After the New Testament A Reader in Early Christianity

by Ehrman, Bart D.

• ISBN13: 9780195114454
• ISBN10: 0195114450
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1998-10-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The remarkable diversity of Christianity during the formative years of thefirst three centuries has become a plain, even natural, "fact" for most ancienthistorians. But until now there has been no source book of primary texts thatreveals the varieties of Christian beliefs, practices, ethics, experiences,confrontations, and self-understandings. To help readers recognize andexperience the rich diversity of the early Christian movement, After the NewTestament provides a wide range of texts, both orthodox and heterodox, includingsuch works as the Apostolic Fathers, (e.g., 1 Clement), the writings of NagHammadi (e.g., the Apocryhon of John), early pseudepigrapha (e.g., the Gospel ofPeter), martyrologies (e.g., Perpetua), anti-Jewish tractates (e.g., fromTertullian), heresiologies (e.g., Irenaeus and the Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter),canon lists (e.g., the Muratorian Fragment), church orders (e.g., the ApostolicConstitutions), liturgical texts (the Didascalia), and theological treatises(e.g., Origen). In addition, rather than giving only fragments of texts, thiscollection provides large portions--entire documents whereverpossible--organized under social and historical rubrics.This unique reader's concise and informative introductions and clear andup-to-date English translations make it ideal for courses on the New Testament,Christian Origins, Early Church History, or Late Antiquity, as well as foranyone--student, teacher, pastor, layperson--interested in the gamut of earlyChristian literature from the period after the New Testament up to the writingsof the so-called father of church history, Eusebius.

Table of Contents

Preface

General Introduction

The Spread of Christianity: Early Christians and their Converts

The Acts of John

The Acts of Thomas

Justin: Dialogue with Trypho

The Attack on Christianity: Persecution and Martyrdom in the Early Church

The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans

The Martyrdom of Polycarp

The Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons

The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs

The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas

The Defense of Early Christianity: The Early Christian Apologists

Minucius Felix:Octavius

Justin: First Apology

Athenagoras: Plea Regarding the Christians

The Letter to Diognetus

Tertullian: Apology

Origen: Against Celus

Anti-Judaic Polemic: The Opposition to Jews in Early Christianity

The Epistle of Barnabas

Justin: Dialogue with Trypho

Melito of Sardis: On the Passover

Tertullian: Answer to the Jews

The Diversity of Early Christianity: Writings Later Deemed Heretical

The Gospel According to the Ebionites

The Letter of Peter to James and Its Reception

The Homilies of Clement Gnostic-Christian Texts

The Secret Book of John

The First Thought in Three Forms

The Gospel of Truth

Ptolemy's Letter to Flora

On the Origin of the World

The isdom of Jesus Christ

The Treatise on the Resurrection

The Hymn of the Pearl

The Gospel of Philip

The Internal Conflicts of Christianity: Writings against the "Heretics" Proto-Orthodox Heresiologists

Irenaeus: Against the Heresies

Tertullian: Prescription of the Heretics

Tertullian: On the Flesh of Christ

Tertullian: Against Praxeas Gnostic Heresiologists

The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter

The Second Treatise of the Great Seth

"Apostolic" Writings Outside the Canon: New Testament Apocrypha Pseudepigrapha Apocryphal Gospels

The Gospel of Thomas

The Gospel of Peter

The Proto-Gospel of James

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

The Epistle of the Apostles Apocryphal Acts

The Acts of Peter

The Acts of Paul

The Acts of Thecla

The Acts of John Apocryphal Epistles

Paul's Third Letter to the Corinthians

The Correspondence Between Paul and Seneca

Paul's Letter to the Laodiceans Apocryphal Apocalypses

The Apocalypse of Peter

The Apocalypse of Paul

The New Scriptures: Canonical Lists in Early Christianity

The Muratorian Canon

Irenaeus: Against the Heresies

Origen of Alexandria

Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History

The Structure of Early Christianity: The Development of Church Offices

First Clement

The Didache

The Letters of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, and Smyrneans

Hippolytus: The Apostolic Tradition

The Didascalia

Cyprian: The Unity of the Catholic Church

The Development of the Liturgy: Ritual Practices in Early Christianity

The Didache

Justin: First Apology

Tertullian: Apology

Tertullian: On the Crown

Hippolytu

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