The Church in Ancient Society provides a full and enjoyable narrative history of the first six centuries of the Christian Church. Ancient Greek and Roman society had many gods and an addiction to astrology and divination. This introduction to the period traces the process by which Christianity changed this and so provided a foundation for the modern world: the teaching of Jesus created a lasting community, which grew to command the allegiance of the Roman emperor.

First Published in 1995. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

The greatest Christian split of all has been that between east and west, between Roman Catholic and eastern Orthodox, which is still apparent today. Henry Chadwick provides a compelling and balanced account of the emergence of divisions between Rome and Constantinople. Starting with the roots of the divergence in Apostolic times, he takes the story right up to the Council of Florence in the fifteenth century.

This third collection of articles by Henry Chadwick brings together a series of studies on Augustine, written in light of the new texts now available, and on other individual Christian authors of antiquity, in other words of the age when Christianity was acquiring its now familiar shape. A number of papers published here appear in print for the first time, or make accessible to English readers studies which first saw the light in German. These include a substantial discussion of the idea of conscience, important in the highly ethical context of early Christianity, and a study of ancient anthologies, and are complemented by other essays on general themes in the history of the early Church.

The apostolic tradition of St Hippolytus provides a single source of evidence on the inner life and religious polity of the early Christian Church. This book brings out the value of this treatise for the study of early Christian institutions, and the spirit of the primitive Church.

This third collection of articles by Henry Chadwick brings together a series of studies on Augustine, written in light of the new texts now available, and on other individual Christian authors of antiquity, in other words of the age when Christianity was acquiring its now familiar shape. A number of papers published here appear in print for the first time, or make accessible to English readers studies, which first saw the light in German. These include a substantial discussion of the idea of conscience, important in the highly ethical context of early Christianity, and a study of ancient anthologies, which are complemented by other essays on general themes in the history of the early Church.

The Consolations of Philosophy by Boethius, whose English translators include King Alfred, Geoffrey Chaucer, and Queen Elizabeth I, ranks among the most remarkable books to be written by a prisoner awaiting the execution of a tyrannical death sentence. Its interpretation is bound up with his other writings on mathematics and music, on Aristotelian and propositional logic, and on central themes of Christian dogma. Chadwick begins by tracing the career of Boethius, a Roman rising to high office under the Gothic King Theoderic the Great, and suggests that his death may be seen as a cruel by-product of Byzantine ambitions to restore Roman imperial rule after its elimination in the West in AD 476. Subsequent chapters examine in detail his educational programme in the liberal arts designed to avert a threatened collapse of culture and his ambition to translate into Latin everything he could find on Plato and Aristotle. Boethius has been called `last of the Romans, first of the scholastics'. This book is the first major study in English of a writer who was of critical importance in the history of thought.

In his own day the dominant personality of the Western Church, Augustine of Hippo today stands as perhaps the greatest thinker of Christian antiquity, and his Confessions is one of the great works of Western literature. In this intensely personal narrative, Augustine relates his rare ascent from a humble Algerian farm to the edge of the corridors of power at the imperial court in Milan, his struggle against the domination of his sexual nature, his renunciation of secular ambition and marriage, and the recovery of the faith his mother Monica had taught him during his childhood.
Now, Henry Chadwick, an eminent scholar of early Christianity, has given us the first new English translation in thirty years of this classic spiritual journey. Chadwick renders the details of Augustine's conversion in clear, modern English. We witness the future saint's fascination with astrology and with the Manichees, and then follow him through scepticism and disillusion with pagan myths until he finally reaches Christian faith. There are brilliant philosophical musings about Platonism and the nature of God, and touching portraits of Augustine's beloved mother, of St. Ambrose of Milan, and of other early Christians like Victorinus, who gave up a distinguished career as a rhetorician to adopt the orthodox faith. Augustine's concerns are often strikingly contemporary, yet his work contains many references and allusions that are easily understood only with background information about the ancient social and intellectual setting. To make The Confessions accessible to contemporary readers, Chadwick provides the most complete and informative notes of any recent translation, and includes an introduction to establish the context.
The religious and philosophical value of The Confessions is unquestionable--now modern readers will have easier access to St. Augustine's deeply personal meditations. Chadwick's lucid translation and helpful introduction clear the way for a new experience of this classic.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Sextus's Sentences are a collection of ethical aphorisms which for centuries were read in Latin, Greek, Syriac and Armenian, by Christians from Britain to Mesopotamia. Who 'Sextus' was, and whether he was a Christian, is not certain; Dr Chadwick discusses the evidence, including some he has discovered himself. But the Sentences, probably written in the second century, were widely read in Jerome's time, and were still treated as authoritative in the Middle Ages. They are an important strand in the history of the development of Christian ethics, and are yet another example of that dialogue between the Greek and the Jewish which so profoundly affected the development of the young religion. Dr Chadwick first provides a critical edition of the Greek and Latin texts. There follow studies of the moral teaching of Sextus, the evidence of Origen, the testimony of Rufinus and Jerome, and the internal evidence provided by the texts.

