This comprehensive and accessible account of the earliest Christian church draws on an enormous range of recent scholarly German and English literature, and places it in the context of a more general account . It provides a survey of the history of the earliest Christian church in the period up to the fall of Jerusalem, concentrating on the figure of Paul, judicious and critical use of information in the Book of Acts, Judaizing versions of Christianity and the Johannine tradition. As well as providing introductory discussions on the development of the chief features of the earliest Christian church, through its detailed notes and occasional excurses, A HISTORY OF THE FIRST CHRISTIANS also provides material for the specialist. The approach steers a middle way between an over-simplified account which fails to warn students where scholarly opinion is divided, and an in-depth academic study which attempts to document and discuss every hypothesis. Throughout, Wedderburn focuses on aspects of central importance: the changing shape of church life, and the development of Christianity in relation to the Roman Empire and to Judaism.