Erik,
Having watched “The Chosen” series myself, I must admit that it is refreshing to see the Jewishness of Jesus and His followers. I know many other Christians who watch this yet continue to believe that Jesus rejected Judaism to launch a new religion. And that Paul took Jesus’ message to the gentiles to build the church. During my research for my dissertation, I discovered that the first ten years of the church remained Jewish. It was not until after Peter, Paul, and Barnabas witnessed the Holy Spirit fall upon gentiles that the Jerusalem church took up this matter to determine that gentiles may join the church without converting (Acts 15). This is known as “gentile inclusion.” Paul believed they were the eschatological gentiles that were being drawn to Jerusalem. During his missionary trips, Paul preached primarily at the synagogues to Jews and God fearers. God fearers were gentiles who believed in the Jewish God but had not converted. Based upon this and a few other things, I found no evidence that Jesus and Paul launched a new religion.
