This volume brings together a set of contributions, many appearing in English for the first time, together with a new introduction, covering the history of the Ethiopian Christian civilization in its formative period (300-1500 AD). Rooted in the late antique kingdom of Aksum (present day Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea), and lying between Byzantium, Africa and the Near East, this civilization is presented in a series of case studies. At a time when philological and linguistic investigations are being challenged by new approaches in Ethiopian studies, this volume emphasizes the necessity of basic research, while avoiding the reduction of cultural questions to matters of fact and detail.

The papers presented here explore in various ways the interactions between clerics and the society in which Christian churches put down roots in Late Antiquity. Some of these complex processes, involved in the christianization of the Late Roman world, form the theme of the first three sections. Amongst other aspects, the essays in these sections examine the Three Chapters controversy and the participation of lay and clerical protagonists in it, the social standing of Italian bishops (including their use of lay personnel and their economic impact), and a comparison of pagan and Christian places of worship. The essays included in the last section deal with communication in Late Antiquity. They present the first results of a long-term project on the changing role of information during the last centuries of the Roman world. Eight papers in the volume are published in English for the first time.

In Books I-V of De Civitate Dei, Augustine rejects the claim that worship of the pagan gods had brought success in this life, and in Books VI-X, the prospect of a happy afterlife. In Books XI-XII, Augustine turns from attack to defence, for at this point he initiates his apology for the Christian faith. Books XI and XII document the initial phase of the rise of the two cities, the city of God and the city of this world, beginning with the creation of the world and the human race. In Book XI, Augustine rejects the theories of Aristotle, Plato and the Epicureans on the creation of the universe and addresses the creation of angels, Satan, the role of the holy Trinity and the importance of numerology in the Genesis account. In Book XII Augustine is chiefly concerned with refuting standard objections to the Christian tradition, returning to discussion of the Creation, including his calculation, based on the scriptures, that the world was created less than 6,000 years ago. Peter Walsh's acclaimed edition of The City of God is the only edition in English that provides not only a text but also a detailed commentary on one of the most influential documents in the history of western Christianity. Before his death in 2013 he had completed up to Book XVI; it is intended to complete all twenty-two books. Latin text, with facing-page English translation, introduction, notes and commentary.

This is the third collection of articles by Nina GarsoA-an on Early Armenian history and civilization. A number of articles included here continue earlier investigations of Iranian and Byzantine political and, especially, doctrinal and social influences on Medieval Armenia, precariously wedged between the two super-powers of the period, Byzantium and Sasanian Persia. A second theme is the development of the autocephalous Armenian Church as it freed itself from foreign pressures and achieved its own dogmatic position. Last, several studies consider some inadequacies in some recent historiography and suggest a more promising redirection in our approach to Armenian history and the formation of its national identity.

The shape and course which Christian thought has taken over its history is largely due to the contributions of individuals and communities in the second and third centuries. Bringing together a remarkable team of distinguished scholars, The Routledge Companion to Early Christian Thought is the ideal companion for those seeking to understand the way in which Early Christian thought developed within its broader cultural milieu and was communicated through its literature, especially as it was directed toward theological concerns.

Divided into three parts, the Companion

• asks how Christianity's development was impacted by its interaction with cultural, philosophical, and religious elements within the broader context of the second and third centuries.
• examines the way in which Early Christian thought was manifest in key individuals and literature in these centuries.
• analyses Early Christian thought as it was directed toward theological concerns such as God, Christ, Redemption, Scripture, and the community and its worship.

Egeria, who was most probably a Spanish nun, visited the Holy Land only fifty years after the death of Constantine, making her work the earliest surviving account of the area. Her description of the Holy Land, particularly that of Jerusalem, are written with a loving attention to detail, making her the prime source of early Christian pilgrimage and worship. The third edition of John Wilkinson's well-known book is completely updated and as well as a translation of Egeria's account, includes a wealth of information about Egeria, her journey and early liturgy.

A comprehensive guide to the individual churches, catacombs, embellishments and artefacts of Early Christian Rome. The author describes precisely where the extant features are situated and provides details on what can be seen. The ground plans of each site studies allows the reader to compare the proportions of each church with another.;From the 1st-century visits of the Apostles Peter and Paul to the end of the 9th-century Carolingian Renaissance, the book also includes dates of emperors and popes, and important historical events relating to this period in Rome. A historical introduction places the monuments in the context of the Early Christian period and its development in Rome.

