Download or read book The Early Christian World written by Philip F. Esler and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2002-09-11 with total page 1369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Early Christian World presents an exhaustive, erudite and lavishly illustrated treatment of how the small movement which formed around Jesus in Galilee became the pre-eminent religion of the ancient world. The work begins by firmly situating early Christianity within its Mediterranean social, political and religious contexts, before charting the history of the first Christian centuries. The creation and perpetuation of Christian communities through various means, including mission and monasticism, is explored, as is the everyday experience of early Christians, through discussion of gender and sexuality, religious practice, communication and social structures. The intellectual (particularly theological) and artistic heritage of the period is fully considered, and a vivid picture painted of the internal and external challenges faced by early Christianity. The book concludes with profiles of the most notable figures of the age. Comprehensive and accessible, Early Christian World provides up-to-date coverage of the most important topics in the study of early Christianity, together with an invaluable collection of visual material. It will be an indispensable resource for anyone studying this period

Download or read book Women in the World of the Earliest Christians written by Lynn Cohick and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2009-11-01 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lynn Cohick provides an accurate and fulsome picture of the earliest Christian women by examining a wide variety of first-century Jewish and Greco-Roman documents that illuminate their lives. She organizes the book around three major spheres of life: family, religious community, and society in general. Cohick shows that although women during this period were active at all levels within their religious communities, their influence was not always identified by leadership titles nor did their gender always determine their level of participation. The book corrects our understanding of early Christian women by offering an authentic and descriptive historical picture of their lives. Includes black-and-white illustrations from the ancient world.

Download or read book World of the First Christians written by Edwin M. Yamauchi and published by . This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The World of the First Christians written by Marc Olson and published by Augsburg Fortress Publishers. This book was released on 2020 with total page 65 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life and teachings of Jesus changed the world forever--but what happened after the events of the Gospels? How did Christianity grow from a small group of followers to one of the largest religious movements in human history? How did the first Christians survive in an oppressive Roman Empire? What did the early church believe, and how did they worship? The World of the First Christians: A Curious Kid's Guide to the Early Church answers these questions and more, with colorful illustrations, charts, graphs, maps, and other infographics that will keep kids' attention for hours and give them new insight and understanding into the early growth of the Christian faith. Curious Kids' Guides present cool and surprising information about Christian history and beliefs in an entertaining, visually engaging way for kids.

Download or read book Backgrounds of Early Christianity written by Everett Ferguson and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2003 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New to this expanded & updated edition are revisions of Ferguson's original material, updated bibliographies, & a fresh dicussion of first century social life, the Dead Sea Scrolls & much else.

Download or read book The Moral World of the First Christians written by Wayne A. Meeks and published by Westminster John Knox Press. This book was released on 1986-01-01 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the social setting of the early Christians, looks at the Greek and Roman ethical traditions, and explains the moral formation of the beginning Christian movement

Download or read book The Mass of the Early Christians 2nd Edition written by Mike Aquilina and published by Our Sunday Visitor. This book was released on 2007-05-30 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What did the first Christians believe about the Eucharist? How did they follow Jesus' command, "Do this in remembrance of me"? How did they celebrate the Lord's Day? What would they recognize in today's Mass? The answers may surprise you. In The Mass of the Early Christians, respected author, scholar, and television host Mike Aquilina reveals the Church's most ancient Eucharistic beliefs and practices. Using the words of the early Christians themselves -- from many documents and inscriptions -- Aquilina traces the history of the Mass from Jesus' lifetime through the fourth century. That the Mass stood at the center of the Church's life is evident in the Scriptures, as well as the earliest Christian sermons, letters, artwork, tombstones, and architecture. Even the pagans bore witness to the Mass in the records of their persecutions. These legacies from the early Church bear witness to the same worship Catholics know today: the altar, the priest, the chalice of wine, the bread, the Sign of the Cross ... the "Lord, have mercy" ... the "Holy, holy, holy" ... and the Communion.

Download or read book Understanding Early Christian Art written by Robin M. Jensen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-15 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Understanding Early Christian Art is designed for students of both religion and of art history. It makes the critical tools of art historians accessible to students of religion, to help them understand better the visual representations of Christianity. It will also aid art historians in comprehending the complex theology, history and context of Christian art. This interdisciplinary and boundary-breaking approach will enable students in several fields to further their understanding and knowledge of the art of the early Christian era. Understanding Early Christian Art contains over fifty images with parallel text.

