The First Christians. What Were They Really Like?

What were the first Christians like, what did they believe in, how did they live, and how did they differ from their pagan neighbors? What beliefs and practices existed in ancient times but have not survived to this day, and why did they disappear? Is it true that the history of the church was largely written by the victors in the competitive struggle of ideas, and why did they prevail? How can we know all this, and how accurate are our modern reconstructions? Do they sometimes say more about us than about the first Christians? These questions are the focus of a new book by biblical scholar Andrey Desnitsky.