In this work, the author explores the formation and shaping of early Christian identity within Judaism and within the wider Graeco-Roman world in the period before 200 CE.

Product Description: In The Myth of Persecution, Candida Moss, a leading expert on early Christianity, reveals how the early church exaggerated, invented, and forged stories of Christian martyrs and how the dangerous legacy of a martyrdom complex is employed today to silence dissent and galvanize a new generation of culture warriors...read more

Product Description: A concise and accessible overview of the response of early Christian thought to classical philosophy and its integration into Christian theology.

Product Description: Between 350 and 850 Constantinople emerged as both the greatest city of the Mediterranean world and a monastic centre of unparalleled importance. Drawing upon a wide range of sources, including a rich body of hagiographical evidence, this 2008 study documents the historical relationship between the city and its monks during this crucial formative period...read more

For more than 1,000 years the Byzantine emperors reigned over a fabulously wealthy, glittering world. Thomas F. Mathews surveys this great Medieval culture--the bridge between classical antiquity and the Renaissance. From the Caucasus to Constantinople, from pagan Roman portraits to Christian icons, Mathews uses the latest research to lead an unforgettable tour of a splendid empire. 122 illustrations, 106 in color. (view table of contents)

Product Description: Here, patristics scholar Tabbernee tells the story of 'The New Prophecy' group and its followers from the mid-second century to their rejection by the church councils and their eventual demise in the eight century.

Product Description: This book provides a major study of the drawings, paintings and carvings of the crucifixion from tenth- and eleventh-century England, placing these works of art within the context of the tenth-century monastic revival. The drawings and paintings of the crucifixion are discussed in relation to the literature, theology, liturgy and devotional practices of the late Anglo-Saxon period in order to reveal the richness and subtlety of religious belief at this time...read more

Product Description: The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Studies responds to and celebrates the explosion of research in this interdisciplinary field over recent decades. A one-volume reference work, it provides an introduction to the academic study of early Christianity (c...read more

Product Description: This book is a study of the theology of the Trinity as expressed in the literature and art of the late Anglo-Saxon period. It examines the meaning of the representations of the Trinity in tenth- and eleventh-century English manuscripts and their relationship both to Anglo-Saxon theology and to earlier debates about the legitimacy of representations of the divine...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Tess DeNunzio tries to deal with the death of her younger sister, Zoe, by writing her a letter, as she moves from her mother and stepfather's family to live with her real father, and begins a romance with a boy who lives next door.

Provides the complete text of the long-lost Gospel of Judas, found nearly thirty years ago in Egypt, along with interpretive commentary and annotations, in a study of the disciple, his writings, and their significance. 150,000 first printing.

Product Description: The writings of prominent New Testament scholar François Bovon exhibit historical-critical expertise and substantial theological insight. When this collection was published by Mohr Siebeck, three of the chapters were in German. For this affordable North American paperback edition, these have been translated into English...read more

Why This New Race offers a radical new way of thinking about the origins of Christian identity. Conventional histories have understood Christianity as a religion that from its beginnings sought to transcend ethnic and racial distinctions. Denise Kimber Buell challenges this view by revealing the centrality of ethnicity and race in early definitions of Christianity. Buell's readings of various texts consider the use of "ethnic reasoning" to depict Christianness as more than a set of shared religious practices and beliefs. By asking themselves, "Why this new race?" Christians positioned themselves as members of an ethnos or genos distinct from Jews, Romans, and Greeks. Buell focuses on texts written before Christianity became legal in 313 C.E., including Greek apologetic treatises, martyr narratives, and works by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Tertullian. Philosophers and theologians used ethnic reasoning to define Christians as a distinct people within classical and ancient Near East society and in intra-Christian debates about what constituted Christianness. Many characterized Christianness as both fixed and fluid-it had a real essence (fixed) but could be acquired through conversion (fluid). Buell demonstrates how this dynamic view of race and ethnicity allowed Christians to establish boundaries around the meaning of Christianness and to develop universalizing claims that all should join the Christian people. In addressing questions of historiography, Buell analyzes why generations of scholars have refused to acknowledge ethnic reasoning in early Christian discourses. Moreover, Buell's arguments about the importance of ethnicity and religion in early Christianity provide insights into the historical legacy of Christian anti-Semitism as well as contemporary issues of race.

Product Description: Vivir en lo alto de una columna o dentro del tronco de un árbol, vagar desnudo por las montañas en busca de hierbas o fingir locura por las calles de una ciudad constituyen formas de vida que hoy nos parecerían propias de verdaderos lunáticos...read more