Rise of Christianity

by Frend, William H. C.

• ISBN13: 9780800619312
• ISBN10: 0800619315
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1986-04-01
• Publisher: Fortress Pr

Summary

'A history of early Christianity like this one comes along only once in a generation. Only by reading this book can one appreciate how vast and disciplined is its scholarship, how thoughtful, how thoughtful its attention to both large historical currents and the little people and details that form the bed, and force the eddying, of history's great stream.'

Table of Contents

Illustrations	x
Abbreviations	xiii
Introduction	1	(10)
Part 1: Jews and Christians
The Jewish Background	11	(42)
From 587 to 140 B. C.	15	(3)
Palestine in the Last Century B. C.	18	(4)
Sects and Parties	22	(8)
The Dispersion	30	(23)
Jesus of Nazareth	53	(32)
Baptism	58	(2)
Temptations	60	(1)
Jesus and John	61	(2)
The Galilean Mission A. D. 28--29	63	(6)
Martyr Prophet	69	(1)
On to Jerusalem	69	(2)
The Last Phase	71	(14)
Paul and the First Expansion 30--65	85	(34)
The Jerusalem Community	87	(4)
The Emergence of Paul	91	(4)
The Mission	95	(6)
The Opposition	101	(1)
The Pauline Christ	101	(3)
The New Religion and Society	104	(2)
Paul and James	106	(1)
The Pauline Ministry	106	(1)
The Liturgy	107	(1)
Baptism and Eucharist	108	(1)
Relations with the Authorities	108	(1)
The Neronian Persecution A.D. 64	109	(10)
The Christian Synagogue 70--135	119	(42)
The New Israel and the Old	121	(5)
The Christian Mission	126	(5)
The Church and Society	131	(3)
Sound Doctrine and Its Opponents	134	(5)
The Christian Ministry	139	(2)
The Liturgy	141	(1)
Differing Interpretations	142	(5)
The Christians and the Empire	147	(14)
Opposition Cult 135--80	161	(32)
The Roman Empire in the Second Century	164	(7)
The Opposition	171	(7)
Christian Advance	178	(15)
Acute Hellenization 135--93	193	(36)
The Gnostic Movement	195	(6)
Reasons for the Success of Gnosticism	201	(4)
The Alexandrian Gnostic Teachers	205	(5)
The Gnostic Legacy	210	(2)
Marcion	212	(5)
Later Developments	217	(12)
The Emergence of Orthodoxy 135--93	229	(42)
The Apologists	234	(10)
Irenaeus	244	(6)
Emergent Orthodoxy	250	(1)
Threats to Unity	251	(5)
Conclusion	256	(15)
Part 2: Christianity and the Roman Empire
Out of the Shadows 193--235	271	(36)
The Severan Dynasty	272	(2)
Christianity's Rivals	274	(7)
Orthodoxy	281	(4)
Revival of Mission	285	(8)
Pagan Reaction	293	(1)
The Return of Peace	294	(13)
Struggle and Advance 235--60	307	(30)
Christian Progress	309	(5)
Manicheism	314	(4)
The Decian Persecution	318	(6)
Valerian	324	(13)
The Third Century: The Western Churches 190--260	337	(30)
Latin Christianity	339	(28)
The Third Century: Christian Platonism of Alexandria and Its Opponents 190--275	367	(30)
Christian Platonists	368	(29)
Church and People in the Third Century	397	(42)
Authority and Church Order	398	(5)
Bishops and Clergy	403	(9)
The Seniores	412	(1)
The People	413	(1)
Art, Literature, and Ethics	414	(7)
Rural Christianity and the First Monks	421	(18)
The Age of Diocletian 270--305	439	(34)
The Pagan Front	440	(4)
The Advance of Christianity	444	(8)
Diocletian and the Great Persecution	452	(21)
The Constantinian Revolution 305--30	473	(48)
Tetrarchy and Dynasty	474	(3)
The Propaganda War	477	(2)
The Hinge of Fate 311--13	479	(5)
From Milan to Chrysopolis 313--24	484	(4)
The Donatists: Pandora's Box	488	(4)
Arius	492	(6)
Council of Nicaea	498	(3)
Constantinople: Nova Roma	501	(20)
Part 3: From Constantine to Chalcedon
Toward Byzantinism 330--61	521	(32)
Constantine and Athanasius	523	(5)
The Council of Sardica 342/43	528	(4)
The Search for Equilibrium 343--53	532	(2)
Constantius as Sole Emperor 353--61	534	(4)
Constantius and the Quest for a Unifying Creed	538	(15)
From Pagan to Christian Society 330--60	553	(40)
The New Synthesis	554	(7)
The Process of Christianization	561	(10)
Christianity and the Countryside	571	(22)
Hero of a Lost Cause: The Emperor Julian 360--63	593	(22)
The Early Years	594	(4)
The Successful General	598	(6)
The Failed Revolution	604	(11)
New Perspectives in West and East 363--99	615	(36)
The West	617	(12)
The East	629	(22)
The North African Dimension 370--430	651	(48)
The Donatists	653	(6)
Augustine	659	(14)
Pelagius and Pelagianism	673	(26)
Christianity and Barbarism: The West 380--450	699	(42)
The End of the Pagan Ideal	701	(4)
Claudian	705	(1)
Prudentius	706	(5)
Priscillian	711	(2)
Paulinus	713	(2)
Jerome	715	(4)
Honoratus	719	(1)
John Cassian	719	(2)
The Church and the Internal Crisis of the Empire	721	(20)
The Road to Chalcedon 398--451	741	(48)
The Survival of the East Roman Provinces	743	(6)
John Chrysostom at Constantinople 398--404	749	(3)
Nestorius and Cyril 428--31	752	(9)
The Formula of Reunion 433	761	(1)
The Interlude 433--46	762	(2)
Dioscorus and Eutyches	764	(6)
Chalcedon 451	770	(19)
Part 4: The Parting of the Ways
The Catholic Recovery in the West 451--536	789	(38)
Britain	792	(3)
North Africa Under the Vandals	795	(5)
Gaul	800	(5)
Italy	805	(2)
The Acacian Schism and Its Aftermath	807	(6)
The Decline of the Ostrogothic Kingdom	813	(14)
Justinian and the Byzantine Achievement 527--65	827	(42)
Justinian's Renewal (Renovatio)	828	(4)
The Reoccupation of North Africa 533--34	832	(3)
Byzantine Art and Architecture	835	(2)
The Emergence of the Monophysite Church 519--31	837	(11)
The Emergence of Neo-Chalcedonianism	848	(2)
The Three Chapters 544--54	850	(4)
The Failure of the Reconquista 555--65	854	(15)
``And East Is East . . .'' 565--604	869	(34)
Rome and Constantinople	870	(3)
Chalcedonians and Monophysites	873	(4)
The Celtic Irruption	877	(4)
St. Benedict and Monasticism	881	(2)
Pope Gregory I	883	(20)
Epilogue	903	(4)
General Bibliography	907	(4)
Appendixes	911	(1)
Synopsis of Events	912	(74)
Maps	986	(5)
Names Index	991	(22)
Subject Index	1013