This volume explores the legal issues and legal consequences underlying relations between secular and religious authorities in the context of the Christian Church, from its earliest emergence within Roman Palestine as a persecuted minority sect through the period when it became legally recognized within the Roman empire, its many institutional manifestations in the East and West throughout the Middle Ages, the reconfigurations associated with the Reformation and Catholic/Counter-Reformations, the legal and constitutional complications, and the variable consequences of so-called secularization thereafter. The engagement of secular and religious authorities with the law and the question of what the law actually comprised (Roman law, canon law, national laws, state and royal edicts) are addressed. Bringing together the work of a wide range of scholars, this volume deepens our understanding of interactions between the churches and the legal systems in which they existed in the past and continue to exist now.

Inspired by the work of eminent scholar Richard Kieckhefer, The Sacred and the Sinister explores the ambiguities that made (and make) medieval religion and magic so difficult to differentiate. The essays in this collection investigate how the holy and unholy were distinguished in medieval Europe, where their characteristics diverged, and the implications of that deviation. In the Middle Ages, the natural world was understood as divinely created and infused with mysterious power. This world was accessible to human knowledge and susceptible to human manipulation through three modes of engagement: religion, magic, and science. How these ways of understanding developed in light of modern notions of rationality is an important element of ongoing scholarly conversation. As Kieckhefer has emphasized, ambiguity and ambivalence characterize medieval understandings of the divine and demonic powers at work in the world. The ten chapters in this volume focus on four main aspects of this assertion: the cult of the saints, contested devotional relationships and practices, unsettled judgments between magic and religion, and inconclusive distinctions between magic and science. Freshly insightful, this study of ambiguity between magic and religion will be of special interest to scholars in the fields of medieval studies, religious studies, European history, and the history of science. In addition to the editor, the contributors to this volume are Michael D. Bailey, Kristi Woodward Bain, Maeve B. Callan, Elizabeth Casteen, Claire Fanger, Sean L. Field, Anne M. Koenig, Katelyn Mesler, and Sophie Page.

The first three centuries of Christianity are increasingly seen in modern scholarship as sites of complexity. Sacred Ritual, Profane Space examines the Christian meeting places of the time and overturns long-held notions about the earliest Christians as utopian rather than place-bound people. By mapping what is known from early Christian texts onto the archaeological data for Roman domestic spaces, Jenn Cianca provides a new lens for examining the relationship between early Christianity and sites of worship. She proposes that not only were Roman homes sacred sites in their own right but they were also considered sacred by the Christian communities that used them. In many cases, meeting space would have included the presence of the Roman domestic cult shrines. Despite the fact that the domestic cult was polytheistic, Cianca asserts that its practices likely continued in places used for worship by Christians. She also argues that continued practice of the domestic cult in Roman domestic spaces did not preclude Christians from using houses as churches or from understanding their rituals or their meeting places as sacred. Raising a host of questions about identity, ritual affiliation, and domestic practice, Sacred Ritual, Profane Space demonstrates how sacred space was constructed through ritual enactment in early Christian communities.

This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched. This innovative volume focuses on the significance of early Christianity for modern means of addressing poverty, by offering a rigorous study of deprivation and its alleviation in both earliest Christianity and today's world. The contributors seek to present the complex ways in which early Christian ideas and practices relate to modern ideas and practices, and vice versa. In this light, the book covers seven major areas of poverty and its causes, benefaction, patronage, donation, wealth and dehumanization, 'the undeserving poor', and responsibility. Each area features an expert in early Christianity in its Jewish and Graeco-Roman settings, paired with an expert in modern strategies for addressing poverty and benefaction; each author engages with the same topic from their respective area of expertise, and responds to their partner's essay. Giving careful attention toboth the continuities and discontinuities between the ancient world and today, the contributors seek to inform and engage church leaders, those working in NGOs concerned with poverty, and all interested in these crucial issues, both Christian and not.

