Christianity has always possessed two basic rites which complement one another, baptism and the Eucharist, the one giving admission to the other. The Origins of Christianity investigates the character of the early Christian community by looking into the origin of these two institutions. Its originality consists in regarding them as linked together. The result can be stated simply: Christianity emerged from among the Essenes, for whom baptism confirmed a process of initiation, and whose essential action as a community was an eschatological meal, principally of bread and wine. Within this marginal culture a profound transformation came about, the decisive moment of which was contact with the Gentiles.
