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Podcast: New Books in Ancient History
Episode: Paula Fredriksen, "When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation" (Yale UP, 2018)
Description: How did a group of charismatic, apocalyptic Jewish missionaries, working to prepare their world for the impending realization of God's promises to Israel, end up inaugurating a movement that would grow into the gentile church? Committed to Jesusâs prophecyââThe Kingdom of God is at hand!ââthey were, in their own eyes, history's last generation. But in history's eyes, they became the first Christians.In When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation (Yale University Press, 2018), Paula Fredriksen answers this question by reconstructing the life of the earliest Jerusalem community. As her account arcs from this groupâs hopeful celebr...