most people realize today, even after Emperor Constantine's conversion transformed Christianity into the Roman Empire's official religion.
For spiritual seekers interested in understanding the full spectrum of early Christian thought, this work offers a fascinating window into the complexity of Christian origins. Jenkins shows how the boundaries between orthodox and alternative Christianity were far more fluid than traditional accounts suggest, revealing a vibrant tradition where multiple perspectives on Christ's teachings coexisted and evolved together.
Through careful historical analysis, this book invites readers to reconsider their assumptions about religious authority, scriptural development, and the rich diversity that characterized early Christian communities across different cultures and centuries.
What You'll Discover
- ✓ Explore RELIGION / Christian Theology / History
- ✓ Explore Origin
- ✓ Explore Christianity, origin
- ✓ Explore RELIGION / Biblical Studies / Jesus, the Gospels & Acts
- ✓ Explore Christianity
- ✓ Explore Apocryphal Gospels
- ✓ Explore RELIGION / Christian Church / History
Topics
Details
- Published
- 2015
- Publisher
- Basic Books, a member of the Perseus Books Group
- ISBN-13
- 9780465066926
- ISBN-10
- 0465066925
- Pages
- 326
- Language
- EN