Download or read book The World of the Early Christians written by Joseph F. Kelly and published by Liturgical Press. This book was released on 2017-03-15 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like every lost world, the world of the early Christians was a combination of the foreign and the familiar, the unique and the commonplace. In The World of the Early Christians, Joseph Kelly introduces and explains the world of the early Christians, and while he examines the differences between our two societies, he also stresses our similarities. The early Christians were people, like us, trying to make their way in life. There are many introductions to the world of the early Christians, but few if any deal with its historical background and the basic questions non-specialists ask: Why did the Christians use philosophy at al? Didn't it make everything confusing? Why didn't they just stay with the Bible? In The World of the Early Christians Kelly answers such preliminary questions and concentrates on the fundamental issue of why Christians used philosophy, rather than simply listing the philosophies they used. Not only do most people know little about the early Christians, they often have erroneous views about them. For example, many modern Christians think their ancient spiritual ancestors were impoverished, uneducated people from the lowest strata of Roman society. The World of the Early Christians addresses some of these misconceptions by considering the historical evidence available about these people. Similarly, Kelly also explains some ancient topics - such as magic and astrology - and considers how they can be misleading to modern students. He then describes the early Christians' relationships with other groups, such as Jews, pagans, and members of popular and official cults, and then explores the intellectual and cultural lives of the early Christians. Students and anyone interested in understanding the now lost world of early Christianity will appreciate this volume's straightforward treatment of this essential background material. Kelly touches upon topics treated by the other volumes in the Message of the Fathers of the Church series. He refers to original sources in translation unless no translation is available, and he includes bibliographic references for further research. In a direct and easy manner, Kelly brings to life for us today the rich world of the early Christians. Chapters are: "Who Were the Early Christians?" "How Do We Know About the Early Christians?" "The Physical World," "Others," "Intellectual and Cultural Life," "Living in the World," and "A Brief History of Early Christianity."

Download or read book The Early Christians in Their Own Words written by Eberhard Arnold and published by The Plough Publishing House. This book was released on 1997 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In these firsthand accounts of the early church, the spirit of Pentecost burns with prophetic force through the fog enveloping the modern church. A clear and vibrant faith lives on in these writings, providing a guide for Christians today. Its stark simplicity and revolutionary fervor will stun those lulled by conventional Christianity.The Early Christians is a topically arranged collection of primary sources. It includes extra-biblical sayings of Jesus and excerpts from Origen, Tertullian, Polycarp, Clement of Alexandria, Justin, Irenaeus, Hermas, Ignatius, and others. Equally revealing material from pagan contemporaries - critics, detractors, and persecutors - is included as well.

Download or read book The Myth of Persecution written by Candida Moss and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2013-03-05 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Myth of Persecution, Candida Moss, a leading expert on early Christianity, reveals how the early church exaggerated, invented, and forged stories of Christian martyrs and how the dangerous legacy of a martyrdom complex is employed today to silence dissent and galvanize a new generation of culture warriors. According to cherished church tradition and popular belief, before the Emperor Constantine made Christianity legal in the fourth century, early Christians were systematically persecuted by a brutal Roman Empire intent on their destruction. As the story goes, vast numbers of believers were thrown to the lions, tortured, or burned alive because they refused to renounce Christ. These saints, Christianity's inspirational heroes, are still venerated today. Moss, however, exposes that the "Age of Martyrs" is a fiction—there was no sustained 300-year-long effort by the Romans to persecute Christians. Instead, these stories were pious exaggerations; highly stylized rewritings of Jewish, Greek, and Roman noble death traditions; and even forgeries designed to marginalize heretics, inspire the faithful, and fund churches. The traditional story of persecution is still taught in Sunday school classes, celebrated in sermons, and employed by church leaders, politicians, and media pundits who insist that Christians were—and always will be—persecuted by a hostile, secular world. While violence against Christians does occur in select parts of the world today, the rhetoric of persecution is both misleading and rooted in an inaccurate history of the early church. Moss urges modern Christians to abandon the conspiratorial assumption that the world is out to get Christians and, rather, embrace the consolation, moral instruction, and spiritual guidance that these martyrdom stories provide.