The Byzantine Empire - the Christianized Roman Empire - very soon defined itself in terms of correct theological belief, 'orthodoxy'. The terms of this belief were hammered out, for the most part, by bishops, but doctrinal decisions were made in councils called by the Emperors, many of whom involved themselves directly in the definition of 'orthodoxy'. Iconoclasm was an example of such imperial involvement, as was the final overthrow of iconoclasm. That controversy ensured that questions of Christian art were also seen by Byzantines as implicated in the question of orthodoxy. The papers gathered in this volume derive from those presented at the 36th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, Durham, March 2002. They discuss how orthodoxy was defined, and the different interests that it represented; how orthodoxy was expressed in art and the music of the liturgy; and how orthodoxy helped shape the Byzantine Empire's sense of its own identity, an identity defined against the 'other' - Jews, heretics and, especially from the turn of the first millennium, the Latin West. These considerations raise wider questions about the way in which societies and groups use world-views and issues of belief to express and articulate identity. At a time when, with the enlargement of the European Union, questions of identity within Europe are once again becoming pressing, there is much in these essays of topical relevance.

The impetus for this book was the startling realization that within early Christianity, which is characterised by healing, no women are explicitly commissioned to heal. The work begins with a search for the women who were healers in the Graeco-Roman world of the late Hellenistic and early Roman period, finding them honored in inscriptions, named by medical writers, and stereotyped by playwrights and other literateurs. What emerges, therefore, by the first century of the Common Era, is a world in which women functioned as healers as well as healed and that healing was a site of contestation in relation to gender. The interpretive lens brought to bear on the wide range of sources used in this study is a multi-dimensional one informed by feminism, post-colonialism and ecological studies.

Exploring the origins of Christianity, this book looks at why it was that people first in Judea and then in the Roman and Greek Mediterranean world became susceptible to the new religion. Robert Knapp looks for answers in a wide-ranging exploration of religion and everyday life from 200 BC to the end of the first century.

Survival, honour and wellbeing were the chief preoccupations of Jews and polytheists alike. In both cases, the author shows, people turned first to supernatural powers. According to need, season and place polytheists consulted and placated vast constellations of gods, while the Jews worshipped and contended with one almighty and jealous deity.

Professor Knapp considers why any Jew or polytheist would voluntarily dispense with a well-tried way of dealing with the supernatural and trade it in for a new model. What was it about the new religion that led people to change beliefs they had held for millennia and which in turn, within four centuries of the birth of its messiah, led it to transform the western world? His conclusions are as convincing as they are sometimes surprising.

This book offers the first English translation of the funerary speech for John Chyrsostom delivered by one of his former clergy in a city close to Constantinople in the autumn of 407 when news arrived of John's death on a forced march in eastern Asia Minor. The speech is the earliest and fullest account of John's activities as bishop of Constantinople between 397 and 404. It replaces the slightly later Historical Dialogue on John by Palladius as the prime source for John in Constantinople The translators are both Late Roman Historians, and their introduction and notes illustrate the importance of this new text, which was first edited critically and published as recently as 2007.

"This wonderfully researched and elegantly written book provides the reader with a compelling and trustworthy portrait of how the fathers of the church read the story of Adam and Eve. As Bouteneff tells that story we see that the tale of the fall is always contextualized within a narrative that celebrates the restoration and redemption of the human race."--Gary Anderson, professor of Old Testament, University of Notre Dame

""Beginnings" takes us back to the beginning of the scriptural creation narrative and to the beginning of the Christian appropriation of this narrative. The reader is initiated into precursors of the Christian tradition (especially the Septuagint and Philo) and then guided through the early Christian thinkers (especially Origen) whose writings underpin current theological reflection on Genesis 1-3. "Beginnings" allows twenty-first-century readers to wrestle with issues ranging from creation and the image of God to anthropology and gender--all in the context of the community of faith that found its beginning, middle, and end in Jesus Christ. Peter Bouteneff has done the church a valuable service in this focused study."--Joel C. Elowsky, managing editor, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, Drew University

"The question of the origin of humankind and the cosmos has perhaps never been so hotly debated as nowadays, with 'evolution' and 'creationism' presenting themselves as polar opposites. In this fine book, Peter Bouteneff presents a carefully researched and scholarly reading of early Christian readings of the creation account in Genesis. What emerges is a range of interlocking insights into God's creative purpose and the human place in the cosmos. Genesis 1-3is seen as neither a myth nor an outdated scientific account, but a poem of creation, yielding deeper meanings upon closer ponderings. Bouteneff unveils the often surprising riches of our patristic inheritance with a rare intelligence and passion."--Andrew Louth, professor of patristic and Byzantine studies, University of Durham

A straight-forward, readable introduction to worship in the first four centuries of the church's existence. How did early Christians see and understand their own worship? How did this interact with early Christian beliefs? The book has been brought up to date and revised, with some chapters rewritten and an updated bibliography.

