Chapter I: Part I: Primitive Christianity

Chap. I--The Beginnings

§ 1. Documentary Clues 1
§ 2. The Earliest Christian Sects 5
§ 3. Personality of the Nominal Founder 10
§ 4. Myth of the Twelve Apostles 16
§ 5. Primary Forms of the Cult 20
§ 6. Rise of Gentile Christism 28
§ 7. Growth of the Christ Myth 36

Chap. II--The Environment

§ 1. Social and Mental Conditions in the Roman Empire 41
§ 2. Jewish Orthodoxy 46
§ 3. Jewish Sects: the Essenes 49
§ 4. Gentile Cults 51
§ 5. Ethics: Popular and Philosophic 60

Chap. III--Conditions of Survival

§ 1. Popular Appeal 67
§ 2. Economic Causation 69
§ 3. Organization and Sacred Books 72
§ 4. Concession and Fixation 75
§ 5. Cosmic Philosophy 78