Sinners

How did early Christians remember Jesus-and how did they develop their own Christian identities and communities? In this revelatory book, GREG CAREY explores how transgression contributed to early Christian identity in the Gospels, Acts, Letters of Paul, and Revelation. Examining Jesus as a friend of sinners, challenger of purity laws, transgressor of conventional masculine values of his time, and a convicted seditionist, CAREY shows how early Christian communities were necessarily out of step with "respectable" practices of their time-and, in conclusion, offers a challenge to contemporary Christians whose faith requires them to do the same. Book jacket.