The social values of upper-class Christians in Late Antiquity often contrasted with the modest backgrounds of their religion's founders - the apostles - and the virtues they exemplified. Drawing on examples from the Cappadocian Fathers, John Chrysostom, and other late antique authors, this book examines attitudes toward the apostles' status as manual workers and their virtues of simplicity and humility. Due to the strong connection between these traits and low socioeconomic status, late antique bishops often allowed their own high standing to influence how they understood these matters. The virtues of simplicity and humility had been a natural fit for tentmakers and fishermen, but posed a significant challenge to Christians born into the elite and trained in prestigious schools. This volume examines the socioeconomic implications of Christianity in the Roman Empire by considering how the first wave of powerful, upper-class church leaders interpreted the socially radical elements of their religion.

The articles here deal with liturgical music. Two topics receive special attention: the curiously negative role that musical instruments play in ancient cult music and the development of ecclesiastical song in early Christianity. The first series of articles treats classical Greek ethical notions of instruments, the status of instruments in Temple and Synagogue, and the absence of instruments from early Christian and medieval church music. The next parts trace the psalmody and hymnody of the Christian tradition, from its roots in Judaism to the origins of Gregorian chant in 7th-century Rome. Throughout, the writings of the Christian Church fathers such as Augustine, Ambrose, Basil and John Chrysostom underpin the author's analysis and presentation.

The articles in this volume complement and continue work brought together on the author's previous collection, God's Decree and Man's Destiny. The first part, focusing on Augustine, is largely devoted to the Pelagian controversy, but also includes an examination of Augustine's concept of deification and other aspects of his theology. The following essays deal with early Christianity in Britain, and in particular with the work of St Cuthbert and Bede, and the patristic traditions on which they drew, while the final ones present reflections on the history of the Church in Late Antiquity.

Prayer From Alexander To Constantine presents a diverse selection of prayer chosen by over 40 different historians, all specialists in their respective areas of Graeco-Roman literature. This collaboration gives the book a range and depth that no individual author could hope to rival.
Each selection includes an introductory essay, followed by a new English translation of the prayer, accompanied by critical notes and biography. In this way the reader is able to gain an insight into the variety of subjects and styles involved in people's communications with their gods in antiquity.
The volume will be a key text for students engaged in courses which explore the period's history and theologies. There is no comparable anthology available in English. The volume will also be of value to the general reader interested in the history of this period and anyone interested in the forms of prayer.

In his writings and his career Gregory of Nyssa assumes many roles. He is a Christian Platonist, a spiritual guide for ascetics and those seeking the vision of God, as well as one of those who shaped the Trinitarian doctrine of God espoused at Constantinople in 381. But he is also a popular preacher and, paradoxically, someone unafraid of deeper speculations regarding the meaning of the Christian ideal. The translations in Part One illustrate these various concerns, but are not a sufficient basis for the thesis of Part Two, one that attempts to answer the question of how to describe the coherence of a thinker far from systematic. One solution is to appeal to Gregory's conviction that after this world all Christians, indeed all humans, will be united in diversity, and that this means that all are now on the one path to their destiny, however much their progress may differ. This answer does not pretend to solve all problems, nor does it rule out other approaches to Gregory's thought. But it locates Gregory's work in the liturgical and sacramental life of the church that includes ordinary as well as elite Christians.

The book should be seen in the context of Paul Bradshaw's earlier works: The Search for the Origins of Christian Worship and Eucharistic Origins. In this book he updates his thinking in this area.

