Religions and religious teachings do not descend from heaven, but rather grow out of certain distinct situations. Religious beliefs point toward concrete surroundings and forms of life that they in turn mirror.This cultural history shows how a Jewish movement surrounding the person of Jesus and later Greek Christianity became a unified Roman state religion still bearing the legacy of antique culture. This volume attempts to translate Christian tenets and beliefs into modern and post-modern terms. In this sense it also offers a new hermeneutics of belief.