Home / History of Christianity / The Journey
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.
The Journey, End to End
How to Read This Section
This is a journey, not an encyclopedia. The fifteen waypoints are meant to be walked in order. Each one is a scene, with the historical evidence laid out beside it. Read the primary sources. Look at the maps. Hover over the highlighted names for a quick bio or definition.
The question the whole journey is built on is stated at the top of every page, in one form or another: What happened between Friday night and Sunday morning? Everything in between is the argument.
If you are sceptical, good. The evidence is presented at full strength, including the parts that do not fit neatly. If you already believe, the goal is not to tell you what to think but to show you what happened — as close to the events as the sources allow.
01
63 BC – 4 BC
The Empire and the Land
Rome from Augustus to Tiberius. Herod’s paranoid reign. What it meant to be Jewish under Roman occupation.
Read Waypoint 1 →02
4 BC – 27 AD
The World of the Second Temple
Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, Samaritans, diaspora Jews. The Temple as political and economic centre.
Read Waypoint 2 →03
c. 7 – 4 BC
A Birth in the Shadow of a Client King
Bethlehem under Herod. The census problem. The flight to Egypt. The date question.
Read Waypoint 3 →04
c. 27 – 29 AD
The Baptist and the Baptism
John, the Jordan, and the Essene connections. What “baptism of repentance” meant.
Read Waypoint 4 →05
c. 28 AD
The Twelve — Ordinary Men, Not Heroes
Fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, two brothers nicknamed Sons of Thunder. None were scholars. None were brave.
Read Waypoint 5 →06
c. 28 – 29 AD
The Ministry in Galilee and the Turning Point
Miracles, parables, the confession at Caesarea Philippi, the transfiguration. And the moment Jesus began to tell them he would die.
Read Waypoint 6 →07
c. 30 AD
The Entry, the Upper Room, and the Garden
Palm Sunday to Gethsemane. The Last Supper discourse in John 14–17, read knowing what comes next.
Read Waypoint 7 →08
c. 30 AD
The Trials
Sanhedrin, Herod Antipas, Pilate. The Roman legal procedure. Why Pilate, a brutal governor, caved.
Read Waypoint 8 →09
c. 30 AD
Crucifixion
The Roman practice. The medical reality. The scandal: cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.
Read Waypoint 9 →10
Saturday – Sunday, c. 30 AD
The Empty Room
Saturday and Sunday morning. The disciples scattered. Peter’s denial. The women going to the tomb while the men hid. And then the eleven in a locked room.
Read Waypoint 10 →11
c. 30 AD
The First Fifty Days
From the locked room to Pentecost. Peter preaching publicly in the city that had just executed his leader. Three thousand converts in one day.
Read Waypoint 11 →12
c. 30 – 62 AD
The Jerusalem Church and the First Persecutions
Community of goods, conflict with the Sanhedrin, Stephen’s stoning, James’ execution by Herod Agrippa I, Peter’s escape.
Read Waypoint 12 →13
c. 33 – 35 AD
The Road to Damascus and the Conversion of the Persecutor
Saul of Tarsus. Why the conversion of an enemy is the second-best piece of evidence after the empty tomb.
Read Waypoint 13 →14
c. 47 – 60 AD
To the Ends of the Earth
Paul’s four journeys. Peter in Antioch, Corinth, and Rome. Thomas in India. The gospel reaches the capital of the empire within thirty years.
Read Waypoint 14 →The Dual Timeline
Two stories, running side by side
The Christian Story
- c. 7–4 BCBirth of Jesus in Bethlehem
- c. 27 ADJohn the Baptist begins preaching
- c. 28 ADJesus calls the Twelve
- c. 30 ADCrucifixion and resurrection
- c. 30 ADPentecost; Peter preaches
- c. 34 ADStephen stoned
- c. 35 ADPaul converted on the Damascus road
- c. 44 ADJames son of Zebedee executed
- c. 47–58 ADPaul’s missionary journeys
- c. 62 ADJames the Just martyred
- 64 ADNero blames Christians for the fire
- c. 108 ADIgnatius of Antioch martyred
- 155–166 ADPolycarp martyred at Smyrna
The Roman & Jewish World
- 4 BCHerod the Great dies
- 6 ADJudea becomes a Roman province
- 14 ADTiberius becomes emperor
- 26 ADPilate appointed prefect of Judea
- 30 ADSejanus falls in Rome; Pilate’s patron gone
- 36 ADPilate recalled to Rome
- 37 ADTiberius dies; Caligula becomes emperor
- 41 ADHerod Agrippa I becomes king of Judea
- 54 ADNero becomes emperor
- 64 ADGreat Fire of Rome
- 66–73 ADJewish War; Temple destroyed 70 AD
- 98 ADTrajan becomes emperor
- 117 ADTrajan dies; Hadrian becomes emperor
The Witness Chain
Who taught whom, within living memory
The chain is documented in the primary sources: Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3, and Polycarp’s own Letter to the Philippians.
