The Earliest History of the Christian Gathering
The Earliest History of the Christian Gathering

Author: Valeriy A. Alikin

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 361

ISBN-13: 9004183094

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Recent research has made a strong case for the view that Early Christian communities, sociologically considered, functioned as voluntary religious associations. This is similar to the practice of many other cultic associations in the Greco-Roman world of the first century CE. Building upon this new approach, along with a critical interpretation of all available sources, this book discusses the social and religio-historical background of the weekly gatherings of Christians and presents a fresh reconstruction of how the weekly gatherings originated and developed in both form and content. The topics studied here include the origins of the observance of Sunday as the weekly Christian feast-day, the shape and meaning of the weekly gatherings of the Christian communities, and the rise of customs such as preaching, praying, singing, and the reading of texts in these meetings.

History of Christianity
History of Christianity

Author: Paul Johnson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-03-27

Total Pages: 816

ISBN-13: 1451688512

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

First published in 1976, Paul Johnson’s exceptional study of Christianity has been loved and widely hailed for its intensive research, writing, and magnitude—“a tour de force, one of the most ambitious surveys of the history of Christianity ever attempted and perhaps the most radical” (New York Review of Books). In a highly readable companion to books on faith and history, the scholar and author Johnson has illuminated the Christian world and its fascinating history in a way that no other has. Johnson takes off in the year AD 49 with his namesake the apostle Paul. Thus beginning an ambitious quest to paint the centuries since the founding of a little-known ‘Jesus Sect’, A History of Christianity explores to a great degree the evolution of the Western world. With an unbiased and overall optimistic tone, Johnson traces the fantastic scope of the consequent sects of Christianity and the people who followed them. Information drawn from extensive and varied sources from around the world makes this history as credible as it is reliable. Invaluable understanding of the framework of modern Christianity—and its trials and tribulations throughout history—has never before been contained in such a captivating work.

A History of the First Christians
A History of the First Christians

Author: Alexander J. M. Wedderburn

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2004-01-01

Total Pages: 309

ISBN-13: 0567144062

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This work provides a survey of the history of the earliest Christian church in the period up to the fall of Jerusalem. It concentrates on: the figure of Paul; judicious and critical use of information in the Book of Acts; Judaizing versions of Christianity; and the Johannine tradition. The approach steers a middle way between an over-simplified account which fails to warn students where scholarly opinion is divided, and an in-depth academic study which attempts to document and discuss every hypothesis. Wedderburn focuses on aspects of central importance: the changing shape of church life and developing Christianity in relation to the Roman Empire and to Judaism. This book seeks to draw together and make more readily accessible many new insights gained from an enormous range of recent scholarly studies in German and English, and places them in the context of a more general account.

Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity
Acts and the History of Earliest Christianity

Author: Martin Hengel

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2003-03-14

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1725200767

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Hengel...here marshals a vast body of learning to illuminate brilliantly a few specific questions about the New Testament.... For anyone who has read much in contemporary European New Testament scholarship, this wise little book will come as a tonic. And for the beginning adult student of the New Testament, the book will serve as an excellent introduction to the question of historicity in early Christian writings. 'Review for Religious' The book is extremely well written and gives evidence of an astonishing command of ancient literature. 'Journal of the American Academy of Religion'

Christian Origins
Christian Origins

Author: Richard Horsley

Publisher: Fortress Press

Published: 2010-03-01

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1451416644

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Dealing with a time when "Christians" were moving towards separation from the movement's Jewish origins, this inaugural volume of A People's History of Christianity tells "the people's story" by gathering together evidence from the New Testament texts, archaeology, and other contemporary sources. Of particular interest to the distinguished group of scholar-contributors are the often overlooked aspects of the earliest "Christian" consciousness: How, for example, did they manage to negotiate allegiances to two social groups? How did they deal with crucial issues of wealth and poverty? What about the participation of slaves and women in these communities? How did living in the shadow of the Roman Empire color their religious experience and economic values?

The Earliest Christian Meeting Places
The Earliest Christian Meeting Places

Author: Edward Adams

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2013-10-24

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 0567157326

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Edward Adams challenges a strong consensus in New Testament and Early Christian studies: that the early Christians met 'almost exclusively' in houses. This assumption has been foundational for research on the social formation of the early churches, the origins and early development of church architecture, and early Christian worship. Recent years have witnessed increased scholarly interest in the early 'house church'. Adams re-examines the New Testament and other literary data, as well as archaeological and comparative evidence, showing that explicit evidence for assembling in houses is not nearly as extensive as is usually thought. He also shows that there is literary and archaeological evidence for meeting in non-house settings. Adams makes the case that during the first two centuries, the alleged period of the 'house church', it is plausible to imagine the early Christians gathering in a range of venues rather than almost entirely in private houses. His thesis has wide-ranging implications.

A Brief History of Christian Worship
A Brief History of Christian Worship

Author: James F. White

Publisher: Abingdon Press

Published: 2010-09-01

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 1426715668

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Most histories of Christian worship are written as if nothing significant in liturgical history ever happened in North America, as if cultural diversities were insignificant in the development of worship, and as if most of what mattered were words the priest or minister addressed to God. This book is a revisionist work, attempting to give new direction to liturgical history by treating the experience of worship of the people in the pews as the primary liturgical document. It means liturgical history written facing the other way--that is, looking into the chancel rather than out of it. Relishing the liturgical diversity of recent centuries as firm evidence of Chritianity's ability to adapt to a wide variety of peoples and places, Professor White shows that this tendency has been apparent in Chrisitian worship since its inception in the New Testament churches. Instead of imposing one tradition's criteria on worship, he tries to give a balanced and comprehensive approach to the development of the dozen or more traditions surviving in the modern world.

A Brief History of Sunday
A Brief History of Sunday

Author: Gonzalez, Justo L.

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0802874711

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this accessible historical overview of Sunday, noted scholar Justo Gonz lez tells the story of how and why Christians have worshiped on Sunday from the earliest days of the church to the present. After discussing the views and practices relating to Sunday in the ancient church, Gonz lez turns to Constantine and how his policies affected Sunday observances. He then recounts the long process, beginning in the Middle Ages and culminating with Puritanism, whereby Christians came to think of and strictly observe Sunday as the Sabbath. Finally, Gonz lez looks at the current state of things, exploring especially how the explosive growth of the church in the Majority World has affected the observance of Sunday worldwide. Readers of this book will rediscover the joy and excitement of Sunday as early Christians celebrated it and will find fresh, inspiring perspectives on Sunday amid our current culture of indifference and even hostility to Christianity.

Story-Shaped Worship
Story-Shaped Worship

Author: Robbie F. Castleman

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Published: 2013-04-03

Total Pages: 225

ISBN-13: 083083964X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In Story-Shaped Worship Robbie Castleman attempts nothing less than to uncover the fundamental shape of worship. Right worship doesn't require a traditionalist return to earlier forms of church, she argues, but a fresh response to God in light of the revealed patterns of worship we find in the Bible and church history.

At the Origins of Christian Worship
At the Origins of Christian Worship

Author: Larry W. Hurtado

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2000-09-07

Total Pages: 154

ISBN-13: 9780802847492

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"At the Origins of Christian Worship" can deepen readers' understanding of early Christian worship by setting it within the context of the Roman world in which it developed. Hurtado highlights the two central characteristics of earliest Christian worship: its exclusive rejection of the ancient-world gods and its inclusion of Christ with God as the focus of devotion.