HAS JESUS’ MESSAGE SURVIVED THE CENTURIES? Our current “culture wars” and new assertions of privileged religious beliefs provide the context for this question. When Christians attend church on Sunday, do they receive the authentic teachings of Jesus in their pastor’s message? Or are they contenting themselves with something else? Bible-reading Christians know something about the times in which Jesus lived, and they are familiar with the times in which we live now. But most know very little about how the Christian church grew and developed its beliefs over the intervening 1900 years. These Christians can tell you what they believe, but they cannot tell you how those beliefs arose and mutated and found their way into the Christian belief-set and into the messages of today’s preachers. I invite you to join me on a journey through time, watching as the Christian church found and grew into its unique place in Euro-American life. As we go, we’ll consider how the Christian church responded to the various needs of its adherents and to the objections of its deniers, and how in the course of time, it has strayed from its embrace of the life-giving teachings of Jesus.