What was the relationship of ancient education to early Christianity? This volume provides an in-depth look at different approaches currently employed by scholars who draw upon educational settings in the ancient world to inform their historical research in Christian origins. The book is divided into two sections: one consisting of essays on education in the ancient world, and one consisting of exegetical studies dealing with various passages where motifs emerging from ancient educational culture provide illumination. The chapters summarize the state of the discussion on ancient education in classical and biblical studies, examine obstacles to arriving at a comprehensive theory of early Christianity's relationship to ancient education, compare different approaches, and compile the diverse methodologies into one comparative study. Several educational motifs are integrated in order to demonstrate the exegetical insights that they may yield when utilized in New Testament historical investigation and interpretation.

Combining the insights of many leading New Testament scholars writing on the use of social identity theory this new reference work provides a comprehensive handbook to the construction of social identity in the New Testament. Part one examines key methodological issues and the ways in which scholars have viewed and studied social identity, including different theoretical approaches, and core areas or topics which may be used in the study of social identity, such as food, social memory, and ancient media culture. Part two presents worked examples and in-depth textual studies covering core passages from each of the New Testament books, as they relate to the construction of social identity. Adopting a case-study approach, in line with sociological methods the volume builds a picture of how identity was structured in the earliest Christ-movement. Contributors include; Philip Esler, Warren Carter, Paul Middleton, Rafael Rodriquez, and Robert Brawley.

A ground-breaking study in the formation of early Christian identity, by one of the world's leading scholars.In Neither Jew Nor Greek, Judith Lieu explores the formation and shaping of early Christian identity within Judaism and within the wider Graeco-Roman world in the period before 200 C.E. Lieu particularly examines the way that literary texts presented early Christianity. She combines this with interdisciplinary historical investigation and interaction with scholarship on Judaism in late Antiquity and on the Graeco-Roman world.The result is a highly significant contribution to four of the key questions in current New Testament scholarship: how did early Christian identity come to be formed? How should we best describe and understand the processes by which the Christian movement became separate from its Jewish origins? Was there anything special or different about the way women entered Judaism and early Christianity? How did martyrdom contribute to the construction of early Christian identity? The chapters in this volume have become classics in the study of the New Testament and for this Cornerstones edition Lieu provides a new introduction placing them within the academic debate as it is now.

St. Jerome (347-420) has been considered the pre-eminent scriptural commentator among the Latin Church Fathers. His Commentary on Matthew, written in 398 and profoundly influential in the West, appears here for the first time in English translation. Jerome covers the entire text of Matthew's gospel by means of brief explanatory comments that clarify the text literally and historically. Although he himself resided in Palestine for forty years, Jerome often relies on Origen and Josephus for local information and traditions. His stated aim is to offer a streamlined and concise exegesis that avoids excessive spiritual interpretation. Jerome depends on the works of a series of antecedent commentators, both Greek and Latin, the most important of whom is Origen, yet he avoids the extremes in Origen's allegorical interpretations. His polemic against theological opponents is a prominent thrust of his exegetical comments. The Arians, the Gnostics, and the Helvidians are among his most important targets. Against Arius, Jerome stresses that the Son did not lack omniscience. Against Marcion and Mani, Jerome holds that Jesus was a real human being, with flesh and bones, and that men become sons of God by their own free choice, not by the nature with which they are born. Against Helvidius, Jerome defends the perpetual virginity of Mary. In this commentary, Jerome calls attention to the activity of the Trinity as a principal unifying theme of the Gospel of Matthew. He also stresses that exertions are necessary for the Christian to attain eternal salvation; that free will is a reality; that human beings cooperate with divine grace; and that it is possible to obtain merit during the earthly life.

During the fourth century A.D., theological controversy divided Christian communities throughout the Eastern half of the Roman Empire. Not only was the truth about God at stake, but also the authority of church leaders, whose legitimacy depended on their claims to represent that truth. In this book, Galvao-Sobrinho argues that out of these disputes was born a new style of church leadership, one in which the power of the episcopal office was greatly increased. The author shows how these disputes compelled church leaders repeatedly to assert their orthodoxy and legitimacy--tasks that required them to mobilize their congregations and engage in action that continuously projected their power in the public arena. These developments were largely the work of prelates of the first half of the fourth century, but the style of command they inaugurated became the basis for a dynamic model of ecclesiastical leadership found throughout late antiquity.

