Redescribing Christian origins

the long version

In 1992, a group of scholars in the Society of Biblical Literature began to explore the prospects and lay the groundwork for a new, collaborative project devoted to the task of re-describing Christian origins. They proposed a two-year Society Consultants on Ancient Myths and Modern Theories of Christian Origins, followed by a six-year seminar focusing both on the diverse myths of origin found in the writings of the earliest Christians, and on competing scholarly theories of explanation and interpretation. The bifocal approach was intended both to explain how and why certain myths got into place, and to clarify alternatives and points of consensus among the different methods and models that are currently being used to describe the beginnings of the Christian religion. They report their results here. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).