Foundations of Christianity (Routledge Revivals)

Book excerpt: First published in 1925, Karl Kautsky presents a Marxist history of Christianity and Christian society. Divided into four key sections, the book begins by considering the personality of Jesus as portrayed within Pagan and Christian sources and highlighting the Church’s difficulty in presenting a unified and concurrent image of Jesus and interpretation of His words. Next, Kautsky analyses the structure of Roman society, with particular emphasis on the slave-holding system, the Roman State and the historiography of the period. In the third section, an early history of the Jewish people is presented, whilst the final section discusses the beginnings of Christianity and the social struggles present within early Christian society. This is a fascinating reissue, which will be of particular interest to students of Church History, Christian theology and the various interpretations of Jesus.