The First One Hundred Years Of Christianity

Beginning as a marginal group in Galilee, the movement initiated by Jesus of Nazareth became a world religion within 100 years. Why, among various religious movements, did Christianity succeed? This major work by internationally renowned scholar Udo Schnelle traces the historical, cultural, and theological influences and developments of the early years of the Christian movement. It shows how Christianity provided an intellectual framework, a literature, and socialization among converts that led to its enduring influence. Senior New Testament scholar James Thompson offers a clear, fluent English translation of the successful German edition.

Describes the first 1,000 years of Christian history, from the early practices and beliefs through the conversion of Constantine as well as documenting its growth to communities in Ethiopia, Armenia, Central Asia, India and China.

Eminently readable historical treatment of the Jesus Movement in First Century context. Vividly describes the life and death of Jesus and how his charismatic teaching became a worldwide religion; how Jesus the man became Jesus the Christ. Plus the heroic Jewish fight against despotic Roman rule and the violent separation of Christianity from Judaism. The reader encounters the ancient land of Palestine, King Herod’s incestuous family, fascinating legends surrounding Christianity’s birth, the wanderings and violent deaths of the 12 apostles, the mysterious Cross Gospel and Secret Gospel of Mark and a strange writing called Q. Separate chapters spotlight two shames of Christianity. Christian Sexism portrays the denigration of women from co-equal disciples of Jesus to permanent second-class status. Christian Anti-Semitism begins with the Gospels of Mark and John and the letters of Paul and highlights centuries of conflict between the Jewish people and the Roman Catholic Church. An appendix sorts out today’s confusing proliferation of versions of the New Testament, explaining their origins and detailing both serious and humorous textual differences. Helps answer the question of which version to use.

From a prize-winning author, this book charts the course of Christianity from ancient history onwards.

Following his well-received Apostle Paul, prominent European scholar Udo Schnelle now offers a major new theology of the New Testament. The work has been translated into English from the original German, with bibliographic adaptations, by leading American scholar M. Eugene Boring. This comprehensive critical introduction combines historical and theological analysis. Schnelle begins with the teaching of Jesus and continues with a discussion of the theology of Paul. He then moves on to the Synoptic Gospels; the deutero-Pauline, catholic, and Johannine letters; and Revelation, paying due attention to authorship, chronology, genre, and canonical considerations. This is an essential book for anyone with a scholarly interest in the New Testament.

The first 400 years after the death of Christ saw huge developments and changes in the emerging faith. Christianity spread from Jerusalem to much of the known world; it became the official religion of the British empire; its key texts were written and its core ideas and beliefs were shaped and formalized. Much of this happened under huge pressure, from both within and without. Jonathan Hill charts the fascinating history of this crucial period in the development of Christianity. He shows how and why certain ideas triumphed over others; introduces the key figures, both within the faith and among its opponents, and their intellectual struggles; covers the main battles, often bitterly fought, both of ideas and of weapons; describes the lives of ordinary Christians and their worship and how each influenced the other. Occassionally murky, often thrilling and always compelling, the story Hill tells recounts the ways in which a new religion - centred on a single man executed in the Roman Middle East - first struggled, and then spread, to become the dominant belief system of the world.

The starting point for the book is the following anomoly: If Jesus lived as has been supposed at the beginning of the 1st century AD, the only NT documents written by a near contemporary, the Epistles of St Paul, make no mention of him as an historical figure, neither do they record any of his sayings, but rather they talk of him as a vision or mystical experience of the risen Christ. Further, the same is true of the earliest Christian non-NT texts, such as the Epistles of St Clement, roughly contemporary with Paul. Furthermore, contemporary records of the region from non-Christian sources, such as those by the Jewish historian Josephus, fail to mention Jesus at all where we would expect them to; the mentions that there are have recently been shown to be later interpolations by medieval Christian apologists - the gospel accounts of Jesus and his millieu are inaccurate in all major respects e. g. the relative dates of Herod and Pilate, if contemporary Roman and Jewish historians, who had no theological axe to grind, are taken as measure. By comparative textual studies, the author shows that the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and sayings were written approximately 100 years after Jesus is supposed to have lived, and so 100 years later than alleged contemporaries such as Paul, Clement, Josephus etc.

“[A] brilliant survey of the development of Christianity . . . tells a riveting story of a struggling young religion searching for an identity.” —Publishers Weekly This sweeping history begins with the life of Jesus and narrates the remarkable story of Christianity as it unfolded over the next thousand years. Unique in its global scope, the book encompasses the vast geographical span of early Christianity, from the regions around the Mediterranean Sea through the Middle East and beyond to central Asia, India, and China. Robert Louis Wilken, beloved professor and renowned author, selects people and events of particular importance in Christian history to bring into focus the full drama of the new religion’s development. The coming of Christianity, he demonstrates, set in motion one of the most profound revolutions the world has known. Wilken tracks the growth of Christian communities around the ancient world and shows how the influence of Christianity led not only to the remaking of cultures but also to the creation of new civilizations. He explores the powerful impact of the rise and spread of Islam on Christianity and devotes several chapters to the early experiences of Christians under Muslim rule in the Middle East, Egypt, north Africa, and Spain. By expanding the telling of Christian history to encompass perspectives beyond just those of the West, Wilken highlights how interactions with new peoples and languages changed early Christian practices, even as the shared rituals of Christian people bound them in spiritual unity despite their deep cultural differences. “Ambitious and wide-ranging . . . [This] highly accessible volume abounds with lively tales and fascinating connections.” — The Christian Century