St. Cyprian works fall naturally into two groups: treaties (sermons, libelli, tractus) and letters (epistulae). A translation of the treatises will be found in volume 36 of this series. The letters, of which eighty-one have come down to us, written from c.249 until his death in 258 A.D., may be found translated in this volume. They give a penetrating insight into the affairs of the Church in Africa in the middle of the third century. They reveal problems of doctrine and of discipline which had to be decided in a period of crisis and persecution when the Church, still in its infancy, had not yet emerged from the catacombs. Most important of all, they make Cyprian vividly alive as an understanding bishop who could be both gentle and firm, enthusiastic and moderate. He was prudent enough to go into exile to direct his flock from afar when his presence was a potential source of danger to the people; he was courageous enough to face martyrdom that he knew would ultimately he his. Of these letters, fifty-nine were written by Cyprian himself and six more, emanating from Carthaginian Councils or Synods, were largely his work also. Sixteen letters were written by others; apparently eleven were lost. St. Cyprian's prestige and influence was great in Christian antiquity. Unfortunately, he is not well known or as widely read in modern times as he deserves. This is probably due to Cyprian's lack of complete orthodoxy, in the modern sense of the word, regarding the recognition of the See of Peter and the rebaptism of heretics. The modern reader must bear in mind that the period of the Fathers was the time of the laying of the foundation of so much which we accept and see so clearly today. In any case, both Lactantius (Div. Inst. 5.1.24) and St. Augustine (De bapt. contra Donatistas), while acknowledging the weaknesses of St. Cyprian's stand on the questions mentioned, do not in the slightest detract from their respect and admiration for their fellow countryman. Prudentius pays St. Cyprian the following tribute in his Peristephanon 13.5.6 ff.): 'As long as Christ will allow the race of men / to exist and the world to flourish, / As long as any book will be, as long as there / Will be holy collections of literary works, / Everyone who loves Christ will read you, O / Cyprian, will learn your teachings.'

Alan Richardson's Creeds in the Making was first published more than forty years ago, in January 1935. After ten reprints, it went out of print in 1975 to make way, we hoped, for a new work which would reflect the scholarship of a new generation. There is, however, still no short inexpensive paperback available which illustrates the early development of the creeds and Christian doctrine to a general audience in quite the same way as this does, with its freshness, charm and that almost timeless quality of writing and judgment which was so characteristic of its author. So we are happy that it should be reissued for the 1980s, as an introduction to those coming to creeds and doctrine for the first time, and as a fitting memorial to a great modern pastor and teacher. From the first reviews: 'Mr Richardson has a true teacher's gift, that of making his subject live and relating it to modern experience and modern knowledge of the universe. He tells a story, and tells it well. Nor is he content with telling: he explains. He takes the principal doctrines of the Christian creed, shows how they came to be defined and what is their lasting value' (CEN). `In six chapters, Mr Alan Richardson covers the theology of the creed down to the article of belief in the Holy Ghost. What he gives us is very like a course of lectures to theological students, carefully worked out, scholarly and full, yet simply expressed' (Church Times). Alan Richardson, who died in 1975, was Dean of York and before that Professor of Christian Theology in the University of Nottingham.

What did the early church believe about killing? What was its view on abortion? How did it approach capital punishment and war? Noted theologian and bestselling author Ron Sider lets the testimony of the early church speak in the first of a three-volume series on biblical peacemaking.
This book provides in English translation all extant data directly relevant to the witness of the early church until Constantine on killing. Primarily, it draws data from early church writings, but other evidence, such as archaeological finds and Roman writings, is included.
Sider taps into current evangelical interest in how the early church informs contemporary life while presenting a thorough, comprehensive treatment on topics of perennial concern. The book includes brief introductions to every Christian writer cited and explanatory notes on many specific texts.

