The Religion of the Earliest Churches: Creating a Symbolic World

by Gerd Theißen

Book Overview

In these distinguished Oxford lectures, Theissen picks up where he left off in The Historical Jesus (1998). Employing the notion of religion as a "cultural sign language which promises a gain in life by corresponding to an ultimate reality," he plots the emergence of Christianity as a religion, with elements of myth, ritual, ethics, and an emergent symbolic system. He expands upon the historical, social, and theological analysis of his earlier works...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080063179X
• ISBN13: 9780800631796
• Release Date: November 1999
• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.2"