Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years (198 page)

Particular themes in relation to the Tanakh/Old Testament are examined by J. Blenkinsopp,
A History of Prophecy in Israel
(London, 1984); J. L. Crenshaw,
Old Testament Wisdom: An Introduction
(2nd edn, Louisville, 1998); E. W. Nicholson,
God and His People: Covenant and Theology in the Old Testament
(Oxford, 1986). Moving from texts canonical for both Jews and Christians, the connections of the world of early Judaism with its Christian offspring are presented via primary sources in C. K. Barrett (ed.),
The New Testament Background: Selected Documents
(rev. edn, London, 1987). J. H. Charlesworth (ed.),
The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
(2 vols., Garden City, NY, 1983-5), is the most comprehensive recent collection of Jewish sacred literature beyond the Tanakh, although H. F. D. Sparks (ed.),
The Apocryphal Old Testament
(Oxford, 1984), is also a convenient collection of these texts. To make sense of this bewildering melange, C. Rowland,
The Open Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity
(London, 1982), and his
Christian Origins: An Account of the Setting and Character of the Most Important Messianic Sect of Judaism
(London, 1982), are masterly accounts of the Intertestamental period of Judaism and their links to the formation of Christianity.

PART II: ONE CHURCH, ONE FAITH, ONE LORD? (4 BCE -451 CE)

General Reading

No one interested in the period can abstain from the reading of E. Gibbon,
The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(first edition from 1776); Gibbon had a fine eye for the absurdities and tragedies that result from the profession of religion. H. Chadwick,
The Early Church
(London, 1967), is still an excellent and genial way to begin study of the first five centuries of Christianity, with N. Brox,
A History of the Early Church
(London, 1994), a translation of
Kirchengeschichte des Altertums
(Dusseldorf, 1986), as a useful alternative. Also vintage Chadwick, though on a larger scale, is H. Chadwick,
The Church in Ancient Society: From Galilee to Gregory the Great
(Oxford, 2001). S. G. Hall,
Doctrine and Practice in the Early Church
(London, 1991) and C. Markschies,
Between Two Worlds: Structures of Early Christianity
(London, 1999), a translation of
Zwischen den Welten Wandern: Strukturen des antiken Christentums
(Frankfurt am Main, 1997), are good next stages for exploration. Monumental yet very readable is W. H. C. Frend,
The Rise of Christianity
(London, 1984). For the whole period up to the Council of Nicaea, the indispensable collection of documents with commentary is J. Stevenson (ed.), rev. W. H. C. Frend,
A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church to
AD
337
(London, 1987).

3: A Crucified Messiah (4 BCE-100 CE)

L. T. Johnson,
The Writings of the New Testament
(rev. edn, Minneapolis, 1999), is a straightforward and helpful way into the subject, from which one might progress to J. Jeremias,
New Testament Theology
(London, 1971). It will be a revelation to some readers of the Bible to see the texts of the Gospels arranged side by side to demonstrate their variant forms and development, which is most instructively done by using K. Aland (ed.),
Synopsis of the Four Gospels, Greek-English Edition of the Synopsis Quattuor Evangeliorum
(9th edn, Stuttgart, 1989), derived from the German original of 1964, K. Aland (ed.),
Synopsis quattuor Evangeliorum, locis parallelis Evangeliorum apocryphorum et patrum adhibitis
. C. M. Tuckett,
Reading the New Testament: Methods of Interpretation
(London, 1987), will help those shell-shocked by such perusal to make sense of the picture.

