into a sort of collapse of disappointment and disillusion? >> it didn't break down because christian leaders decided they needed something more permanent to preserve the faith in jesus. so they compiled a history, sacred books, and a clergy to stand in for jesus, but that didn't happen overnight. >> i think most people imagined that after jesus died, the church just emerged suddenly, and that you had christians confessing the nicene creed, reading the canon of the 27 books of the new testament, and that it was all in place after jesus' death. and in fact, it took centuries for these things to fall into place. >> the core of christian belief is the story of jesus' life, death, and resurrection, as told in the four gospels -- the books of matthew, mark, luke, and john, named after the evangelists, said to have