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The Rich Christian In The Church Of The Early Empire
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Book Synopsis The Rich Christian in the Church of the Early Empire by : Louis William Countryman
Download or read book The Rich Christian in the Church of the Early Empire written by Louis William Countryman and published by New York : E. Mellen Press. This book was released on 1980 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses early Christian attitudes towards wealth, including the writings of Clement of Alexandria and Cyprian of Carthage on the subject, and such topics as redemptive almsgiving, stewardship of time and treasures, and the danger of riches for both possessor and church.
Book Synopsis The Patient Ferment of the Early Church by : Alan Kreider
Download or read book The Patient Ferment of the Early Church written by Alan Kreider and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How and why did the early church grow in the first four hundred years despite disincentives, harassment, and occasional persecution? In this unique historical study, veteran scholar Alan Kreider delivers the fruit of a lifetime of study as he tells the amazing story of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Challenging traditional understandings, Kreider contends the church grew because the virtue of patience was of central importance in the life and witness of the early Christians. They wrote about patience, not evangelism, and reflected on prayer, catechesis, and worship, yet the church grew--not by specific strategies but by patient ferment.
Book Synopsis Through the Eye of a Needle by : Peter Brown
Download or read book Through the Eye of a Needle written by Peter Brown and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 806 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sweeping intellectual history of the role of wealth in the church in the last days of the Roman Empire Jesus taught his followers that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. Yet by the fall of Rome, the church was becoming rich beyond measure. Through the Eye of a Needle is a sweeping intellectual and social history of the vexing problem of wealth in Christianity in the waning days of the Roman Empire, written by the world's foremost scholar of late antiquity. Peter Brown examines the rise of the church through the lens of money and the challenges it posed to an institution that espoused the virtue of poverty and called avarice the root of all evil. Drawing on the writings of major Christian thinkers such as Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome, Brown examines the controversies and changing attitudes toward money caused by the influx of new wealth into church coffers, and describes the spectacular acts of divestment by rich donors and their growing influence in an empire beset with crisis. He shows how the use of wealth for the care of the poor competed with older forms of philanthropy deeply rooted in the Roman world, and sheds light on the ordinary people who gave away their money in hopes of treasure in heaven. Through the Eye of a Needle challenges the widely held notion that Christianity's growing wealth sapped Rome of its ability to resist the barbarian invasions, and offers a fresh perspective on the social history of the church in late antiquity.
Book Synopsis The Rich and the Pure by : Daniel Caner
Download or read book The Rich and the Pure written by Daniel Caner and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2021-09-07 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A portrait of history’s first complex Christian society as seen through the lens of Christian philanthropy and gift giving As the Roman Empire broke down in western Europe, its prosperity moved decisively eastward, to what is now known as the Byzantine Empire. Here was born history’s first truly affluent, multifaceted Christian society. One of the ideals used to unite the diverse millions of people living in this vast realm was the Christianized ideal of philanthrōpia. In this sweeping cultural and social history, Daniel Caner shows how philanthropy required living up to Jesus’s injunction to “Give to all who ask of you,” by offering mercy and/or material aid to every human being, regardless of their origin or status. Caner shows how Christian philanthropy became articulated through distinct religious ideals of giving that helped define proper social relations among the rich, the poor, and “the pure” (Christian holy people), resulting in new and enduring social expectations. In tracking the evolution of Christian giving over three centuries, he brings to the fore the concerns of the peoples of Early Byzantium, from the countryside to the lower levels of urban society to the imperial elites, as well as the hierarchical relationships that arose among them. The Rich and the Pure offers nothing less than a portrait of the whole of early Byzantine society.
