Quote:Beginning with seven of Paul's letters illustrates that there were vibrant Christian communities spread throughout the Roman Empire before there were written Gospels. His letters provide a "window" into the life of very early Christian communities.
Well, that's the story but in order to believe it you have to accept their own traditions.
As has been noted before, the earliest xtian apologist, Justin Martyr, never heard of Paul, his letters or the named gospels c 160 AD. Xtians like to scoot right by that fact but it does suggest that xtianity ( at least what came to be the orthodox version of it ) was cobbled together in the late 2d and early 3d centuries.
