>>24780307
>>24778154 (OP)
You can start digging through the reeds with this diagram.
You have a decent record of Israelite religion and actually thorough standard of their customs and even fringe groups around them that get briefly mentioned like the Sicarii and Essenes.
Anyway Christianity was an offshoot but still started as a cult and for whatever reason got popular acceptance in Greece pretty quickly and then through some elaborate cultural synthesis was seen as somewhat Greek so more Romans adopted it.
But to cut to the heart of the shit sandwich I have no clear cut answer. Most Jewry in the Middle East was eradicated with the destruction of Judea and the establishment of Syria Palestine by Hadrian. That's all nice and apocalyptic, Hadrian's apocalypse solves a great riddle of Revelation but leaves modern ministers a little grasping when it comes to their own theological stances. All that said, I'm convinced that some members, descendants, or at least legends by refugees from victims of Roman retaliation actually may have re-banded together to write the Talmud, and this was several centuries before Islam.
It would be insane to say that post-300 AD, or 400 AD Talmudism was completely consistent with the 20 AD and pre-20 AD Jesus. They wrote plenty of commentary that may have been at odds with their earlier teachings but that's really just in their nature.