Many important issues are connected with the trial and death of Jesus, not least the question of who was mainly instrumental in seeking his death; and the manifest tendency of the GOspels to put the blame on the Jews and play down the role of the Romans has had pernicious effects throughout history. A clear historical understanding is obviously of the utmost importance and that is what this new book aims to provide. Taking account of all the most recent literature, from both the historical and the legal side, it clearly sets out the main issues that arise, and the most likely answers to the questions they pose. How reliable are the sources? Why ws Jesus arrested? Was his trial primarily a Jewish affair or a Roman affair? Does greater knowledge of Jewish and Roman law illuminate the proceedings? Beginning with the arrest of Jewsus it goes through the events of his last days in Jerusalem as related by the Gospels, covering them in detail right through the legal processes to Jesus' scouring, crucifixion and burial. Those who have never studied the issues raised here, and those who have found previous studies daunting and confusing by their complexity, will find a level-headed and judicious guide

Scholarly consensus on the relationship of the Letter to the Hebrews to the Old Testament is far from universal or uniform. This book aims to address this area in Hebrews scholarship, which is lacking a critical account of the dependence of Hebrews on the Old Testament, especially Leviticus, in constructing a meaningful text. The book examines how the author of Hebrews uses the textual levitical tabernacle theme to construct the central motif of the heavenly tabernacle in Hebrews. In analysing the ways in which Hebrews relates to the Old Testament, the author makes use of literary theorist Gerard Genette's concepts of transtextuality and transformation. These concepts help set in relief the variegated textual relationships Hebrews has with the Old Testament in general, and Leviticus in particular, and the transformations that are central to constituting meaning in Hebrews.

Although Jesus called on his first followers to welcome children in his name and to become like children, the lives of the first Christian children have remained in the shadows. This book explores the hidden lives of children at the origins of Christianity. It draws on insights gained from comparisons of children's experiences in ancient Judaism and the Graeco-Roman world. The authors also engage a vast body of early Christian literature, extending from the New Testament to sermons, letters, theological treatises, poetry, pedagogical manuals, and historiography in Greek, Latin, Syriac, and other languages of the early Christian world. The guiding question of the book focuses on how Christianity changed the lives of children in the ancient world. Some of the other questions examined by the authors include: Did boys and girls both receive a formal education? Were Christian children slaves? How did they participate in manual labor? What kinds of games did children play? How did children become a part of the Christian church? This book breaks new ground in the study of early Christianity by examining the challenges to Christian childhood in the first centuries of the Church. The authors look at the violence perpetrated against children, and they consider the effects and opportunities arising from Christians' experiences of martyrdom and from the increased Christian interest in various forms of asceticism, including celibacy. The book brings into the open the lives of early Christian children and throws much needed light on what has been a largely neglected area of study in early Christianity.

The "Liber Regularum," written by Tyconius in the Fourth Century A.D., was the first system of biblical interpretation proposed by a Latin theologian. Augustine was very interested in this work and included an extraordinary summation of it in his "De doctrina christiana." Although this treatment insured the preservation of the work and its lasting fame, Augustine's summary became better known than the original.

Pamela Bright's "The Book of Rules of Tyconius: Its Purpose and Inner Logic "reintroduces this neglected classic of early church literature. Bright asserts that although Augustine was greatly influenced by the "Liber Regularum," his philosophical differences caused him to misunderstand its meaning. Bright reexamines the meaning of "prophecy" and "rule" from Tyconius's perspective and reveals that the purpose of the book was not to provide a general guide to scriptural interpretation, but rather a way to interpret apocalyptic texts. She cites Tyconius's intense concern with evil in the church as the genesis of his interest in the apocalypse and subsequently the meaning of the scripture concerning it. Tyconius speaks of the "seven mystical rules" of scripture that with the grace of the Holy Spirit reveal the true meaning of prophecy. If an interpreter follows the "logic" of these rules, the nature of the church as composed by both good and evil membership is revealed.

Bright argues that Tyconius was not illogical or incompetent in the work's composition as many critics have claimed but rather that he organized his material in a concentric pattern so that Rule Four, the center of the seven rules, is also the central development of his theory. Of interest to theologians, students of biblical interpretation and of Augustine, "The Book of Rules of Tyconius" focuses attention upon a work that had great influence on the understanding of the nature of the church, on interpreting scripture, and its meaning for the Church of its day.

