The Early Christian World

Description

Since its publication in 2000, The Early Christian World has come to be regarded by scholars, students and the general reader as one of the most informative and accessible works in English on the origins, development, character and major figures of early Christianity. In this new edition, the strengths of the first edition are retained. These include the book’s attractive architecture that initially takes a reader through the context and historical development of early Christianity; the essays in critical areas such as community formation, everyday experience, the intellectual and artistic heritage, and external and internal challenges; and the profiles on the most influential early Christian figures. The book also preserves its strong stress on the social reality of early Christianity and continues its distinctive use of hundreds of illustrations and maps to bring that world to life. Yet the years that have passed since the first edition was published have seen great advances made in our understanding of early Christianity in its world. This new edition fully reflects these developments and provides the reader with authoritative, lively and up-to-date access to the early Christian world. A quarter of the text is entirely new and the remaining essays have all been carefully revised and updated by their authors. Some of the new material relates to Christian culture (including book culture, canonical and non-canonical scriptures, saints and hagiography, and translation across cultures). But there are also new essays on: Jewish and Christian interaction in the early centuries; ritual; the New Testament in Roman Britain; Manichaeism; Pachomius the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. This new edition will serve its readers for many years to come. The Early Christian World- Front Cover The Early Christian World Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents List of figures Notes on contributors Preface to the Revised Edition PART I: The context Chapter 1: The Mediterranean context of early Christianity Introduction The Mediterranean as a physically distinctive region Cultural aspects of context Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 2: Armies, emperors and bureaucrats The armies Emperors Bureaucrats Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 3: Graeco-Roman philosophy and religion The Graeco-Roman world Hellenistic philosophies Hellenistic religions Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 4: Jewish tradition and culture The distribution of Jewish communities The Jews under Roman rule The rabbinic movement Jewish literature Proselytes and godfearers Synagogues and services The Bible and its interpretation Contact and controversy Julian and the Jerusalem Temple The end of the patriarchate Notes Bibliography PART II: Christian origins and development Chapter 5: The Galilean world of Jesus The ecological setting of Hellenistic-Roman Galilee Galilean social systems and conflicting interests Jesus in his Galilean world Developments after Jesus Notes Bibliography Chapter 6: Early Jewish Christianity Jewish Christianity in the history of scholarship Toward a definition of Jewish Christianity Points of origin Patristic representations Jewish Christian texts Rabbinic evidence Archeology Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 7: From the Hellenists to Marcion: early gentile Christianity The first mission to gentiles Paul: persecutor, convert and missionary Gentile mission, anti-Judaism, and the afterlife of Galatians in Marcionism Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 8: The Jesus tradition: the gospel writers’ strategies of persuasion The social location of Mark’s story Mark’s story of Jesus Alternative stories of Jesus Later correspondence in the Johannine community Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 9: The second and third centuries Introduction Separation from Judaism Scripture, canon, and authority Geographic spread of Christianity Christianity and the Roman empire Movements and controversies Unity in diversity and division Bibliography Chapter 10: From Constantine to Theodosius (and beyond) The Great Persecution (303–311) and its consequences Constantine and the Church Constantine’s achievement The christianization of the empire The persistence of paganism Paganism in the Roman aristocracy Gratian, politics and the senate (375–383 ce) Theodosius and the triumph of Catholic orthodoxy Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 11: Jewish and Christian interaction from the first to the fifth centuries Studying Jewish and Christian interaction: problems and procedure Interaction in public civic settings: local, national, imperial Interaction in and between associations and association-like institutions Interaction in private/domestic settings Concluding reflections: the so-called parting of the ways between Judaism and Christianity Notes Bibliography PART III: Community formation and maintenance Chapter 12: Mission and expansion Some preliminaries Early Christian spread Conversion Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 13: The development of office in the Early Church The charismata and the threefold ministry Popes and councils Monks and priests Bibliography Chapter 14: Christian regional diversity Introduction Christian geographical diversity