Early Christianity. Origins and Evolution to AD 600.

SPCK, London, 1991. 2nd corr.impr. XVI,335p. Paperback. Early Christianity is a collection of essays on various aspects of the early Christian experience that were composed and offered to the great Scottish church historian W. H. C. Frend on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Different from the 'specialized and sometimes arcane studies appealing only to the few' (xiv) that are characteristic of the typical Festschrift, the essays in this volume were written with the intention of introducing the non-specialist to the study of early Christianity. This was done in recognition of the superlative skills Professor Frend brought to the teaching of the subject in his decades at the University of Glasgow. As an introductory work, meant to take its place next to traditional histories of the early Church by scholars like Henry Chadwick and Frend himself, Early Christianity is distinctive in having its component essays arranged not chronologically, but thematically in eight major sections. (K.McC. Spoerl in Journal of Early Christian Studies, 1993, preview). A.o.: J. KELLY: Why Study Early Church History? (pp.3-15); J. MERDINGER: The world of the Roman Empire (pp.17-28); L.H. MARTIN : The Pagan Religious Background (pp.52-65); K. SCHÄFERDIEK: Christian Mission and Expansion (pp.65-79); Ph. ROUSSEAU: Christian Ascetism and the Early Monks (pp.112-123); F. YOUNG: The Greek Fathers (pp.135-148); Chr. STEAD: Greek Influence on Christian Thought (pp.175-186); K. RUDOLPH: Gnosticism (pp.186-198); J. HARRIES: Patristic Historiography (pp.269-280).