Hey guys, first time asking a question here. I read through the rules and FAQs. Hopefully people don't think I'm trolling or asking loaded questions.
I've become fascinated with the historical perspective on Jesus over the last month. Throughout my research, I keep coming across the idea that apocalyptic preachers were very common amongst the Jews during Jesus's time period, but I can't find any readings or lectures about the views they might have held or why Jesus's followers endured after his death. Can anybody here shed some light on the subject?
Note: I understand that the religious belief is that Jesus's resurrection proved to his disciples he was more than just a preacher, and they therefore spread what evolved into Christianity. I'm more looking for the content of his contemporaries and how they were viewed by their followers.
Thanks!
Reza Aslan's Zealot gives a good overview of this, or for a (much) longer read Diarmaid McCullogh's Christianity. The short answer is that the difference between the proto-Christians and the other followers of Messianic Jewish preachers was that the Christians had Paul who reworked the message to be inclusive of Gentiles. This changed Christianity from just another wild Jewish fringe sect to a contender for the hearts and minds of people who perhaps were not quite fulfilled by the existing social structure (for example, women- it's quite notable just how many women actually are referred to in Acts of the Apostles cited as prominent members of the early church, considering that this was a society in which women were almost totally sidelined from the mainstream)