Book Synopsis Religious Rivalries in the Early Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity by : Leif E. Vaage
Download or read book Religious Rivalries in the Early Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity written by Leif E. Vaage and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 2010-10-30 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Religious Rivalries in the Early Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity discusses the diverse cultural destinies of early Christianity, early Judaism, and other ancient religious groups as a question of social rivalry. The book is divided into three main sections. The first section debates the degree to which the category of rivalry adequately names the issue(s) that must be addressed when comparing and contrasting the social “success” of different religious groups in antiquity. The second is a critical assessment of the common modern category of “mission” to describe the inner dynamic of such a process; it discusses the early Christian apostle Paul, the early Jewish historian Josephus, and ancient Mithraism. The third section of the book is devoted to “the rise of Christianity,” primarily in response to the similarly titled work of the American sociologist of religion Rodney Stark. While it is not clear that any of these groups imagined its own success necessarily entailing the elimination of others, it does seem that early Christianity had certain habits, both of speech and practice, which made it particularly apt to succeed (in) the Roman Empire.
Book Synopsis Almsgiving in the Later Roman Empire by : Richard Damian Finn
Download or read book Almsgiving in the Later Roman Empire written by Richard Damian Finn and published by Oxford University Press on Demand. This book was released on 2006-02-23 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work highlights the importance of gifts to the poor for Christians in the later Roman Empire. It asks what it meant to give to the poor, the virtues it displayed and the role it played in articulating or challenging the standing of bishops, monks and ordinary lay men and women.
Book Synopsis Almsgiving in the Later Roman Empire by : Richard Finn OP
Download or read book Almsgiving in the Later Roman Empire written by Richard Finn OP and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2006-02-23 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Richard Finn OP examines the significance of almsgiving in Churches of the later empire for the identity and status of the bishops, ascetics, and lay people who undertook practices which differed in kind and context from the almsgiving practised by pagans. It reveals how the almsgiving crucial in constructing the bishop's standing was a co-operative task where honour was shared but which exposed the bishop to criticism and rivalry. Finn details how practices gained meaning from a discourse which recast traditional virtues of generosity and justice to render almsgiving a benefaction and source of honour, and how this pattern of thought and conduct interacted with classical patterns to generate controversy. He argues that co-operation and competition in Christian almsgiving, together with the continued existence of traditional euergetism, meant that, contrary to the views of recent scholars, Christian alms did not turn bishops into the supreme patrons of their cities.
Book Synopsis Faith and Wealth by : Justo L. Gonzalez
Download or read book Faith and Wealth written by Justo L. Gonzalez and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2002-04-16 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ideas pertaining to economics and social order were central concerns of the early Christian church, yet modern theologians and scholars have paid little or no attention to these issues as important theological questions. This brilliant and thorough study is a history of the views that Christians held of the origin, significance and use of wealth. Justo Gonzalez examines early Christian ideas, beliefs and teachings about the use of money, property, communal sharing and the rights and obligations of rich and poor. Setting the Christian community in the political, social and economic contexts of the times, Gonzalez highlights the ideas of such prominent writers as Cyprian, Ambrose, Augustine, John Chrysostom, and the Desert Fathers concerning wealth -- noting what traditional scholarship has overlooked. As the author points out, this book is not a social or economic history of Christianity during the first four centuries; it is a history of the views that Christians held on economic matters. This profound, enlightening and highly readable work of excellent scholarship is a major contribution to the study of the history of Christian thought. It clearly demonstrates that the issues of economics and social justice are central theological concerns, deeply rooted in Christian doctrine and Christian tradition.
Download or read book Melania written by Catherine Michael Chin and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2020-10-27 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Melania the Elder and her granddaughter Melania the Younger were major figures in early Christian history, using their wealth, status, and forceful personalities to shape the development of nearly every aspect of the religion we now know as Christianity. This volume examines their influence on late antique Christianity and provides an insightful portrait of their legacies in the modern world. Departing from the traditionally patriarchal view, Melania gives a poignant and sometimes surprising account of how the rise of Christian institutions in the Roman Empire shaped our understanding of women’s roles in the larger world.
