The rise of Christianity..

Exhaustive in detail, magisterial in presentation, and comprehensive in scope, this momentous study by W. H. C. Frend, one of the world's most distinguished church historians, charts the course of the emergence and development of Christianity.In his quest for a definitive picture of the first 600 years of Christianity Dr. Frend concentrates on the early Christians and explains how Christianity emerged from Judaism and flourished in the Greco-Roman world--against all odds--before becoming the major religion of Eastern and Western Europe. First he examines the Jewish contexts in which Christianity originated. Then he traces the development of early Christian communities through the third century to the Constantinian revolution, at which time Christianity emerged as the heir apparent to the Roman Empire.The increasingly incompatible interpretations of faith which evolved by the end of the third century become the focal point for Dr. Frend as he details the various forces and movements in the Mediterranean world that contributed to the eventual division of the Eastern and Western churches. He also takes into account the consequences of the schism.Here in all its richness is the vast and complex world of early Christianity--its personalities, theologies, and centers, as well as major events in its development, including "heresies" and "schisms." By paying careful attention to many original literary sources and to material evidence from Christian and non-Christian traditions Dr. Frend realistically reconstructs the wider social, political, and economic settings in which Christianity developed in the first six centuries of the Common Era.Illustrations throughout, seven maps detailing the advance of Christianity, and Synopses of Events help to place the triumph of Christianity into chronological and geographical perspective. Photographs of key historic sites taken by the author on his own explorations further enhance the book. Each chapter is amply documented with wide-ranging bibliographies and notes.The scope of the author's work, based on a lifetime of historical research and publication, and his unique mastery of the people, places, and events of these six centuries are the bases for his portrait of the rise of Christianity. The result is the fullest account to date of the institutional life and doctrinal history of early Christianity.