Earliest Christianity and its developing life-form is better understood through an analysis of the movement's identity. This does not consist mainly of ideas about how to understand oneself, even if texts are almost the only means available for grasping identity. It is rather a complex social reality with cognitive, ritual and moral dimensions, crystallized into social relations and institutions. Among the many approaches used in this conference volume are the analysis of intertextuality and techniques of textual identity construction, labeling and social cognition, gender analysis together with the power-sensitive postcolonial reading of ancient Christian texts.With contributions by:Per Jarle Bekken, Samuel Byrskog, Tobias Hägerland, Raimo Hakola, Fredrik Ivarsson, Thomas Kazen, Hans Leander, Judith Lieu, Halvor Moxnes, Christina Petterson, Rikard Roitto, Anna Rebecca Solevåg, Hanna Stenström, Lauri Thurénweiterlesen