This narrative history of Christianity’s first hundred years introduces the world of Jesus and his early followers, the world in which the New Testament texts were created and collected. Sheila McGinn traces key challenges and developments as the Jesus movement arose and interacted with the wider world of the Roman Empire, presenting the findings of contemporary historical scholarship in a narrative format accessible to the average reader.

Beginning with the world into which Jesus was born, the story moves to his life and ministry and then, decade by decade, presents what was going on in and around the first Christ-believing communities—the political, social, economic, cultural, and political developments. The chronological approach to the period (the years 20–120 CE) helps situate both Jesus and his earliest followers in the real world they inhabited. Moving chronologically, the reader comes to understand the relationships between external influences and the structural changes and theological choices made by the early churches. McGinn brings to life the Jesus movement and the books they produced during this formative period, illuminating the developing Christ-believing communities and how they met the challenges of their times.