The Beginnings of Christianity

I first reviewed this book in the early 1990s and indeed an extract from my review appears on the back cover of this new edition! It is evocatively subtitled 'Essene mystery, Gnostic revelation and the Christian vision, and contains a new foreword bringing the reader up to speed with recent developments in New Testament scholarship. The unusual aspect of Welburn's work (he is a Fellow of New College, Oxford) is the way in which he weaves together conventional sources with a deeper esoteric understanding and an intimate knowledge of Rudolf Steiner's philosophy. Many different currents contribute to what he calls the deep change in the way people experienced themselves, the world and God. The book speaks to our modern condition in its resonance between ancient and contemporary