Wealth and poverty are issues of perennial importance in the life and thought of the church. This volume brings patristic thought to bear on these vital issues. The volume begins with explanations of poverty in the New Testament period, continues with developments among Christians in Egypt and Asia Minor and in early Byzantium, and closes by connecting patristic theology with contemporary public policy and religious dialogue.

"Wealth and Poverty in Early Church and Society" is the first volume to appear in Holy Cross Studies in Patristic Theology and History, a series that represents a deliberate outreach by the Orthodox community to evangelical, Protestant, and Catholic seminarians, pastors, and theologians. These multiauthor books include contributors from all traditions but focus on the patristic (especially Greek patristic) heritage.

"This is a splendid book, a substantial contribution on a topic of perennial import for scholars of religion and theology. The essays collected here offer important reassessments of scholarship to date. They present fresh, vivid material and provide revised models through which to study, reflect upon, and respond to deprivation and surplus as realities in antiquity and in our own time. Practical, pragmatic considerations are interwoven with cultural, historical, and theological analyses. Excellent work throughout!"--Susan Ashbrook Harvey, professor of religious studies, Brown University

This dynamic new consideration of Paul addresses the three basic subjects that make up Pauline Studies -- Paul's life, letters, and theology -- and argues that these elements must be treated together since to do otherwise risks distorting one or more of the areas of studies.

This second and final volume of the letters of St. Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria (412-444), takes up in medias res the great Christological controversy about the term Theotokos and the events which lead up to its resolution at the Council of Ephesus in 431. Defending the doctrines of the Trinity and the Person of Christ in the Alexandrian tradition of St. Athanasius these letters reveal Cyril's brilliant theological acumen and deep personal faith. Letters 51 to 61 are concerned with the question of John of Antioch and the bishops who, with him, supported Nestorius in the tradion of the Antiochene School, set up a rival council, and this went so far as even to depose Cyril. Of this group Letters 50 and 55 are exceptional for their theological content. Letter 66 to 74 deal with the extension of the Nestorian heresy by eastern bishops who, although they agreed to the deposition of Nestorius and the anathemas against him, began to uphold the ideas of his teachers Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia. Letters 77 to 79 and 85 are purely administrative and, as such, are noteworthy examples of Cyril's patriarchy. Letter 89, an exegetic explanation of the punishment of Cain, is a partial copy of letter 260 of St. Basil. Three letters are spurious; 86 and 87, which deal with the date of Easter, and 88, a supposed letter from Hypatia to Cyril. Perhaps the most unusual letter is 96, a breve or catalog of treasures sent from Alexandria as bribes to the imperial court at Constantinople, not an uncommon practice it would seem since Cyril writes about it quite openly. The translator has appended five letters to the corpus. The first four are addressed to Cyril and are important for the light they shed on the Nestorian controversy. The last, an alternate version of letter 85 translated from the Latin text, contains a response to the synod at Carthage concerning the date of Easter, different in the two versions.

The second volume of the Letters of Barsanuphius and John completes the collection of these monastic writings, which provided both spiritual and practical advice to a variety of sixth-century interlocutors from diverse walks of life. The two anchorites, having settled in an isolated location near Gaza, were in demand as trusted counselors, responding to questions on topics ranging from relationships within monasteries to problems of municipal taxation. Barsanuphius, the ""great old man,"" and John, the ""other old man,"" fulfilled their time-honored role as resident holy men in their locality, leaving behind a wealth of monastic wisdom as well as inspiration for all Christians. Distinctive to this volume are many colorful letters that will attract the interest of historians of this period. Some of these are responses to inquiries about specific problems of mundane life, such as veterinary treatment for a horse, the leprous disease of a household servant, and vandalism in a vineyard. Of broader applicability is the advice regarding such issues as the replacement of an unworthy bishop, the management of alms donated for the poor, and the quality of public entertainment in faraway Constantinople. The religious diversity of the Gaza region at this time, a century before the advent of Islam, generated questions about how Christians should interact with Jewish, pagan, and Manichaean fellow citizens. Abundant also are insights into the human heart. Barsanuphius and John offer timeless teachings on the inner warfare against resentful thoughts, temptations, doubts, anxieties, and reluctance to surrender oneself trustfully to God. They examine the human foibles arising from relationships among monks, and between monks and abbots, with a serene clarity resulting from these holy men's long experience with the introspective asceticism of the desert. Charity and humility, perpetual watchwords of the Christian life, are combined with prudence and discretion to create a literary corpus that both inspires and informs.

