Messiahs and missions: contexts for the origins and spread of Christianity

Before you opened this book, you probably had some picture of Christian origins already in your head. Christians facing lions in the amphitheatre might have figured prominently, but I suspect that the most striking images will have been of events described in the New Testament. Such images have become central to the culture of the modern west, and of other parts of the world too. The most potent, if disturbing, of these images must be that of Jesus being executed on the cross. In many Christian countries, the image, propagated in paint, stone and other media, is almost ubiquitous. Even for individuals who might class themselves as post-Christian, in whom the crucified Christ no longer inspires reverent awe, it can be evoked from other contexts, such as the closing musical number of Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979).