Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years

Fredriksen (Aurelio Professor of Scripture Emerita, Boston Univ.; When Christians Were Jews) offers a volume tracing the origins of early Christianity in its first 500 years of existence. Most readers know and understand that the New Testament is a collection of gospels, letters and writings collected and codified in the fourth century. This book’s examination of archeological sources, paracanonical writings, and more, however, reveal a different picture of the early Christian communities. The book’s seven chapters—“The Idea of Israel,” “The Dilemmas of Diversity,” “Persecution and Martyrdom,” “The Future of the End,” “Christ and Empire,” “The Redemption of the Flesh,” and “Pagan and Christian,” spotlight early Christian and Jewish communities and how they began to adopt different theologies. The volume contrasts how these new faith communities developed and explored what being a Christian meant in different eras.