This is a comprehensive study of the well known and the not so well known creeds. Dr Kelly's famous book - a study of the rise, development and use of formularies in the creative centuries of the Church's history - was immediately acclaimed in Europe and America as the standard work on the subject. The book opens with an examination of creedal elements in the New Testament and continues with an enquiry into the relation of creeds to the rite of Baptism. The chapters that follow are devoted to a study of the evidence for 'the rule of faith' in the second century; a long discussion of the old Roman Creed; and a consideration of the creeds of the Eastern Church and their relation to Western creeds and to those propounded by the fourth-century councils. Particular attention is given to the Council of Nicea and the Nicene Creed. In addition, there is a lengthy and largely original reconstruction of the expansion of the Roman Creed and its acceptance throughout Europe as the present Apostle's Creed. Two valuable features of the book are the emphasis it lays on the liturgical setting of ancient creeds, and the attempt it makes to elucidate their theology as it was understood by those who framed them.

In Called to Be God's Leader, readers examined God's call for leadership through the life of Joshua. And now, in this fourth book in the Biblical Legacy Series, Drs. Henry and Tom Blackaby go behind the scenes of one of the Bible's greatest leaders in Anointed to Be God's Servants. Many people desire to be a "Joshua" but are called to serve in supporting positions. Through the life of Paul, readers will learn of the critical role that supporting companions play in God's kingdom. Why did Paul so desperately need companions? What does true companionship look like? How does Paul's life teach us to effectively support leaders around us? Anointed to Be God's Servants answers all of these questions and more, revealing the wonderful nature of interdependence in God's kingdom.

In Jesus After Two Thousand Years, New Testament historian Gerd Ludemann analyzed the four traditional gospels, plus the more recently discovered Gospel of Thomas and apocryphal literature, to ascertain which of the alleged words and actions of Jesus can be judged authentic. Now in this companion volume, Ludemann takes the same historical-critical approach to the Acts of the Apostles. Together these two in-depth studies lay the groundwork for a factually accurate history of primitive Christianity. Although many books have been published on the Acts of the Apostles, Ludemann's work is unique in its emphasis on establishing reliable historical facts. Other scholars have delved into Acts to discover the author's theology and the purpose of his writing. By contrast, Ludemann examines each individual section of Acts to detect whatever tradition may lie behind it. Where possible, he offers a reasoned judgment on the historical value of every event and action described in this early Christian text. For everyone with a desire to know what really happened in the earliest days of the Christian church, this volume is indispensable.

This lively and original account of early Celtic Christianity - which was of far greater importance in the development of Western culture than we commonly realize - is told against the background of European history of the first seven centuries A.D. It focuses on the lives of Saints Brendan, Columba, and Columbanus, who lived active and effective lives in the cause of the early Church. Brendan, one of the founding fathers of Christianity in Ireland, was known in legend as a voyager and was thought to have reached the Western Hemisphere long before the Vikings. Columba took Celtic Christianity to Scotland and helped to re-establish it in Wales and in the North and West of England. Columbanus was the great Irish missionary to continental Europe, where he and his followers helped to convert the heathen invaders from the East. When Rome, in the person of St. Augustine, Pope Gregory's apostle to the Angles, penetrated again to England, a showdown between Roman and Celtic Christianity was inevitable. The dramatic confrontation occurred at the Council of Whitby in 664. Rome, with its organization and authority, won, and Celtic Catholicism went into eclipse. But some of its influence persisted all over Europe, and it had a large share in shaping the culture that ultimately emerged from the dark ages. This book's fascination is the picture that it gives of the movements of peoples, the shaping of new countries, and the development of ideas during those too-little-known centuries.