Early Christian Reader

The ideal basic textbook for introductory courses in early Christianity For studying early Christianity in its historical context, standard editions of the New Testament fail to provide the best resources. They present the earliest Christian writings out of chronological order and omit writings similar in age and historical importance to the books of the New Testament. In Early Christian Reader, these texts are arranged in a more historically meaningful order. The books of the New Testament are presented in the NRSV, the most widely accepted version in university classrooms today. Also included are translations of the Gospel of Thomas, the Didache, the Letter of Barnabas, 1 Clement, and the letters of Ignatius. Each work's introduction discusses the date and place of composition, authorship, audience, basic themes, literary features, the Jewish and Hellenistic contexts, and suggestions for further readings in the secondary literature. Generous notes illuminate specific historical, lexical, and interpretive issues. Broader issues affecting the treatment of these texts are introduced in seven lead articles. Each section opens with discussions of pseudonomous authorship, church tradition, synoptic sources, epistles as documents, conflicting doctrines, and originating events. This approach allows Early Christian Reader to offer an objective, informed entrée into the complex world of the earliest Christian literature. Informative appendixes, maps, and charts make this an ideal text for the university or college classroom. Early Christian Reader includes the following texts, indexes, and maps: The Letters of Paul • 1 Thessalonians • 1 Corinthians • Philippians • Philemon • 2 Corinthians • Galatians • Romans Letters Attributed to Paul • Colossians • Ephesians • 2 Thessalonians • Titus • 1 Timothy • 2 Timothy Letters Associated with Peter • 1 Peter • Jude • 2 Peter Biography, Anecdote, and History • Mark • Matthew • Luke • Acts • Gospel of Thomas Writings Attributed to John • John • 1 John • 2 John • 3 John • Revelation Other Early Writings • James • Didache • Barnabas • Hebrews • 1 Clement • Ignatius, Romans • Ignatius, Ephesians • Ignatius, Magnesians • Ignatius, Trallians • Ignatius, Philadelphians • Ignatius, Smyrnaeans • Ignatius, Polycarp Appendixes • Coins and Money • Major Figures in the Herodian Family • The Jewish Civil Year • Early Christian Use of the Jewish Bible • The Lost Sayings of Source: "Q" • Dating the Early Christian Texts • The Literary Context of the Early Christians Maps • The Land of Israel/Palestine in the First Century of the Common Era • The Roman Empire • Jerusalem in the Second Temple Period Introductions and notes in the Early Christian Reader were written and edited by Steve Mason and Tom Robinson with contributions from Michael W. Holmes, Robert A. Kraft and Jay C. Treat, and Stephen J. Patterson.

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.

The Early Christian Reader prepares the earliest Christian writings in a historically meaningful order and includes writings similar in age and historical importance to the books of the New Testament.

In Public Reading in Early Christianity: Lectors, Manuscripts, and Sound in the Oral Delivery of John 1-4 Dan Nässelqvist examines public reading in early Christianity and presents a method of sound analysis for New Testament writings.

Gospel writing always follows Gospel reading, a complex literary act of reception that interprets the theological significance of Jesus. This volume seek to demonstrate the intricate dynamics of this controversial figure's theological and textual reception through foundational essays on specific texts and themes.

Written by experts in the field, the essays in this volume examine the early Christian book from a wide range of disciplines: religion, art history, history, Near Eastern studies, and classics.

Christianity is the world’s most populous religion, with some two billion adherents. As a world religion, Christianity has flourished because it is capable of taking on new forms in new contexts. To understand both the religion’s history and its present state, Mary Gerhart and Fabian Udoh gather original texts—from early Christian writings to contemporary documents on church-related issues—in The Christianity Reader. The most comprehensive anthology of Christian texts ever in English, this is a landmark sourcebook for the study of Christianity’s historical diversity. With newly edited, annotated, and translated primary texts, along with supplemental analytical essays, the volume allows Christianity, at long last, to speak in its many voices. Focusing on Christianity as a religion, Gerhart and Udoh select texts that illuminate issues such as theology, mysticism, and ritual, while also articulating the stories of previously marginalized groups, as well as those in new and growing epicenters of the religion. With nearly three hundred selections, the texts encompass the entire history of Christian writings excluding the New Testament, from Justin Martyr and Tertullian to Fabien Eboussi Boulaga and Teresa of Calcutta. Eight thematic sections cover biblical traditions and interpretations; early influences; nascent forms; patterns of worship; structures of community; philosophy, theology, and mysticism; twentieth-century issues and challenges; and the contemporary relationship between Christianity and other world religions. The Reader’s contents are arranged chronologically and are supported with introductions and source notes that explain the rationale for their inclusion and their context. Providing a far richer selection than ever before available in a single volume, The Christianity Reader will be welcomed as both a classroom resource and a work of reference for decades to come.

The remarkable diversity of Christianity during the formative years of the first three centuries has become a plain, even natural, "fact" for most ancient historians. However, until now there has been no source book of primary texts that reveals the many varieties of Christian beliefs, practices, ethics, experiences, confrontations, and self-understandings. To help readers recognize and experience the rich diversity of the early Christian movement, After the New Testament provides a wide range of texts, both "orthodox" and "heterodox". It includes such works as the Apostolic Fathers, the writings of Nag Hammadi, early pseudepigrapha, martyrologies, anti-Jewish tractates, heresiologies, canon lists, church orders, Liturgical texts, and theological treatises. In addition, rather than including only fragments of texts, this collection provides substantial sections -- entire documents wherever possible -- organized under social and historical rubrics.