Bauer’s core thesis was that early Christianity was profoundly diverse in terms of its theological commitments.  Various Christian groups believed all sorts of contradictory things about Jesus, salvation, creation and a myriad of other Christian doctrines. Simply put, in the earliest stages there was no Christianity.  Instead there were Christianities (plural)–all in competition with one another over who could claim the mantle of “original” or “authentic” Christianity.

In 1934, the German scholar Walter Bauer wrote a landmark work entitled Orthodoxy and Heresy in Earliest Christianity.  The problem was that no one yet knew it was a landmark work.  The Germans (and the world) had other things on their mind during this phase of European history.

But, in 1971 the book was translated into English.  And with all the new found (largely American) fascination with apocryphal Gospels like the Gospel of Thomas, the English translation proved to be well timed.

Bauer’s core thesis was that early Christianity was profoundly diverse in terms of its theological commitments.  Various Christian groups believed all sorts of contradictory things about Jesus, salvation, creation and a myriad of other Christian doctrines.

Simply put, in the earliest stages there was no Christianity.  Instead there were Christianities (plural)–all in competition with one another over who could claim the mantle of “original” or “authentic” Christianity.

This post includes the first two videos; click read more to watch them. The first is about why we wrote this book, and the second is a broad overview of the Bauer thesis.