This is a 1957 account of the rise and development of the Christian Church during the first two centuries after the Crucifixion. The events are set down in the order in which they happened, giving a clear picture of the establishment, progress, sufferings and survival of the new faith. It focuses special attention on the men who decisively affected its history. Christianity began as a sect of the Hellenized Judaism which had believers all over the Eastern Roman Empire. It grew up against dissension from inside and oppression from outside. Archbishop Carrington's account of Christianity is placed in the setting of the larger world of Imperial politics, rival religions and troubled times. The author does not offer this book as a conventional history for the scholar, yet it can be read for pleasure as well as for information. There are over 100 photographs and chronological tables, and reading lists.