Christian theological diversity Bibliography Chapter 15: Monasticism Ways of approach Syrian asceticism Monastic Egypt International monasticism in Palestine Cappadocian domestic and communal asceticism Italian asceticism and monasticism Gaul: native and imported monastic cultures Augustine Bibliography PART IV: Everyday Christian experience Chapter 16: Reading the New Testament in Roman Britain Reading the New Testament in Roman London: the Bloomberg tablets Reading the New Testament in a frontier fort: the Vindolanda Tablets Reading the New Testament in the temples of Roman Britain: the so-called curse tablets Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 17: Sex and sexual renunciation I Overview Issues of theory and method Sexuality in the Graeco-Roman world Jewish and New Testament perspectives on sexuality Early Christian discourses of sexuality Notes Bibliography Chapter 18: Sex and sexual renunciation II: developments in research since 2000 Theoretical framings revisited and revised Supplementing the archive: Coptic and Syriac sources Sex and sexual renunciation in ancient and late ancient Jewish sources Masculinity Sex and the limits of renunciation: the example of slavery Future work Note Bibliography Chapter 19: Women, children and house churches Gendered rhetoric, modern readers and a cross-cultural endeavour Households and house churches Roles of women: real and ideal Children in context Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 20: Worship, practice, and belief Worship, practice and belief before the Council of Nicea Worship, practice and belief from the Council of Nicea to the death of Augustine of Hippo Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 21: Ritual and the rise of the early Christian movement Introduction Ritual theory and early Christian studies Ritual and the rise of Christianity: examples Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 22: Communication and travel The slowness of communication The reasons for travel The experience and infrastructure of travel and communication Conclusion Bibliography PART V: Christian culture Chapter 23: Christian realia: papyrological and epigraphical material Papyri Texts of ritual power: amulets, lamellae, and gems Epigraphy Notes Bibliography Chapter 24: Scriptures in early Christianity The first bibles: fourth and fifth centuries The Jewish ‘Bible’ in the late Second Temple period Jewish scriptures in early Christianity The emergence of Christian scriptures Letters of Paul Gospels Other texts: acts and letters of the apostles, apocalypses Who read and used early Christian scriptures? Concluding remarks: canon formation as part of inter-Christian polemics Bibliography Chapter 25: Saints and hagiography Saints and society in Christian late antiquity From martyrs to ascetics Writings on the saints The development of cult: saints, place and power Additional note: accessing hagiography in English translation Notes Bibliography Chapter 26: Translation and communication across cultures Bi- and multilingualism in early Christianity The case of Egypt Bibliography PART VI: The intellectual heritage Chapter 27: The Apostolic Fathers Introduction The writings The Shepherd of Hermas The Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians The Didache The Epistle of Barnabas The Letters of Ignatius of Antioch The Letter of Polycarp The Martyrdom of Polycarp Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 28: The Apologists Apologies and Apologists: a brief definition Main content of the apologetic writings Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 29: Early theologians Greek writers Latin writers Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 30: Later theologians of the Greek east Introduction Nicæa and the doctrine of God The Cappadocian Fathers Being and person: ousia and hypostasis The Christological controversy Notes Bibliography Chapter 31: Later theologians of the west Western theology from 312–430 in context The Donatists Arianism Hilary of Poitiers Ambrose of Milan Jerome Augustine Pelagianism In retrospect Bibliography Chapter 32: Creeds, councils and doctrinal development Introduction The emergence of Christian scriptures and identity Arius: when scriptures called for a larger theological overview of salvation The way to Chalcedon Doctrinal development: final observations Dedication Notes Bibliography Chapter 33: Biblical interpretation Introductory remarks The Jewish context The distinctively Christian ‘proof from prophecy’ Biblical interpretation: from the scriptures to two testaments Scripture as platonic allegory: the Alexandrian tradition Allegory or theoria? The Antiochene school Augustine’s programme for the formation of an interpreter Conclusion Notes Bibliography PART VII: The artistic heritage Chapter 34: Early Christian architecture: the first five centuries The architectural environment: public and private From ‘houses’ to church buildings: Paul to Constantine The domus ecclesiae and architectural adaptation The aula ecclesiae The birth of the basilica: the fourth and fifth centuries Notes Bibliography Chapter 35: Art Origins and development Chronological periods Provenance and context Wall painting Relief sculpture on sarcophagi Sculpture in the round Mosaics and ivory carving Manuscript illumination Other artworks Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 