Men and Movements in the Primitive Church

Publisher Description

It is plain even from Paul’s own writings that other presentations of the Christian message than his own were current during his apostolic career. With some of these other presentations he is quite happy; against others he found it necessary to put his readers on their guard. In these four studies originally presented as the inaugural series of Didsbury Lectures at the British Isles Nazarene College, Manchester, F.F. Bruce discusses what we know about the history of non-Pauline Christianity in the first century. Judiciously drawing upon material from the whole of the New Testament, he relates it to other early Christian literature in order to provide a highly readable outline of an important area. But, as he warns, this book does not study the literature for its own sake. Instead, it focuses on the leaders of early non-Pauline Christianity, with their associates, from whom the literature provides indispensable evidence. The topics covered are: Chapter 1: Peter and the Eleven Chapter 2: Stephen and Other Hellenists Chapter 3: James and the Church of Jerusalem Chapter 4: John and his Circle