Christianity took root and grew within a far-flung empire under complicated and widely varying sets of influences. Under these conditions, the problem of establishing doctrinal and institutional coherence and consistency was acute. In this engaging and authoritative book, Peter Kaufman tells a number of stories from the early clerical history of the church to illustrate how authority came to be shared among the institutions of church, book, and bishop.Kaufman offers vignettes drawn from the first seven centuries of Christian clerical life that reflect the struggle to devise management strategies for resolving theological, political, and social conflict. Most accounts of this period emphasize the conflict. This book tells the other side of the story: the work of reconciliation and the efforts of executives to build, repair, and maintain consensus.This is unabashedly a book about elites, for it was on them that the battle against nonconformity and anarchy was thrust. Tertullian and Augustine of Hippo have pride of place, but we also meet Cyprian, Gregory, Ambrose, and others. They were leaders of a very different age, an age that not only shaped Latin Christendom but also left in place the mechanisms for authority, reconciliation, and conflict resolution that characterize Christianity today."Church, Book, and Bishop" tells an important story in a way that will appeal to a wide range of readers, including scholars, students, and general readers. It will be especially useful as a supplement to courses on the history of Western civilization, early Christianity, and the early church.

This edition of St Augustine's The City of God (De Civitate Dei) is the only one in English to provide a text and translation as well as a detailed commentary of this most influential document in the history of western Christianity. In Book V Augustine searches out and presents an answer to the question which lies behind the earlier books. In spite of the moral bankruptcy of the Roman state, and in spite of the disasters and injustices which have marked her history since the foundation, Rome has extended her imperial sway throughout Europe and the Near East. If the pagan gods have not guided her to this terrestrial eminence, how has this success been achieved? Augustine divides his response into four main sections: addressing the pagan notion of fate; arguing that God aided the Romans to imperial glory because a minority of them were virtuous even though they did not worship him; stating explicitly that the Roman Empire was set in place by God and is governed by his providence; and devoting the final section to the advent of Christian Emperors. Latin text with facing-page English translation, introduction and commentary.

This collection brings together a set of studies on the notions of the sacred and the secular held by early Christian writers, especially Augustine and Gregory the Great, and on their relationships in actual practice in Late Antiquity. Problems of heresy and orthodoxy in Latin Christianity, especially in the context of the Pelagian controversy, are discussed in this intellectual context and impact of his thought are also included.

The studies in this volume are drawn together from a widely scattered set of publications, many difficult of access. They exemplify the variety of influences - religious, cultural, political - that interacted in Syria in Late Antiquity, and the range of responses that these evoked in changing historical circumstances. The first section of the book is concerned with the development of Syriac Christianity, with particular articles looking at the relations between Christians and Jews, and at the position of holy men. There follow two sections focusing on Marcionism and on Manichaeism, while the final studies examine aspects of Syriac Christianity after the Arab conquests.

The Christianity of Roman North Africa provides the setting for many of the articles collected here. Several focus on the writings of Cyprian and Augustine, others on the nomenclature of the martyrs of the 2nd-3rd centuries and their cult. The development of this cult and the cult of relics, both in general, and specifically in relation to Africa and to Rome, is a key theme in the author's work. He approaches the question from a liturgical standpoint, as well as those of archaeology and hagiography, and the liturgical history of the early Church forms a further strand running through the volume.

Described as an "invaluable reference work" ("Classical Philology") and "a tool indispensable for the study of early Christian literature" ("Religious Studies Review") in its previous edition, this new updated American edition of Walter Bauer's "Worterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments" builds on its predecessor's staggering deposit of extraordinary erudition relating to Greek literature from all periods. Including entries for many more words, the new edition also lists more than 25,000 additional references to classical, intertestamental, Early Christian, and modern literature.
In this edition, Frederick W. Danker's broad knowledge of Greco-Roman literature, as well as papyri and epigraphs, provides a more panoramic view of the world of Jesus and the New Testament. Danker has also introduced a more consistent mode of reference citation, and has provided a composite list of abbreviations to facilitate easy access to this wealth of information.
Perhaps the single most important lexical innovation of Danker's edition is its inclusion of extended definitions for Greek terms. For instance, a key meaning of "episkopos" was defined in the second American edition as "overseer"; Danker defines it as "one who has the responsibility of safeguarding or seeing to it that something is done in the correct way, "guardian."" Such extended definitions give a fuller sense of the word in question, which will help avoid both anachronisms and confusion among users of the lexicon who may not be native speakers of English.
Danker's edition of Bauer's "Worterbuch" will be an indispensable guide for Biblical and classical scholars, ministers, seminarians, and translators.