Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire

Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire PDF

Author: Niko Huttunen

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-03-31

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9004428240

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In Early Christians Adapting to the Roman Empire: Mutual Recognition Niko Huttunen challenges the interpretation of early Christian texts as anti-imperial documents. He presents examples of the positive relationship between early Christians and the Roman society. With the concept of “recognition” Huttunen describes a situation in which the parties can come to terms with each other without full agreement. Huttunen provides examples of non-Christian philosophers recognizing early Christians. He claims that recognition was a response to Christians who presented themselves as philosophers. Huttunen reads Romans 13 as a part of the ancient tradition of the law of the stronger. His pioneering study on early Christian soldiers uncovers the practical dimension of recognizing the empire.

Christianity and the Roman Empire

Christianity and the Roman Empire PDF

Author: Ralph Martin Novak

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2001-02-01

Total Pages: 351

ISBN-13: 0567018407

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The rise of Christianity during the first four centuries of the common era was the pivotal development in Western history and profoundly influenced the later direction of all world history. Yet, for all that has been written on early Christian history, the primary sources for this history are widely scattered, difficult to find, and generally unknown to lay persons and to historians not specially trained in the field. In Christianity and the Roman Empire Ralph Novak interweaves these primary sources with a narrative text and constructs a single continuous account of these crucial centuries. The primary sources are selected to emphasize the manner in which the government and the people of the Roman Empire perceived Christians socially and politically; the ways in which these perceptions influenced the treatment of Christians within the Roman Empire; and the manner in which Christians established their political and religious dominance of the Roman Empire after Constantine the Great came to power in the early fourth century CE. Ralph Martin Novak holds a Masters Degree in Roman History from the University of Chicago. For: Undergraduates; seminarians; general audiences

Coming Out Christian in the Roman World

Coming Out Christian in the Roman World PDF

Author: Douglas Ryan Boin

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2015-03-03

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 1620403188

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The supposed collapse of Roman civilization is still lamented more than 1,500 years later-and intertwined with this idea is the notion that a fledgling religion, Christianity, went from a persecuted fringe movement to an irresistible force that toppled the empire. The “intolerant zeal” of Christians, wrote Edward Gibbon, swept Rome's old gods away, and with them the structures that sustained Roman society. Not so, argues Douglas Boin. Such tales are simply untrue to history, and ignore the most important fact of all: life in Rome never came to a dramatic stop. Instead, as Boin shows, a small minority movement rose to transform society-politically, religiously, and culturally-but it was a gradual process, one that happened in fits and starts over centuries. Drawing upon a decade of recent studies in history and archaeology, and on his own research, Boin opens up a wholly new window onto a period we thought we knew. His work is the first to describe how Christians navigated the complex world of social identity in terms of “passing” and “coming out.” Many Christians lived in a dynamic middle ground. Their quiet success, as much as the clamor of martyrdom, was a powerful agent for change. With this insightful approach to the story of Christians in the Roman world, Douglas Boin rewrites, and rediscovers, the fascinating early history of a world faith.

In Stone and Story

In Stone and Story PDF

Author: Bruce W. Longenecker

Publisher: Baker Academic

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 471

ISBN-13: 1493422340

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This beautifully designed, full-color textbook introduces the Roman background of the New Testament by immersing students in the life and culture of the thriving first-century towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which act as showpieces of the world into which the early Christian movement was spreading. Bruce Longenecker, a leading scholar of the ancient world of the New Testament, discusses first-century artifacts in relation to the life stories of people from the Roman world. The book includes discussion questions, maps, and 175 color photographs. Additional resources are available through Textbook eSources.

Christianity in the Roman Empire

Christianity in the Roman Empire PDF

Author: Robert E. Winn

Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers

Published: 2018-10-09

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 1683072413

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Christianity in the Roman Empire is a topical and biographical introduction to Christianity before Constantine. While its focus is the historical development of the proto-orthodox community, Robert Winn aims to bridge the gap between contemporary Christians and those who lived in the Roman Empire. To do this, his chapters discuss particular topics such as prayer, biblical interpretation, worship, and persecution, as well as prominent and controversial individuals such as Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Melito of Sardis, and Tertullian. Part One addresses the world of the apostolic fathers, Part Two addresses hostility to Christianity and the response of Christians to this antagonism, and Part Three addresses doctrinal and communal issues of the third century. The book will pique readers’ interest and provide them with a deeper appreciation for the religious identity of early Christians in the Roman Empire: what they believed and how they lived. Part One: Christianity in the Year 100 1. Christians, Jews, and Romans in the First Century 2. New Way of Life: Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas 3. Clement of Rome and the Church of Corinth 4. Ignatius of Antioch and True Christianity 5. Worship and Church Order in the Year 100 Part Two: Christianity in a Hostile World (100–250) 6. Celsus, a Critic of Christianity 7. Justin Martyr, a Defender of Christianity 8. The Persecution of Christians 9. The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity 10. Cyprian of Carthage and the Unity of the Church Part Three: Faith and Practice in the Third Century 11. Reading the Bible with Early Christians 12. Irenaeus of Lyons and True Christianity 13. Tertullian of Carthage and True Christianity 14. Prayer and the Spiritual Life of Early Christians 15. Eusebius of Caesarea: After Two Hundred Years

Pagan Rome and the Early Christians

Pagan Rome and the Early Christians PDF

Author: Stephen Benko

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 1986-07-22

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9780253203854

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"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].

The Patient Ferment of the Early Church

The Patient Ferment of the Early Church PDF

Author: Alan Kreider

Publisher: Baker Academic

Published: 2016-03-29

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1493400339

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How and why did the early church grow in the first four hundred years despite disincentives, harassment, and occasional persecution? In this unique historical study, veteran scholar Alan Kreider delivers the fruit of a lifetime of study as he tells the amazing story of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Challenging traditional understandings, Kreider contends the church grew because the virtue of patience was of central importance in the life and witness of the early Christians. They wrote about patience, not evangelism, and reflected on prayer, catechesis, and worship, yet the church grew--not by specific strategies but by patient ferment.

Augustus to Constantine

Augustus to Constantine PDF

Author: Robert McQueen Grant

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press

Published: 2004-01-01

Total Pages: 396

ISBN-13: 9780664227722

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This masterful study of the early centuries of Christianity vividly brings to life the religious, political, and cultural developments through which the faith that began as a sect within Judaism became finally the religion of the Roman empire. First published in 1970, Grant's classic is enhanced with a new foreward by Margaret M. Mitchell, which assesses its importance and puts the reader in touch with the advances of current research.