The Early Christian World

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD SECOND EDITION

This new edition is a goldmine of up-to-date information for anyone interested in the development of early Christianity. The contributors represent an international collection of top-flight scholars, and the range of topics covered is expansive; yet the essays are written in an accessible style and could certainly be used in a classroom setting at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Of particular note is the way in which the essays situate Christianity within its broader cultural contexts, rather than treating it as if it had developed in a ‘holy vacuum’. You will want this book on your shelf as a standard reference work for the study of early Christianity. – Professor David Eastman, Ohio Wesleyan University, USA Since its publication in 2000, The Early Christian World has come to be regarded by scholars, students and the general reader as one of the most informative and accessible works in English on the origins, development, character and major figures of early Christianity. In this new edition, the strengths of the first edition are retained. These include the book’s attractive architecture that initially takes a reader through the context and historical development of early Christianity; the essays in critical areas such as community formation, everyday experience, the intellectual and artistic heritage, and external and internal challenges; and the profiles on the most influential early Christian figures. The book also preserves its strong stress on the social reality of early Christianity and continues its distinctive use of hundreds of illustrations and maps to bring that world to life. Yet the years that have passed since the first edition was published have seen great advances made in our understanding of early Christianity in its world. This new edition fully reflects these developments and provides the reader with authoritative, lively and up-to-date access to the early Christian world. A quarter of the text is entirely new and the remaining essays have all been carefully revised and updated by their authors. Some of the new material relates to Christian culture (including book culture, canonical and noncanonical scriptures, saints and hagiography, and translation across cultures). But there are also new essays on: Jewish and Christian interaction in the early centuries; Roman Britain, ritual; experience of the supernatural via angels, demons, miracles and magic; Manichaeism; Pachomius the Great and Gregory of Nyssa. This new edition will serve its readers for many years to come. Philip F. Esler is the Portland Chair in New Testament Studies and Director of the International Centre for Biblical Interpretation in the University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK. His research focus lies primarily in the social-scientific analysis of biblical and extra-biblical texts and ancient legal papyri, and he also writes on the Bible and the visual arts and on New Testament theology.

THE ROUTLEDGE WORLDS

THE SUMERIAN WORLD Edited by Harriet Crawford THE OCCULT WORLD Edited by Christopher Partridge THE WORLD OF INDIGENOUS NORTH AMERICA Edited by Robert Warrior THE WORLD OF THE REVOLUTIONARY AMERICAN REPUBLIC Edited by Andrew Shankman THE SHAKESPEAREAN WORLD Edited by Jill L. Levenson and Robert Ormsby THE WORLD OF COLONIAL AMERICA Edited by Ignacio Gallup-Diaz THE MEDIEVAL WORLD, SECOND EDITION Edited by Peter Linehan, Janet L. Nelson, and Marios Costambeys THE MODERNIST WORLD Edited by Allana Lindgren and Stephen Ross

Forthcoming: THE WORLD OF GREAT ZIMBABWE Edited by Innocent Pikirayi THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD, SECOND EDITION Edited by Philip F. Esler THE SWAHILI WORLD Edited by Stephanie Wynne-Jones and Adria LaViolette

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN WORLD SECOND EDITION

Edited by Philip F. Esler

First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Philip F. Esler The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Esler, Philip Francis, editor. Title: The early Christian world / edited by Philip F. Esler. Description: Second edition. | New York : Routledge, 2017. | Series: Routledge worlds | Includes index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016046646| ISBN 9781138200074 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315165837 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Church history—Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600. Classification: LCC BR165 .E25 2017 | DDC 270.1—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016046646 ISBN: 978-1-138-20007-4 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-16583-7 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo Std by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK

This book is dedicated to the memory of Patrick Bernard Carey (16 December 1946–18 July 2016)

