A History of Early Christian Literature

A History of Early Christian Literature PDF

Author: Justo L. González

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 2019-08-27

Total Pages: 415

ISBN-13: 1611649544

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Historical events have long been the standard lens through which scholars have sought to understand the theology of Christianity in late antiquity. The lives of significant theological figures, the rejection of individuals and movements as heretical, and the Trinitarian and christological controversiesthe defining theological events of the early churchhave long provided the framework with which to understand the development of early Christian belief. In this groundbreaking work, esteemed historian of Christianity Justo González chooses to focus on the literature of early Christianity. Beginning with the epistolary writings of the earliest Christian writers of the second century CE, he moves through apologies, martyrologies, antiheretical polemics, biblical commentaries, sermons, all the way up through Augustines invention of spiritual autobiography and beyond. Throughout he demonstrates how literary genre played a decisive role in the construction of theological meaning. Covering the earliest noncanonical Christian writings through the fifth century and later, this book will serve as an indispensable guide to students studying the theology of the early church.

Books and Readers in the Early Church

Books and Readers in the Early Church PDF

Author: Harry Y. Gamble

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1995-01-01

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 9780300069181

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

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.

Early Christian Literature

Early Christian Literature PDF

Author: Helen Rhee

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 9780415354882

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This work concerns the early Christians' self-definitions and self-representations in the context of pagan-Christian conflict, reflected in the literatures from the mid-second to the early third centuries (ca. 150 - 225 CE).

Early Christian Books in Egypt

Early Christian Books in Egypt PDF

Author: Roger S. Bagnall

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-07-13

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1400833787

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

For the past hundred years, much has been written about the early editions of Christian texts discovered in the region that was once Roman Egypt. Scholars have cited these papyrus manuscripts--containing the Bible and other Christian works--as evidence of Christianity's presence in that historic area during the first three centuries AD. In Early Christian Books in Egypt, distinguished papyrologist Roger Bagnall shows that a great deal of this discussion and scholarship has been misdirected, biased, and at odds with the realities of the ancient world. Providing a detailed picture of the social, economic, and intellectual climate in which these manuscripts were written and circulated, he reveals that the number of Christian books from this period is likely fewer than previously believed. Bagnall explains why papyrus manuscripts have routinely been dated too early, how the role of Christians in the history of the codex has been misrepresented, and how the place of books in ancient society has been misunderstood. The author offers a realistic reappraisal of the number of Christians in Egypt during early Christianity, and provides a thorough picture of the economics of book production during the period in order to determine the number of Christian papyri likely to have existed. Supporting a more conservative approach to dating surviving papyri, Bagnall examines the dramatic consequences of these findings for the historical understanding of the Christian church in Egypt.

Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature

Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature PDF

Author: Claudio Moreschini

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 776

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Early Christian Greek and Latin literature examines early Christian writings with particular attention paid to their literary characteristics and their effect on the development of Western culture."--Cover.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies PDF

Author: Susan Ashbrook Harvey

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-09-04

Total Pages: 1049

ISBN-13: 9780199271566

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Provides an introduction to the academic study of early Christianity (c. 100-600 AD) and examines the vast geographical area impacted by the early church, in Western and Eastern late antiquity. --from publisher description.

Early Christian Monastic Literature and the Babylonian Talmud

Early Christian Monastic Literature and the Babylonian Talmud PDF

Author: Michal Bar-Asher Siegal

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-12-23

Total Pages: 245

ISBN-13: 1107023017

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book examines literary analogies in Christian and Jewish sources, culminating in an in-depth analysis of connections between Christian monastic texts and Babylonian Talmudic traditions.