The Early Church

History and Memory
Erscheinungsjahr 2009
ISBN: 978-0-567-16561-9
Verlag: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Buch, Englisch, 256 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 232 mm, Gewicht: 414 g

This introductory study is written from a new religious and theological studies perspective. Building on latest research in history and archaeology it also deals with reception studies, including popular literature, fiction, film, art and new religions.

The book illustrates how perceptions of the early church still dominate the wider cultural discourse and how much that discourse is in need of a historically informed notion of 'the early church'.

The book falls into seven chapters. Chapter I discusses concepts like 'early church' and 'early Christianity' and wider aspects of reception. Chapter II deals with concepts of history, memory and cultural origins in early Christian thought and its study. Chapter III outlines varieties of religious traditions in the context of the early church, especially Hellenistic Judaism. Chapter IV discusses Jewish and Gentile identities in the early church. Chapter V deals with the emergence of an early Christian literature. Chapter VI outlines the development of early Christian religious practices, and Chapter VII looks at leadership and political structures in and around the early church and their implications.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Lössl, Josef

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Kirchengeschichte Frühes Christentum, Patristik, Christliche Archäologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction
C. 1: What is 'the early church' and why would we want to study it?
C. 2: A brief history of the study of the early church
C. 3: How and when did the early church originate? Some historical background
C. 4: Jewish and gentile identities in the early church
C. 5: Writing the early church: A brief survey of earliest Christian literature
C. 6: Living the early church: Early Christian religious practices
C. 7: Leading the early church: Bishops, emperors and councils
Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Dr. Josef Lössl; Reader in Patristics and Late Antiquity, Cardiff University, School of Religious and Theological Studies, Director of the Cardiff University Centre for Late Antique Religion and Culture; author of ‘Julian von Aeclanum’ (Leiden 2001).