Three edited collections of essays are exceptionally useful introductions to twentieth-century controversies on the Gospels: G. Stanton (ed.),
The Interpretation of Matthew
(Philadelphia and London, 1983), W. Telford (ed.),
The Interpretation of Mark
(Philadelphia and London, 1985), J. Ashton (ed.),
The Interpretation of John
(Philadelphia and London, 1986). Well worth reading, although like most of the literature it assumes the unity in authorship of Luke's Gospel and the Book of Acts, is H. Conzelmann,
The Theology of Luke
(London, 1960), from the original
Die Mitte der Zeit
(Tubingen, 1953). A classic analysis of the material underlying the Synoptic Gospels is T. W. Manson,
The Sayings of Jesus as Recorded in the Gospels According to St Matthew and St Luke
(London, 1957), first published as Part II of T. W. Manson,
The Mission and Message of Jesus
(London, 1937); and G. N. Stanton,
The Gospels and Jesus
(Oxford, 1989), shows where scholarship has subsequently travelled. Engaging little accounts of crucial parts of the texts raising large questions about them are the trilogy of G. Vermes,
The Passion
(London, 2005),
The Nativity
(London, 2006) and
The Resurrection
(London, 2008). Our growing sense of the rootedness of Jesus in his culture is ably explored in J. Barclay and J. Sweet (eds.),
Early Christianity in Its Jewish Context
(Cambridge, 1996), while G. Vermes,
Jesus the Jew
(London, 1973) and E. P. Sanders,
Jesus and Judaism
(London, 1985) are both sensitive but contrasting treatments of the subject.

4: Boundaries Defined (50 CE-300)

D. G. Horrell,
An Introduction to the Study of Paul
(London and New York, 2000), leads in to the subject, which is stimulatingly developed in E. P. Sanders,
Paul, the Law and the Jewish People
(Philadelphia, 1983). W. A. Meeks,
The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul
(New Haven and London, 1983) is a helpful attempt to apply a historical and social imagination to data supplied in the Pauline letters and Acts. W. Horbury,
Jews and Christians in Contact and Controversy
(Edinburgh, 1998) emphasizes the continuing Christian relationship with Judaism. L. W. Hurtado
, The Earliest Christian Artifacts: Manuscripts and Christian Origins
(Grand Rapids, 2006), and F. Young,
The Making of the Creeds
(London, 1991), are two explorations of what began to make Christianity different. C. Markschies,
Gnosis: An Introduction
(Edinburgh, 2003), originally published as
Die Gnosis
(Munich, 2001), is a fine exposition of what we know of the alternative futures of early Christianity; more controversial, though now something of a classic for many, is E. Pagels,
The Gnostic Gospels
(New York, 1979).

5: The Prince: Ally or Enemy? (100- 300)

E. R. Dodds,
Christian and Pagan in an Age of Anxiety: Some Aspects of Religious Experience from Marcus Aurelius to Constantine
(Cambridge, 1965), is a classic exploration of an obscure period, one vital moment of which is re-examined in R. Selinger,
The Mid-third Century Persecutions of Decius and Valerian
(Frankfurt am Main, 2002). An exceptional study is R. Lane Fox,
Pagans and Christians in the Mediterranean World from the Second Century
AD
to the Conversion of Constantine
(London, 1986). An important time-capsule from Syria is presented in C. Hopkins, ed. B. Goldman,
The Discovery of Dura-Europos
(New Haven and London, 1979).

6: The Imperial Church (300- 451)

The turning point created by Constantine is still best encountered through a remarkable example of how to present history compellingly for novices, A. H. M. Jones,
Constantine and the Conversion of Europe
(London, 1948); thereafter, the consequences of Constantine's decision are richly depicted by the essayists of A. Casiday and F. W. Norris (eds.),
The Cambridge History of Christianity 2: Constantine to c. 1600
(Cambridge, 2007). More concise and a delightful guide to the otherwise often arid-seeming theological controversies of the age is F. Young,
From Nicaea to Chalcedon
(London, 1983). Indispensable are the primary sources and incisive commentary of J. Stevenson (ed.), rev. W. H. C. Frend,
Creeds, Councils and Controversies: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church
AD
337-461
(London, 1989). A crucial episode of this period long-misrepresented in the Church's telling of its own story is sensitively reinterpreted by a master of the tradition, R. Williams,
Arius: Heresy and Tradition
(2nd edn, London, 2001), and valuably further dissected by one of Williams' admirers, L. Ayres,
Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to 4th-century Trinitarian Orthodoxy
(Oxford, 2004). A vital development of the period is absorbingly reconstructed in E. D. Hunt,
Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire,
AD
312- 460
(Oxford, 1984).