Download or read book Books and Readers in the Early Church written by Harry Y. Gamble and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1995-01-01 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating and lively book provides the first comprehensive discussion of the production, circulation, and use of books in early Christianity. It explores the extent of literacy in early Christian communities; the relation in the early church between oral tradition and written materials; the physical form of early Christian books; how books were produced, transcribed, published, duplicated, and disseminated; how Christian libraries were formed; who read the books, in what circumstances, and to what purposes. Harry Y. Gamble interweaves practical and technological dimensions of the production and use of early Christian books with the social and institutional history of the period. Drawing on evidence from papyrology, codicology, textual criticism, and early church history, as well as on knowledge about the bibliographical practices that characterized Jewish and Greco-Roman culture, he offers a new perspective on the role of books in the first five centuries of the early church.

Download or read book All Things in Common written by Roman A. Montero and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-04-25 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All Things in Common gets behind the "communism of the apostles" passages in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37, using the anthropological categories of "social relationship" espoused by David Graeber and other anthropologists. Looking at sources ranging from the Qumran scrolls to the North African apologist Tertullian to the Roman satirist Lucian, All Things in Common reconstructs the economic practices of the early Christians and argues that what is described in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37 is a long-term, widespread set of practices that were taken seriously by the early Christians, and that differentiated them significantly from the wider world. This book takes into account Judean and Hellenistic parallels to the early Christian community of goods, as well as the socioeconomic context from which it came, and traces its origins back to the very teachings of Jesus and his declaration of the Jubilee. This book will be of interest to anyone interested in Christian history, and especially the socioeconomic aspects of early Christianity, as well as anyone interested in Christian ethics and New Testament studies. It would also be of interest to anyone interested in possible alternatives to the ideology of capitalism.

Download or read book From Jesus to Christ written by Paula Fredriksen and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Magisterial. . . . A learned, brilliant and enjoyable study."—Géza Vermès, Times Literary Supplement In this exciting book, Paula Fredriksen explains the variety of New Testament images of Jesus by exploring the ways that the new Christian communities interpreted his mission and message in light of the delay of the Kingdom he had preached. This edition includes an introduction reviews the most recent scholarship on Jesus and its implications for both history and theology. "Brilliant and lucidly written, full of original and fascinating insights."—Reginald H. Fuller, Journal of the American Academy of Religion "This is a first-rate work of a first-rate historian."—James D. Tabor, Journal of Religion "Fredriksen confronts her documents—principally the writings of the New Testament—as an archaeologist would an especially rich complex site. With great care she distinguishes the literary images from historical fact. As she does so, she explains the images of Jesus in terms of the strategies and purposes of the writers Paul, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John."—Thomas D’Evelyn, Christian Science Monitor

Download or read book We Look for a Kingdom written by Carl Sommer and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2010-01-05 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carl Sommer presents a popular study of the faith and life of the early Christians in the first two centuries after Christ. Using documentary evidence and archaeological records, Sommers reconstructs the lives of the early Christians in order to "introduce the treasures of early Christianity to a large number of modern readers". By studying how the early Christians believed and lived, we can learn many valuable lessons on what to avoid and what to strive for today. The Roman world had many facets that are strikingly similar to elements of modern life. Sommer's aim is to help the reader learn how to transform modern culture with the power of the Gospel as was first done in the centuries of the early Church.

Download or read book A New History of Early Christianity written by Charles Freeman and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Tracing the astonishing transformation that the early Christian church underwent - from sporadic niches of Christian communities surviving in the wake of a horrific crucifixion to sanctioned alliance with the state - Charles Freeman shows how freedom of thought was curtailed by the development of the concept of faith. The imposition of 'correct belief' and an institutional framework that enforced orthodoxy were both consolidating and stifling. Uncovering the church's relationships with Judaism, Gnosticism, Greek philosophy and Greco-Roman society, Freeman offers dramatic new accounts of Paul, the resurrection, and the church fathers and emperors."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Pagan Rome and the Early Christians written by Stephen Benko and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1986-07-22 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In the early Roman empire, Christians were seen by pagans as overthrowers of ancient gods and destroyers of the prevailing social order. Allegations that Christians recognized each other by secret marks, met at night and made love to one another indiscriminately, worshipped the head of an ass and the genitals of their high priests, and ate children were widely believed. In examining these charges and the Christian response to them, Benko has provided a persuasively argued and refreshing, if controversial, perspective on the confrontation of the pagan and early Christian worlds."[book cover].