The Early Christian World Vol. I & Vol. II: Second Edition

by: Esler, P.F.

Book 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.

Table of Contents
Dedication

List of Illustrations
Preface

List of Abbreviations

I THE CONTEXT

1. The Mediterranean Context of Early Christianity

Philip F. Esler

2. Emperors, Armies and Bureaucrats 68-430 CE

Jill Harries

3. Greek and Roman Philosophy and Religion

Luther Martin

4.Jewish Tradition and Culture

James Aitken

II CHRISTIAN ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT

5. Jesus in His World

Douglas Oakman

6.Early Jewish Christianity

Edwin Broadhead

7.Paul and the Development of Gentile Christianity

Todd Klutz

8.The Jesus Tradition: The Gospel Writers? Strategies of Persuasion

Richard Rohrbaugh

9.The Second and Third Centuries

Jeffrey S. Siker

10.From Constantine to Theodosius and Beyond

Bill Leadbetter

11.Jewish and Christian Interaction from the First to the Fifth

Centuries

Anders Runesson

III COMMUNITY FORMATION AND MAINTENANCE

12.Mission and Expansion

Thomas Finn

13.The Development of Office in the Early Church

Mark Edwards

14.Christian Regional Diversity

David Taylor

15.Monasticism

Columba Stewart OSB

IV EVERYDAY CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE

16.Reading the New Testament in Roman Britain

Richard Cleaves

17.Sex and Sexual Renunciation I

Teresa Shaw

18.Sex and Sexual Renunciation II: Developments in Research since

2000

Elizabeth Castelli

19.Women, Children and House Churches

Mona LaFosse

20.Worship, Practice and Belief

Max Johnson

21.Ritual and the Rise of the Early Christian Movement

Risto Uro

22.Communication and Travel

Blake Leyerle

V CHRISTIAN CULTURE

23.Christian Realia: Books, Papyri and Artefacts

Giovanni Bazzana

24.Scriptures in Early Christianity

Outi Lehtipuu and Hanne von Weissenberg

25.Saints and Hagiography

Mark Humphries

26.Translation and Communication across Languages

Malcolm Choat

VI THE INTELLECTUAL HERITAGE

27.The Apostolic Fathers

Carolyn Osiek

28.The Apologists

Anders-Christian Jacobsen

29.Early Theologians

Gerald Bray

30.Later Theologians of the Greek East

Andrew Louth

31.Later Theologians of the West

Ivor Davidson

32.Creeds, Councils and Doctrinal Development

Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski

33. Biblical Interpretation

Oskar Skarsaune

VII THE ARTISTIC HERITAGE

34.Early Christian Architecture: The First Five Centures

L. Michael White

35. Art

Robin Jensen

36.Music

John Arthur Smith

37.Imaginative Literature

Richard Bauckham

VIII EXTERNAL CHALLENGES

38.Political Oppression and Martyrdom

Candida R. Moss

39. Graeco-Roman Philosophical Opposition

Michael Simmons

40. Popular Graeco-Roman Responses to Christianity

Craig de Vos

IX INTERNAL CHALLENGES

41. Internal Renewal and Dissent in the Early Christian World

Sheila McGinn

42. Gnosticism

Alistair Logan

43. Montanism

Christine Trevett

44. Donatism

Jakob Engberg

45. Arianism

David Rankin

46. Manichaeism

Jason BeDuhn

X PROFILES

47. Origen

Thomas Scheck

48. Tertullian

Geoffrey D. Dunn

49. Perpetua and Felicitas

Shira L. Lander and Ross S. Kraemer

50. Constantine

Bill Leadbetter

51. Antony the Great

Columba Stewart OSB

52. Pachomius the Great

James E. Goehring

53. Athanasius

David Gwynn

54. John Chrysostom

Wendy Mayer and Pauline Allen

55. Gregory of Nyssa

Elena Ene D-Vasilescu

56. Jerome

Dennis Brown

57. Ambrose

Ivor Davidson

58. Augustine

Carol Harrison

59. Ephrem the Syrian

Kathleen McVey

60. Julian the Apostate

The Early Christian World Vol. I & Vol. II: Second Edition

by: Esler, P.F.

• ISBN-13: 9781032199344 / 978-1-03-219934-4
• ISBN-03: 1032199342 / 1-03-219934-2
• Routledge, London, 2021