A complete geographical and thematic overview of the village in an antiquity and its role in the rise of Christianity. The volume begins with a “state-of-question” introduction by Thomas Robinson, assessing the interrelation of the village and city with the rise of early Christianity. Alan Cadwallader then articulates a methodology for future New Testament studies on this topic, employing a series of case studies to illustrate the methodological issues raised. From there contributors explore three areas of village life in different geographical areas, by means of a series of studies, written by experts in each discipline. They discuss the ancient near east (Egypt and Israel), mainland and Isthmian Greece, Asia Minor, and the Italian Peninsula. This geographic focus sheds light upon the villages associated with the biblical cities (Israel; Corinth; Galatia; Ephesus; Philippi; Thessalonica; Rome), including potential insights into the rural nature of the churches located there. A final section of thematic studies explores central issues of local village life (indigenous and imperial cults, funerary culture, and agricultural and economic life).

With the blend of art and learning that is the hallmark of his work, Peter Brown here examines how the sacred impinged upon the profane during the first Christian millennium.

This volume is concerned with the emergence of Christianity in Asia Minor and Cyprus. Five papers relate to Cappadocia and east Anatolia, the others to the bishops of Constantinople, the city of Sagalassus in Pisidia, Caria and Cyprus.

The particular excitement of this volume lies in its focus on the everyday realities of Christians' lives in the era of Christian ascendancy and Roman decline. Popular fiction, childrearing and toys, rituals of inclusion, the beginning of veneration of saints and shunning of heretics, the ascetic impulse, food practices—all these and more lend color and texture to the story of a "people's" Christianity in this formative stage.

In this book A.D. Lee charts the rise to dominance of Christianity in the Roman empire. Using translated texts he explains the fortunes of both Pagans and Christians from the upheavals of the 3rd Century to the increasingly tumultuous times of the 5th and 6th centuries. The book also examines important themes in Late Antiquity such as the growth of monasticism, the emerging power of bishops and the development of pilgrimage, and looks at the fate of other significant religious groups including the Jews, Zoroastrians and Manichaeans.

This introductory study is written from a new religious and theological studies perspective. Building on latest research in history and archaeology it also deals with reception studies, including popular literature, fiction, film, art and new religions. The book illustrates how perceptions of the early church still dominate the wider cultural discourse and how much that discourse is in need of a historically informed notion of 'the early church'. The book falls into seven chapters. Chapter I discusses concepts like 'early church' and 'early Christianity' and wider aspects of reception. Chapter II deals with concepts of history, memory and cultural origins in early Christian thought and its study. Chapter III outlines varieties of religious traditions in the context of the early church, especially Hellenistic Judaism. Chapter IV discusses Jewish and Gentile identities in the early church. Chapter V deals with the emergence of an early Christian literature. Chapter VI outlines the development of early Christian religious practices, and Chapter VII looks at leadership and political structures in and around the early church and their implications.

This tenth anniversary revised edition of the authoritative text on Christianity's first thousand years of history features a new preface, additional color images, and an updated bibliography. The essential general survey of medieval European Christendom, Brown's vivid prose charts the compelling and tumultuous rise of an institution that came to wield enormous religious and secular power. Clear and vivid history of Christianity's rise and its pivotal role in the making of Europe Written by the celebrated Princeton scholar who originated of the field of study known as 'late antiquity' Includes a fully updated bibliography and index