Historical Roots of Christianity

The religion that would go on to shape Western civilization did not begin as a religion at all.

It began as a small movement inside first-century Judaism, in a remote Roman province,

at a time when such movements were everywhere. Messianic preachers, apocalyptic prophets, and reformers were

not unusual. Most were forgotten. One was not. This film is not about faith,

and it is not an attack on belief. It is about history. What can actually be known—using modern

historical methods—about the origins of Christianity? Where does evidence end, and belief begin?

To answer that, we have to put aside later traditions and return to the ancient world where

Christianity first emerged. First-century Judea was a land under pressure.