Few works of the early Church are as interesting to the modern reader or as important to the historian as Origen's reply to the attack on Christianity made by the pagan Celsus. The Contra Celsum is the culmination of the great apologetic movement of the second and third centuries AD, and is for the Greek Church what St Augustine's City of God is for Western Christendom. It is also one of the chief monuments of the coming together of ancient Greek culture and the new faith of the expanding Christian society. Thus Origen's work is of interest not only to the historian and theologian, but also to the hellenist. Professor Chadwick's English translation is preceded by a substantial introduction which includes discussion on Celsus' date, identity and theological outlook, as well as an account of Origen's philosophical background and method. The notes elucidate the many obscure allusions of a difficult text.

Augustine was arguably the greatest early Christian philosopher. His teachings had a profound effect on Medieval scholarship, Renaissance humanism, and the religious controversies of both the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation. Here, Henry Chadwick places Augustine in his philosophical and religious context and traces the history of his influence on Western thought, both within and beyond the Christian tradition. A handy account to one of the greatest religious thinkers, this Very Short Introduction is both a useful guide for the one who seeks to know Augustine and a fine companion for the one who wishes to know him better.

Augustine (354-430) had a profound impact on the development of the Christian Church, sparking controversy and influencing the ideas of theologians for over fifteen centuries. His words are still frequently quoted in devotions today and his key themes retain a striking contemporary relevance--what is the place of the Church in the world? What is the relation between nature and grace? In Augustine of Hippo, the late Henry Chadwick--a renowned authority on Augustine--describes with clarity and warmth the intellectual development of this key Father of the Church. In his characteristically rigorous yet sympathetic style, Chadwick traces Augustine's intellectual journey from schoolboy and student to Bishop and champion of Christendom in a period of intense political upheaval, providing valuable insight into the progression of Augustine's ideas. With a foreword reflecting on Chadwick's distinctive approach to Augustine by Peter Brown, and a further reading list on Augustine compiled by Gillian Clark, this volume is both an essential assessment of Augustine and a final tribute to one of the great church historians of the twentieth century.

This first volume of the penguin history of the church looks at the beginning of the Christian movement during the first centuries AD and at the explosive force of its expansion throughout the Roman world. Drawing on recent historical research, Professor Henry Chadwock shows how Christianity had its roots in a synthesis of contemporary ideas and beliefs, and analyses the causes of its persecution under Diocletian, the fanaticism of its martyrs and its bitter internal controversies. The conversion of Constantine and the edict of Theodosius meant that the church had to reconcile its spiritual duties with a new, worldly role as an established church for good government throughout the empire, and Professor Chadwick completes his history by demonstrating how this conflict of responsiblilties led to the emergence of the papacy and the monastic movement, the twin pillars of Christianity in the Middle Ages.

The historian of western culture cannot travel far without discovering that the roots of many twentieth-century questions lie in the ancient dialogue between the early Christians and culture of the old classical world. This book takes three Christian thinkers: Justin, clement of Alexandria, and Origen, and shows what the debate looked like from the Christian side. It draws on the pagan critics of the church to illustrate the case the Christians had to answer. The examination of the Christian synthesis illustrates the extent to which penetrating criticism of the classical tradition was combined with a profound acceptance of its humanism.