Abstract

The conviction that from the beginning believers in Christ possessed an awareness of their own faith and that they strove to avoid dissolving into different beliefs or doctrines, was the impulse for the author of this article to argue in a point by point manner in favor of the strong collective identity of the first believers in Christ. From the margins the author offers evidence of the liminality of the believers in Christ with respect to Jews and Pagans; from the contents he offers some reflections on the canonical Gospels, the day of celebration, the organization of the community and communication between the communities. The unitive outlook with which the author approaches the first testimony of Christianity distances his point of view from the pluralistic visions which are more in fashion among historians, who prefer to speak ofChristianities and not of a Christianity.