A SHORT HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY BY J. M. ROBERTSON SECOND EDITION, REVISED, WITH ADDITIONS [ISSUED FOR THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION, LIMITED] London: WATTS & CO., 17 JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C. 1913 CONTENTS PAGE Preface to the First Edition ix Preface to the Second Edition xiii 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 Part II CHRISTIANITY FROM THE SECOND CENTURY TO THE RISE OF ISLAM Chap. I--Developments in the Unestablished Church § 1. Numbers and Inner Life 81 § 2. Growth of the Priesthood 87 § 3. The Gnostic Movement in the Second Century 91 § 4. Marcionism and Montanism 97 § 5. Rites and Ceremonies 101 § 6. Strifes over Primary Dogma 102 Chap. II--Relations of Church and State § 1. Persecutions 106 § 2. Establishment and Creed-Making 114 § 3. Reaction under Julian 127 § 4. Re-establishment: Disestablishment of Paganism 133 Chap. III--Failure with Survival