Was early christianity an evolutionary development formed by the consolidation of several groups?
This hypothesis has been in the back of my mind for a few years, but I lack the scholarship and time to either back it up or refute it.
So, we could assume that there was not one original group of christians, but a few. One might have had gnostic leanings, one was very apocalyptic, one brought in the name "Jesus", etc. Maybe one called themselves "the family of Jesus", while another were "the apostles".
The whole thing coagulated through evolution-like processes. Obviously, that would be the crucial point: To explain how exactly that happened, and why.
So my questions are: Is there any way this might have been how it happened? Are/were there ever any scholars (reputable or at least semi-serious) with similar beliefs?
FWIW, I like the hypothesis even if it's complete nonsense. Speculation can be fun!