Overview

Exploring the key documents, authors and themes of Early Christian traditions, this volume traces the vital trajectories of emerging distinctive Christian identity in the Graeco-Roman world. Special attention is given to the coherent growth of Christian faith in connection with worship, alongside the crucial transformation of Christian life and doctrine under the Christian Emperors. As well as offering a chronological development of the Early Church, the book examines the interaction between Christian worship and faith. In addition, readers interested in systematic theology can refer to chapters on the roots of some significant theological notions in Christian Antiquity, also with reference to ancient philosophy. Issues addressed include: · Distinctiveness of the Christian identity during the first centuries · Diversity of communities and their theologies · Connection between faith and worship · Transition from the persecuted minority to triumphant Church with Creeds · History of early Christian thought and modern systematic theology

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9780567700582

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Reviews

This exciting handbook of the Early Church will intrigue laypersons, clergy and scholars alike. It departs from the traditional history of doctrine to focus on the struggles of early Christian communities to organize themselves, to sort out the roles of women, slaves, children and the differently abled and to create forms of unity within the remarkable diversity they embraced. - Karen Jo Torjesen, Claremont Graduate Union California, USA This Handbook is a breath of fresh air: it breaks free of the usual history of doctrine approach to the early Church to give an account of the wide range of different contexts in which Christian self-understanding and practice were formed. It will enable those who study this extraordinary period to learn with and within the early Church; to have their thinking and actions shaped and informed by it. - Carol Harrison, University of Oxford, UK This is a wonderfully rich collection of essays exploring many different aspects of the early centuries of Christian history, theology, spirituality, and so much more. It is sure to become the standard go-to handbook for scholars, students, and all those interested in early Christianity. - John Behr, Aberdeen University, UK

This exciting handbook of the Early Church will intrigue laypersons, clergy and scholars alike. It departs from the traditional history of doctrine to focus on the struggles of early Christian communities to organize themselves, to sort out the roles of women, slaves, children and the differently abled and to create forms of unity within the remarkable diversity they embraced. -- Karen Jo Torjesen, Claremont Graduate Union California, USA This Handbook is a breath of fresh air: it breaks free of the usual history of doctrine approach to the early Church to give an account of the wide range of different contexts in which Christian self-understanding and practice were formed. It will enable those who study this extraordinary period to learn with and within the early Church; to have their thinking and actions shaped and informed by it. -- Carol Harrison, University of Oxford, UK This is a wonderfully rich collection of essays exploring many different aspects of the early centuries of Christian history, theology, spirituality, and so much more. It is sure to become the standard go-to handbook for scholars, students, and all those interested in early Christianity. -- John Behr, Aberdeen University, UK

Author Information

Ilaria Ramelli is Professor of the Early Church at Sacre Cuore Milan, and at the Angelicum Rome, Italy. John A. McGuckin is the Nielsen Professor Emeritus of Early Christian History at Union Theological Seminary, USA. Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski is a Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London, UK.

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