PART III: VANISHING FUTURES: EAST AND SOUTH (451-1500)

General Reading

As yet, the stories of the non-Chalcedonian Churches of Asia and Africa have not fully escaped into the public domain from a mound of exciting and innovative academic research, but there are useful starter essays in sections of K. Parry (ed.),
The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity
(Oxford, 2007). A shining exception to the rule, on the Dyophysite Christian tradition, beautifully illustrated partly with the author's own photographs after a lifetime of travel, is C. Baumer,
The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity
(London and New York, 2006). Two other fine introductions are I. Gillman and H.-J. Klimheit,
Christians in Asia before 1500
(Richmond, 1999), and P. Jenkins,
The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa and Asia
(New York, 2008).

7: Defying Chalcedon: Asia and Africa (451- 622)

Excellent background is provided in A. Cameron,
The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity,
AD
395-600
(London, 1993), and W. A. Kaegi,
Heraclius, Emperor of Byzantium
(Cambridge, 2003) is a study of the crucial moment before the coming of Islam changed all rules of the game in the Middle East. Fascinating if monumental studies of a world previously forgotten are I. Shahid,
Byzantium and the Arabs in the Fifth Century
(Washington, DC, 1989) and I. Shahid,
Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century
(Washington, DC, 3 vols. so far, 1995-2002).

8: Islam: The Great Realignment (622- 1500)

Two vigorous introductory surveys are R. Fletcher,
The Cross and the Crescent: Christianity and Islam from Muhammad to the Reformation
(London, 2003), and Z. Karabell,
People of the Book: The Forgotten History of Islam and the West
(London, 2007), the latter being rather consciously directed to modern American concerns. Now classic is a strange but creative text, P. Crone and M. Cook,
Hagarism: The Making of the Islamic World
(Cambridge, 1977), while a wise reflection by a lifelong episcopal enthusiast for the subject is K. Cragg,
The Arab Christian: A History in the Middle East
(London, 1992). Equally magisterial is S. H. Griffith,
The Church in the Shadow of the Mosque: Christians and Muslims in the World of Islam
(Princeton, 2008). A masterly study of the crisis caused by the Mongols with a wider perspective than its already wide title implies is P. Jackson,
The Mongols and the West, 1221-1410
(Harlow, 2005). Richly enjoyable in its no-nonsense sifting of probability from wishful thinking in Ethiopian Church history is S. Munro-Hay,
The Quest for the Ark of the Covenant: The True History of the Tablets of Moses
(London, 2006).

PART IV: THE UNPREDICTABLE RISE OF ROME (300-1300)

General Reading

Quite magnificent in its originality and powers of synthesis is the work of the doyen of the field, P. Brown,
The Rise of Western Christendom: Triumph and Diversity
AD
200-1000
(Oxford, 1997). From a master of a previous generation comes a fine introduction, R. W. Southern,
Western Society and the Church in the Middle Ages
(London, 1970). An introduction which usefully draws on social and economic history, and which takes no prisoners, is R. Collins,
Early Medieval Europe 300-1000
(Houndmills, 1991).

9: The Making of Latin Christianity (300- 500)

For the beginning of the period, see the reading for Chapter 6, but to those works should be added the particular focus on the city of Rome in J. R. Curran,
Pagan City and Christian Capital: Rome in the Fourth Century
(Oxford, 2000), also against the wider background presented with concise brilliance in P. Brown,
The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity
(London, 1981). Much profit and entertainment can be derived from the essayists of A. Momigliano (ed.),
The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century: Essays
(Oxford, 1963). Augustine is perhaps the only Father of the Church whom non-Christians can read for pleasure, at least in two key works, H. Bettenson and D. Knowles (eds.),
Augustine: Concerning the City of God against the Pagans
(London, 1967), and R. S. Pine-Coffin (ed.),
Saint Augustine: Confessions
(London, 1961). Two splendid lives of this most central of Western theologians are G. Bonner,
Saint Augustine of Hippo: Life and Controversies
(2nd edn, Norwich, 1963) and P. Brown,
Augustine of Hippo: A Biography
(London, 1969). An absorbing effort to squeeze as much as possible out of the limited evidence, although there have been archaeological discoveries since, is C. Thomas,
Christianity in Roman Britain to
AD
500
(London, 1981).