The early Christian world PDF
Preview The early Christian world
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD SECOND EDITION This new edition is a goldmine of up-to-date information for anyone interested in the development of early Christianity. The contributors represent an international collection of top-flight scholars, and the range of topics covered is expansive; yet the essays are written in an accessible style and could certainly be used in a classroom setting at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Of particular note is the way in which the essays situate Christianity within its broader cultural contexts, rather than treat- ing it as if it had developed in a ‘holy vacuum’. You will want this book on your shelf as a standard reference work for the study of early Christianity. – Professor David Eastman, Ohio Wesleyan University, USA 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; Roman Britain, ritual; experience of the supernatural via angels, demons, miracles and magic; Manichaeism; Pachomius the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. This new edition will serve its readers for many years to come. Philip F. Esler is the Portland Chair in New Testament Studies and Director of the International Centre for Biblical Interpretation in the University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK. His research focus lies primarily in the social-scientific analysis of biblical and extra-biblical texts and ancient legal papyri, and he also writes on the Bible and the visual arts and on New Testament theology. THE ROUTLEDGE WORLDS THE SUMERIAN WORLD Edited by Harriet Crawford THE OCCULT WORLD Edited by Christopher Partridge THE WORLD OF INDIGENOUS NORTH AMERICA Edited by Robert Warrior THE WORLD OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN REPUBLIC Edited by Andrew Shankman THE SHAKESPEAREAN WORLD Edited by Jill L. Levenson and Robert Ormsby THE WORLD OF COLONIAL AMERICA Edited by Ignacio Gallup-Diaz THE MEDIEVAL WORLD, SECOND EDITION Edited by Peter Linehan, Janet L. Nelson, and Marios Costambeys THE MODERNIST WORLD Edited by Allana Lindgren and Stephen Ross Forthcoming: THE WORLD OF GREAT ZIMBABWE Edited by Innocent Pikirayi THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD, SECOND EDITION Edited by Philip F. Esler THE SWAHILI WORLD Edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Adria LaViolette THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD SECOND EDITION Edited by Philip F. Esler First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Philip F. Esler The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Esler, Philip Francis, editor. Title: The early Christian world / edited by Philip F. Esler. Description: Second edition. | New York : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Routledge worlds | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016046646| ISBN 9781138200074 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315165837 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Church history—Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600. Classification: LCC BR165 .E25 2017 | DDC 270.1—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016046646 ISBN: 978-1-138-20007-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-16583-7 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo Std by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK This book is dedicated to the memory of Patrick Bernard Carey (16 December 1946–18 July 2016) CONTENTS List of figures xii Notes on contributors xxi Preface to the Revised Edition xxix PART I The context 1 1 The Mediterranean context of early Christianity 3 Philip F. Esler 2 Armies, emperors and bureaucrats 27 Jill Harries 3 Graeco-Roman philosophy and religion 48 Luther H. Martin 4 Jewish tradition and culture 73 James K. Aitken PART II Christian origins and development 95 5 The Galilean world of Jesus 97 Douglas E. Oakman 6 Early Jewish Christianity 121 Edwin K. Broadhead 7 From the Hellenists to Marcion: early gentile Christianity 142 Todd Klutz vii Contents 8 The Jesus tradition: the gospel writers’ strategies of persuasion 169 Richard L. Rohrbaugh 9 The second and third centuries 197 Jeffrey S. Siker 10 From Constantine to Theodosius (and beyond) 220 Bill Leadbetter 11 Jewish and Christian interaction from the first to the fifth centuries 244 Anders Runesson PART III Community formation and maintenance 265 12 Mission and expansion 267 Thomas M. Finn 13 The development of office in the Early Church 284 Mark Edwards 14 Christian regional diversity 295 David G. K. Taylor 15 Monasticism 307 Columba Stewart OSB PART IV Everyday Christian experience 327 16 Reading the New Testament in Roman Britain 329 Richard Cleaves 17 Sex and sexual renunciation I 355 Teresa M. Shaw 18 Sex and sexual renunciation II: developments in research since 2000 372 Elizabeth A. Castelli 19 Women, children and house churches 385 Mona Tokarek LaFosse 20 Worship, practice, and belief 406 Maxwell E. Johnson 21 Ritual and the rise of the early Christian movement 427 Risto Uro viii Contents 22 Communication and travel 442 Blake Leyerle PART V Christian culture 465 23 Christian realia: papyrological and epigraphical material 467 Giovanni Bazzana 24 Scriptures in early Christianity 483 Outi Lehtipuu and Hanne von Weissenberg 25 Saints and hagiography 501 Mark Humphries 26 Translation and communication across cultures 515 Malcolm Choat PART VI The intellectual heritage 527 27 The Apostolic Fathers 529 Carolyn Osiek 28 The Apologists 547 Anders-Christian Jacobsen 29 Early theologians 565 Gerald Bray 30 Later theologians of the Greek east 587 Andrew Louth 31 Later theologians of the west 606 Ivor J. Davidson 32 Creeds, councils and doctrinal development 631 Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski 33 Biblical interpretation 647 Oskar Skarsaune PART VII The artistic heritage 671 34 Early Christian architecture: the first five centuries 673 L. Michael White ix
The list of books you might like
