After Jesus Before Christianity

Erin Vearncombe is a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the social realities of the earliest Jesus groups.Brandon Scott is the Darbeth Distinguished Professor of New Testament Emeritus at Phillips Theological Seminary, Tulsa, and the author of many books.Hal Taussig recently retired as professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He edited the award-winning A New New Testament and has published fourteen books.The Westar Institute is dedicated to fostering and communicating the results of cutting-edge scholarship on the history and evolution of the Christian tradition, thereby raising the level of public discourse about questions that matter in society and culture.

“This book is a work of genius. You are about to read a book that possesses the potential to rewrite history.” — Sue Monk Kidd, bestselling author of The Dance of the Dissident Daughter and The Secret Life of Bees"With a prose cool, clear, and crisp, a tone positive, powerful, and persuasive, and a vision confident, collective, and collegial, After Jesus Before Christianity is good news, truth, and joy—as Christianity itself should always be." — John Dominic Crossan, author of The Birth of Christianity and Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography“Here is a room full of forgotten stories about what it once meant to follow Jesus. Some are so strange that they tell me what a stranger I have become to my own faith. Others are so compelling that they refresh my sense of what this faith asks of me.” — Barbara Brown Taylor, author of Holy Envy"There have always been Jesus people who challenged the assumptions of Empire and created refuge for the oppressed. This noble effort to uncover movements that were silenced reminds me of the saints who sing, 'I know Jesus for myself.'" — Bishop William J. Barber, II, President of Repairers of the Breach and author, We Are Called To Be A Movement"Well-conceived, well-organized, honestly and bravely argued. It provokes consideration of what persistently haunts us as moderns." — Vincent L. Wimbush, Director of the Institute for Signifying Scriptures    “Tracing the early history of Christianity from Jesus to Constantine, this book serves as an excellent preparation for the emergence of Christendom. Its timing is auspicious, given the current confusion in America about the definition of Christianity and the relations between Christianity, culture, and society.” — Burton L. Mack, author of The Lost Gospels “After Jesus Before Christianity describes a time of widespread resistance to violence and oppression in the ancient world while also providing models of hope for modern day seekers of justice and wholesome spirituality.” — Chebon Kernell, executive secretary of Native American and Indigenous Ministries, United Methodist Church“A ground-breaking, truth-telling account of the development of early Christianity, a must read and will have implications for generations.” — Liz Theoharis, director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights, and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary