Who Created Christianity? Fresh Approaches to the Relationship Between Paul and Jesus is not only an excellent resource for the average individual who seeks a better scriptural understanding, but also an excellent resource for pastors and teachers seeking context when developing their sermons or lessons.

It is difficult to browse the Religion or Christianity sections of a modern bookstore without coming into contact with books written with an agenda to call into question historical Christianity and its roots. Bart Ehrman and others have been releasing a seemingly nonstop barrage of books based on their revisionist version of history, often reversing the formula for how to approach ancient history in order to fit their predetermined narrative and biases.

Who Created Christianity? is a collection of essays from prominent scholars and theologians addressing the questions surrounding Paul’s letters and the Gospels. Editors Craig A. Evans and Aaron W. White bring together some of the greatest theological minds to shed light on the historicity and legitimacy of the New Testament documents – theologians such as N.T. Wright, Alister McGrath, Holly Beers, and more. 

Accusations that Paul did not base his views on Jesus’ teaching, but was attempting to create a new religion of his own making, are popular among those seeking a way to discredit the teachings of Paul in his New Testament letters. This book is an excellent resource to answering some of the skeptics of our day who seek to debunk the Bible by imposing a different standard upon it than is required from any other historical document in existence. 

The Q and W documents are often referred to in various books both supportive and critical of the Bible. What are the Q and W documents? How do they relate to the teachings of Jesus or the writing of the Gospels? How did these documents influence the teachings of Paul? These questions and many others are addressed by the theologians in Who Created Christianity?

Evans and White have developed an amazing collection of twenty-three easy to read essays that will undoubtedly provide the reader with many hours of thought-provoking education about the Bible. I would recommend this to any person with theological interest, but especially those who have been confronted with the question of Christianity’s origins. Who Created Christianity? will provide the reader with the tools necessary to rightly understand the origins of and correlation between the teachings of Jesus and of Paul.

Who Created Christianity? Fresh Approaches to the Relationship Between Paul and Jesus is available for purchase from Amazon, Christianbook, from Hendrickson Publishers.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Hendrickson Publishers for the purpose of a fair and honest review.