 The figure we now call Jesus gathered a following of Jews, who would later call themselves followers of “The Way.”  From 30 – 50 C.E., the twenty years following the execution of Jesus by the Romans for sedition, there formed a new sect within the synagogue of Jews, the Nazarenes.  The Nazarenes accepted non-Jews into their group, grew in numbers, and around 100 C.E. in the city of Antioch, Syria, they for the first time no longer identified themselves as a Jewish group, but instead were Christians.
       A belief system originating with Jesus was not simply preserved and carried forward through time.  Instead, new belief systems were created and attached to Christianity.  We have reports in the four gospels of things Jesus said and things he did.  While contradictions may be found between these texts and while their historical accuracy may be debated, we might still posit an original Christianity with the reported words and actions of Jesus, which built upon a Judaic foundation.  After the lifetime of Jesus, Paul introduced a new interpretation of ultimate truth, not espoused by Jesus himself.  Paul, instead of exploring Jesus’ actions or teachings, embarked on his own way of thinking, which was written down by him or in his name and included with the later written gospels for canonization as The New Testament.  Paul’s assertions about Jesus’ identity, the purpose of his death and its implications for humankind, achieved the authoritative status of scripture.  “Jesus’ focal reign of God theme and the parables and miracles that symbolized it simply disappear in the teachings of Paul” (Laughlin 121).  Even the gospels, and especially the book of John, couch the narratives within the beliefs of the authors.  St. Augustine of Hippo, (354-430 C.E.) building on Paul’s ideas, composed theological formulations about the inescapable sinful state of humankind and the non-existence of righteous intent.  These beliefs were permanently incorporated into Western Christianity and were not Hebrew scripture or Jesus’ message.  We might look back through history at just this early stage of the religion and wonder if it is more accurate to see that first was Jesus’ message, then came Paul’s religion, then came the gospel authors’ views, and then came Augustine’s religion.  We might go as far as to say that “Paulism” and “Augustinism” are still alive today, are still widely believed to be simply “Christianity,” (except regarding the Eastern Orthodox tradition) and are still not the actual teachings of Jesus or the scripture he pointed to.  This is not an absolute distinction—a few selections from Paul’s writings will certainly be congruous with the themes of Jesus’ words--but a large part is not the original message at all.  This all becomes particularly clear if we focus more on the synoptic gospels, as the book of John is so different than the other three.  Today’s Christian doctrine takes for granted many additions of ideas that have survived until now. 