36: Music The musical context of early Christianity The substance of early Christian music Concluding remarks Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Chapter 37: Imaginative literature Introduction The Protevangelium of James The narrative The Infancy Gospel of Thomas Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles Bibliography PART VIII: External challenges Chapter 38: Political oppression and martyrdom Greco-Roman and Jewish influences Political oppression in the empire Notes Bibliography Chapter 39: Graeco-Roman philosophical opposition The hostile environment The case of philosophical opposition Celsus Sossianus Hierocles Porphyry of Tyre The themes of Discourse of Celsus Conclusions Notes Bibliography Chapter 40: Popular Graeco-Roman responses to Christianity Evidence from the later New Testament Evidence from other sources Why were the Christians resented? Conclusion Notes Bibliography PART IX: Internal challenges Chapter 41: Internal renewal and dissent in the early Christian world Insiders and outsiders Early Christian trajectories Re-visioning the past Something old, something new, something borrowed: which is true? Notes Bibliography Chapter 42: Gnosticism Introduction The Gnostics, their beliefs and practices Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 43: Montanism The beginnings of Montanism Ardabau and Pepouza Its character Montanus, Priscilla, Maximilla Montanism in North Africa Montanism in Rome What writers have said about Montanism Notes Bibliography Chapter 44: Donatism Introduction: Victor’s perspective, Christianity in North Africa Sources The origin of the Catholic-Donatist schism An outline of the history of the schism with an emphasis on violence Debate and polemic Main issues in the Catholic-Donatist conflict Conclusion: a derogatory term and rich legacy Notes Bibliography Chapter 45: Arianism Contemporary interest/scholarship in ‘Arianism’ Arius and early ‘Arianism’ (318–325) Later ‘Arianism’: Arians, Semi-Arians and Neo-Arians (337–381) Arian and Neo-Arian documents of the later period Conclusions Bibliography Chapter 46: Manichaeism Introduction Jesus in Manichaeism Mani the ‘apostle of Jesus Christ’ Manichaean biblical interpretation Manichaean ecclesial life and organization Manichaean ritual Manichaean eschatology Conclusion Notes Bibliography PART X: Profiles Chapter 47: Origen Survey of Origen’s life Survey of Origen’s surviving works The Hexapla Origen’s speculations and dogmatic errors Origen’s homilies Excursus: the fidelity of the Latin translations of Origen Against Celsus Origen’s method of exegesis: Old Testament Origen’s exegesis of the Gospels Origen’s exegesis of Paul’s writings Origen’s understanding of Romans Origen’s legacy in the west Bibliography Chapter 48: Tertullian Life of Tertullian Interpretation of Tertullian Tertullian and the world around him Tertullian and heretics Tertullian and Christian practice Bibliography Chapter 49: Perpetua and Felicitas Introduction Synopsis of the Passio Assessing the historicity of the Passio and other Perpetua traditions Perpetua and Felicitas: a provisional profile Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 50: Constantine Introduction Constantine the politician The conversion of Constantine Constantine and the Church Constantine and the empire Note Bibliography Chapter 51: Anthony the Great Whose Anthony? Principal sources The story Sacred geography Anthropology and asceticism Thoughts and demons Monk and minister Legacy Bibliography Chapter 52: Pachomius the Great The sources Pachomius and his monasteries The federation after Pachomius The end of Pachomian monasticism General observations Notes Bibliography Chapter 53: Athanasius An age of controversies Ascetic champion and pastoral father The Word of God The Athanasian legacy Bibliography Chapter 54: John Chrysostom John in context John Chrysostom’s social interactions Conclusion Bibliography Chapter 55: Gregory of Nyssa Gregory’s life Gregory’s writings Gregory’s theology Gregory of Nyssa and the science of his time Nyssen and language Gregory of Nyssa and Byzantium Scholarly afterlife of Nyssen’s ideas Notes Bibliography Chapter 56: Jerome Life and context Jerome and asceticism Jerome as biblical interpreter and translator Jerome the controversialist Jerome the person and his legacy Bibliography Chapter 57: Ambrose Context, formation and election Devising an episcopal role Creating an ecclesial community Bibliography Chapter 58: Augustine Conversion of the mind, heart and will Priest, bishop and monk Scripture and preaching Christianity and paganism The unattainability of perfection The two cities Doctrine Conclusion Notes Bibliography Chapter 59: Ephrem the Syrian Ephrem: life, character and importance Ephrem’s theology of the presence of God in the world The Incarnation: lynchpin of Ephrem’s theology The ongoing, individualized presence of God to each human being Spiritual progress and sanctification or theosis Biblical symbols and the presence of God in historical events The sacred dimension of all of history Human beings in the divine image and divine presence in all of nature Abbreviations Notes Bibliography Chapter 60: Julian the Apostate Themes of the Contra Galilaeos Notes Bibliography Index of biblical references Index of classical references Index of Jewish references Index of patristic references Subject index