First Thessalonians: The Hidden History of the Pauline Churches

The Hidden History of the Pauline Churches: First Thessalonians explores what we might know about the history of earliest Christianity if we had only this letter to study. As far as scholars agree, this letter is the earliest document in the New Testament. It alludes to a number of events in its immediate past, gives us a broad presentation of the gospel as Paul originally preached it in Thessalonica, and points to two historical developments that required him to modify his presentation of the gospel. The evidence for this conclusion lies in an analysis of how this letter functions to persuade its audience.