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Originally published in 1999, The Rites of Christian Initiation was haled for its clarity and comprehensiveness. Kalian McDonnell, OSB, called it the best overall treatment of Christian initiation available, and Paul Bradshaw predicted it would be the standard textbook on the subject for very many years to come." The current edition draws on new translations of early texts on baptism as well as recent scholarship on the early traditions in the East and West. It is sure to replace itself as the new standard reference on the rites of Christian initiation. Maxwell E. Johnson's expanded and revised text provides a more complete view of the history and interpretation of the rites in the Eastern C...
Sometime in the second century, an early Christian text began to circulate called the Acts of Paul and Thecla . Since then, the tale of the apostle Paul, along with his strong heroine co-worker named Thecla, has received much attention as an independent source of information about earliest Christianity for what it might tell us about the role of women in ministry and the relationship women may have had to Paul in his missionary activities. In this volume, Jeremy W. Barrier provides a critical introduction and commentary on the Acts of Paul and Thecla, to serve as a user-friendly starting point for anyone interested in entering into the many discussions and academic writings surrounding the Acts of Paul and Thecla . Apart from a critical text with English translation, followed by textual notes and general comments, the author also offers an extensive introduction to the text.
"In this study, Aaron Milavec comprehensively examines how the first-century pastoral manual known as the Didache enumerated the step-by-step training of converts for the full, active participation in the earliest Jewish-Christian communities. Milavec shows how the Didache can, in turn, illuminate our understanding of how these first Christian men and women organized their community life socially, religiously, and politically in order to safeguard its members from the challenges of the surrounding Roman, pagan society of the first-century Mediterranean basin. He argues not only that the Didache's textual and contextual clues demonstrate the document's organic unity from beginning to end, but also that it dates from a period before the gospels were written and had gained acceptance."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
In Debates over the Resurrection of the Dead, Outi Lehtipuu highlights the striking observation that in many early texts the way that belief in resurrection is formulated is used as a sign of inclusion and exclusion, not only in relation to non-Christians but vis-a-vis other Christians. Those who teach otherwise have deviated from the truth, are not true Christians, and do the works of the devil. Using insights from the sociological study of deviance, Dr Lehtipuu demonstrates that labelling was used as a tool for marking boundaries between those who belonged and those who did not. This was extremely important in the fluid conditions where the small Christian minority groups found themselves....
This collection of studies in honor of Francois Bovon highlights the rich diversity found within early expressions of Christianity as evidenced in ancient texts, in early traditions and movements, and in archaic symbols and motifs.
This is the first modern book, which studies the most important aspects of this early Christian treatise, of which especially the Acts of Thecla and the Martyrdom of Paul were immensely popular in the Christian Church from Armenia to Anglo-Saxon England. The volume studies (1) the readership of the Acts, (2) important themes such as the resurrection, possible gnostic elements, the role of women (with a detailed study of the Acts of Thecla), Paul's encounter with the lion, his physiognomy, the events after Paul's martyrdom, the relationship with the canonical Acts and the text of the famous Codex Bezae, parallels with the Old and New Testament, and (3) the popularity of Thecla in later times. The wealth of episodes and details in these Acts makes the book of great interest to church historians, ancient historians, students of the New Testament, early Christianity, the ancient novel and of Women's Studies.
Discusses ancient religious texts, especially the so-called 'non-canonical' texts, by focusing on how they were used or functioned in Early Judaism and Early Christianity.
This volume makes available a collection of the most important and influential modern articles on the Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, many of them appearing in English for the first time. Leading Jewish and Christian scholars in the field represented in the volume include G. Alon, J-P. Audet, E. Bammel, J. Betz, J.A. Draper, D. Flusser, A. de Halleux, E. Mazza, K. Niederwimmer, W. Rordorf, G. Schöllgen, H.R. Seeliger and C.M. Tuckett. Essays included provide a representative sample of most aspects of study of this first-century Christian writing, documenting an increasing scholarly interest in its importance for the understanding of Christian origins. The editor provides an extensive review of scholarship on the Didache in the past fifty years, outlining its major trends and implications.
Christianity is a religion of salvation in which believers have always anticipated some type of post-mortem bliss. This belief in salvation for the faithful has usually meant non-salvation for others. This text examines the establishment of this view.