Home / History of Christianity
From Bethlehem to the arena at Smyrna
The Way
Eleven frightened men hid in a room the night their leader was executed. Within weeks they were preaching publicly in the same city that killed him. Within decades most of them were dead, and not one of them broke. This is the story of what happened in between.
Where to Begin
This section is a journey, not an encyclopedia. The path runs from the birth of Jesus to the martyrdom of Polycarp, one waypoint at a time, with the primary sources in front of you. Four doors in.
01
The Narrative
The Journey
Fifteen waypoints through the first century, from Rome and Herod to the fire of Nero and the arena at Smyrna.
Begin →02
Orientation
How to Read This Section
The question the whole section is built to answer, and the tools the reader will use along the way.
Read →03
Method
Historical Reliability
The method used throughout: earliest sources first, independent attestation, and naming the uncertainties.
Read →04
Hard Questions
For Skeptics
Seven of the hardest objections to the historical claims of Christianity, stated at full strength and answered from the evidence.
Read →The Journey
Five acts, fifteen waypoints. From the world that was waiting to the witness completed.
I–V
Fifteen Waypoints
The Full Journey
Act I: The world that was waiting. Act II: The ministry and the men. Act III: The week. Act IV: The transformation. Act V: The witness completed.
Enter →TL
Chronology
The Master Timeline
Year by year from c. 7 BC to 166 AD, with every event dated and sourced, and uncertainty named.
Read →The Evidence
The hinge of the whole movement, the enemies who recorded it, and the four Gospels laid side by side.
01
The Hinge
The Resurrection
The tomb, the witnesses, the transformation of the disciples, and the historical case in full.
Read →02
The Enemies
The Hostile Witnesses
Tacitus, Pliny, Suetonius, Josephus, Mara bar Serapion, Celsus, Lucian, and the Talmud on the earliest Christians.
Read →03
Four Gospels
Synoptic Comparisons
The four Gospels laid side by side for the crucifixion, the empty tomb, and the resurrection appearances.
Compare →04
Transmission
The Witness Chain
From Jesus to Irenaeus, the documented chain of personal transmission that closes the gap between events and documents.
Read →The Witnesses
The men and women who died for what they claimed to have seen.
M
From 34 to 166 AD
The Martyrs
Five earliest martyrdom accounts, from Stephen in Jerusalem to Polycarp in the arena at Smyrna.
Read →34
Jerusalem
Stephen
The first Christian martyr, stoned by a mob with the connivance of the Sanhedrin.
Read →44
Jerusalem
James son of Zebedee
The first of the Twelve to be killed, executed by Herod Agrippa I.
Read →64–68
Rome
Peter and Paul
The two chief apostles, executed under Nero in the aftermath of the fire of Rome.
Read →108
Rome
Ignatius of Antioch
Bishop of Antioch, who wrote seven letters on his way to his own execution.
Read →155–166
Smyrna
Polycarp of Smyrna
Eighty-six years old. Had known the apostle John. Burned alive in the arena.
Read →+
Rome
The Colosseum and Telemachus
The myth and reality of Christian martyrdom in the Colosseum, and the story of the monk whose death ended the games.
Read →The Context
Places, worlds, geography. The setting in which everything happened.
P
Eight Sites
The Places
Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, the Jordan, Jerusalem, Damascus, Antioch, and Rome — with archaeology and primary sources.
Visit →JW
Religious Landscape
The Jewish World
The four parties, the Temple, the synagogue, the festivals, and messianic expectation.
Read →RW
Political Landscape
The Roman World
Roman rule, law, roads, and religion in the first century.
Read →J
Geography
The World of Judea
Judea, Galilee, Samaria, and Caesarea Maritima — the land Jesus walked.
Read →M
Cartography
Maps
The geography of the first century, gathered in one place.
View →JN
Mission
Paul’s Missionary Journeys
The four journeys that carried the gospel across the Mediterranean.
Follow →Daily Life and Reading Tools
The ordinary world of the first century, and how to read the documents.
DL
Everyday Life
Daily Life in the First Century
Household, work, worship, and food — the context that makes the Gospel story readable.
Enter →R
Reading Guide
Reading the New Testament
How to read the Gospels, Paul, and Acts historically — genre, sources, and audience.
Read →ND
Chronology
Dating the New Testament
When each document was written, by whom, and to whom.
Read →SRC
Primary Sources
The Sources
Every primary document cited in this section, with dates and where to find them.
Read →The People
The Twelve, the wider apostolic band, and the women who were there from the beginning.
XII
The Twelve
The Twelve
Ordinary men, not heroes. Their failures documented as faithfully as their witness.
Read →+
The Wider Band
The Wider Apostolic Band
Barnabas, Silas, Timothy, Titus, Luke, Mark, Phoebe, Priscilla, Aquila — the second generation of leaders.
Read →W
Witnesses and Patrons
Women in the Early Church
Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna, Priscilla, Phoebe, Junia, Lydia, and others.
Read →203
Carthage
Perpetua of Carthage
A twenty-two-year-old Roman matron. Her prison diary is the earliest surviving first-person narrative by a Christian woman.
Read →PP
Index
All Named Persons
The complete index of every named person in the first-century story.
Browse →The Harder Questions
The topics most often avoided or oversimplified, engaged honestly.
SL
Moral Problem
Slavery and the New Testament
The hardest moral problem in the New Testament, engaged at full strength.
Read →CN
Formation
How the Canon Formed
How the 27 books of the New Testament were recognized over three centuries.
Read →PW
Separation
The Parting of the Ways
How Christianity and Judaism separated over roughly a century.
Read →GR
Demographics
How the Movement Grew
From a few hundred in Jerusalem to millions across the Roman Empire in two centuries.
Read →PS
Suffering
Why Rome Persecuted the Christians
The legal basis, the major persecutions from Nero to Diocletian, and the effect on the church.
Read →DB
Contested
The Debates
The contested points in the first-century story, honestly stated, with what the evidence supports and what it does not.
Read →