A candid, compelling portrait of the man who has proved so significantand so controversialin Western culture, by two of Europes best known pioneers of the anthropological study of early Christianity. Destro and Pesce bring the fruit of years of scholarship to bear on a radical figure in Roman Galilee, his encounters with others, and the movement those encounters inspired.

From Jesus to His First Followers examines to what extent early Christian groups were in continuity or discontinuity with respect to Jesus. Adriana Destro and Mauro Pesce concentrate on the transformation of religious practices. Their anthropological-historical analysis focuses on the relations between discipleship and households, on the models of contact with the supernatural world, and on cohabitation among distinct religious groups. The book highlights how Matthew uses non-Jewish instruments of legitimation, John reformulates religious experiences through symbolized domestic...