According to the commonly held view, early Christianity was a time of great harmony, and heresy emerged only at a later stage. To the contrary, Gerd Ludemann argues that the time from the first Christian communities to the end of the second century was defined by struggle by various groups for doctr[...]

Paul's letters were written before any other Christian texts, even the gospels. And the earliest text of all is '1 Thessalonians'. This new English translation is both intelligible and true to the meaning of the original Greek text. In the accompanying commentary, Ludemann engages critically with th[...]