CONTENTS

List of figures Notes on contributors Preface to the Revised Edition

xii xxi xxix

PART I

The context

1

  1 The Mediterranean context of early Christianity Philip F. Esler

3

  2 Armies, emperors and bureaucrats Jill Harries

27

  3 Graeco-Roman philosophy and religion Luther H. Martin

48

  4 Jewish tradition and culture James K. Aitken

73

PART II

Christian origins and development

95

  5 The Galilean world of Jesus Douglas E. Oakman

97

  6 Early Jewish Christianity Edwin K. Broadhead

121

  7 From the Hellenists to Marcion: early gentile Christianity Todd Klutz

142

vii

Contents

  8 The Jesus tradition: the gospel writers’ strategies of persuasion Richard L. Rohrbaugh

169

  9 The second and third centuries Jeffrey S. Siker

197

10 From Constantine to Theodosius (and beyond) Bill Leadbetter

220

11 Jewish and Christian interaction from the first to the fifth centuries Anders Runesson

244

PART III

Community formation and maintenance

265

12 Mission and expansion Thomas M. Finn

267

13 The development of office in the Early Church Mark Edwards

284

14 Christian regional diversity David G. K. Taylor

295

15 Monasticism Columba Stewart OSB

307

PART IV

Everyday Christian experience

327

16 Reading the New Testament in Roman Britain Richard Cleaves

329

17 Sex and sexual renunciation I Teresa M. Shaw

355

18 Sex and sexual renunciation II: developments in research since 2000 Elizabeth A. Castelli

372

19 Women, children and house churches Mona Tokarek LaFosse

385

20 Worship, practice, and belief Maxwell E. Johnson

406

21 Ritual and the rise of the early Christian movement Risto Uro

427

viii

Contents

22 Communication and travel Blake Leyerle

442

PART V

Christian culture

465

23 Christian realia: papyrological and epigraphical material Giovanni Bazzana

467

24 Scriptures in early Christianity Outi Lehtipuu and Hanne von Weissenberg

483

25 Saints and hagiography Mark Humphries

501

26 Translation and communication across cultures Malcolm Choat

515

PART VI

The intellectual heritage

527

27 The Apostolic Fathers Carolyn Osiek

529

28 The Apologists Anders-Christian Jacobsen

547

29 Early theologians Gerald Bray

565

30 Later theologians of the Greek east Andrew Louth

587

31 Later theologians of the west Ivor J. Davidson

606

32 Creeds, councils and doctrinal development Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski

631

33 Biblical interpretation Oskar Skarsaune

647

PART VII

The artistic heritage

671

34 Early Christian architecture: the first five centuries L. Michael White

673

ix

Contents

35 Art Robin M. Jensen

717

36 Music John Arthur Smith

745

37 Imaginative literature Richard Bauckham

762

PART VIII

External challenges

781

38 Political oppression and martyrdom Candida R. Moss

783

39 Graeco-Roman philosophical opposition Michael Bland Simmons

796

40 Popular Graeco-Roman responses to Christianity Craig de Vos

817

PART IX

Internal challenges

835

41 Internal renewal and dissent in the early Christian world Sheila E. McGinn

837

42 Gnosticism Alastair H. B. Logan

850

43 Montanism Christine Trevett

867

44 Donatism Jakob Engberg

885

45 Arianism David Rankin

905

46 Manichaeism Jason David BeDuhn

921

PART X

Profiles 941 47 Origen Thomas P. Scheck

943

x

Contents

48 Tertullian Geoffrey D. Dunn

959

49 Perpetua and Felicitas Shira L. Lander and Ross S. Kraemer

976

50 Constantine Bill Leadbetter

996

51 Anthony the Great Columba Stewart OSB

1010

52 Pachomius the Great James E. Goehring

1021

53 Athanasius David M. Gwynn

1036

54 John Chrysostom Wendy Mayer and Pauline Allen

1054

55 Gregory of Nyssa Elena Ene D-Vasilescu

1072

56 Jerome Dennis Brown

1087

57 Ambrose Ivor J. Davidson

1102

58 Augustine Carol Harrison

1126

59 Ephrem the Syrian Kathleen E. McVey

1145

60 Julian the Apostate Michael Bland Simmons

1169

Index of biblical references Index of classical references Index of Jewish references Index of patristic references Subject index

1188 1200 1209 1212 1237

xi

FIGURES

1.1 The Roman Empire in 60 ce 4 1.2 Conjectural reconstruction of Hecataeus’ map of the world 8 1.3 Reconstruction of Crates’ Orb, c. 170–160 bce 8 1.4 Simplified reconstruction of Eratosthenes’ map of the oikoumene 9 1.5 The isthmus at Corinth from the Akrocorinth 13 1.6 The Lechaion Road i...