Book Synopsis Encyclopedia of Early Christianity by : Everett Ferguson
Download or read book Encyclopedia of Early Christianity written by Everett Ferguson and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1998 with total page 1270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 1990. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Book Synopsis Early Christian Care for the Poor by : K.C. Richardson
Download or read book Early Christian Care for the Poor written by K.C. Richardson and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2018-08-03 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with Jesus's ministry in the villages of Galilee and continuing over the course of the first three centuries as the movement expanded geographically and numerically throughout the Roman world, the Christians organized their house churches, at least in part, to provide subsistence insurance for their needy members. While the Pax Romana created conditions of relative peace and growing prosperity, the problem of poverty persisted in Rome's fundamentally agrarian economy. Modeling their economic values and practices on the traditional patterns of the rural village, the Christians created an alternative subsistence strategy in the cities of the Roman empire by emphasizing need, rather than virtue, as the main criterion for determining the recipients of their generous giving.
Book Synopsis Christianity and the Roman Empire by : Ralph Martin Novak
Download or read book Christianity and the Roman Empire written by Ralph Martin Novak and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2001-02-01 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rise of Christianity during the first four centuries of the common era was the pivotal development in Western history and profoundly influenced the later direction of all world history. Yet, for all that has been written on early Christian history, the primary sources for this history are widely scattered, difficult to find, and generally unknown to lay persons and to historians not specially trained in the field. In Christianity and the Roman Empire Ralph Novak interweaves these primary sources with a narrative text and constructs a single continuous account of these crucial centuries. The primary sources are selected to emphasize the manner in which the government and the people of the Roman Empire perceived Christians socially and politically; the ways in which these perceptions influenced the treatment of Christians within the Roman Empire; and the manner in which Christians established their political and religious dominance of the Roman Empire after Constantine the Great came to power in the early fourth century CE. Ralph Martin Novak holds a Masters Degree in Roman History from the University of Chicago. For: Undergraduates; seminarians; general audiences
Book Synopsis Poverty and Wealth in James by : Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid
Download or read book Poverty and Wealth in James written by Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2004-10-29 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A sociological reading of the New Testament texts continues to gain momentum. Maynard-Reid has now added an important contribution to that growing corpus which amounts to a re-reading of the text. The author is aware of the methodological problems of relating sociological theory to detailed exegesis. While the author is attentive to and knowledgeable about such theory, the book consists primarily in four careful, disciplined, tightly reasoned, fully documented exegeses. The case is carefully built to evidence a community summoned to an ethic that had dangerous public, economic implications. It is obvious that a new set of questions permits the text to have a new voice, one we must learn to hear and heed. Walter Brueggemann, Professor Emeritus, Columbia Theological Seminary By holding the biblical text within a clear social focus, the author is able to assess soberly the merits and limitations of previous exegetical treatments of the Epistle of James. By a thoroughgoing practice of grammatical criticism, Maynard-Reid sharply illuminates the class option of this epistle on behalf of suffering Palestinian poor in the period before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. Norman K. Gottwald, Professor of Old Testament, Pacific School of Religion Pedrito U. Maynard-Reid gives us a superb introduction both to the book of James and to the sociological study of the New Testament. He argues convincingly that James comes to us from a situation of oppression and thus is united as a theology of suffering ('heidensteologie') - specifically the suffering of the poor and oppressed. Thomas Hanks, Professor of Old Testament, Seminario Biblico Latinoamericana, San Jose, Costa Rica Maynard-Reid has treated the subject thoroughly. Readers of this book will stop pushing camels through the eye of the needle. Abraham Terian, Professor of Armenian Patristics, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, New Rochelle, New York
Book Synopsis Redemptive Almsgiving in Early Christianity by : Roman Garrison
Download or read book Redemptive Almsgiving in Early Christianity written by Roman Garrison and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2015-01-29 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the light of the New Testament's conviction that Jesus Christ died for sins, and that the Cross is a 'once for all' act that makes the Temple cult unnecessary, this challenging work probes the reasons for the emerging doctrine of redemptive almsgiving in early Christianity. Do the New Testament writers themselves (even Jesus!) implicitly endorse the view that a 'supplementary' or alternative means of atonement is necessary? What is the background of this theme in Graeco-Roman sources and in the Hebrew Bible? What are the principal texts in early Christian literature that advocate almsgiving as a 'ransom' for sin? These questions firmly govern this investigation of the social and theological forces that gave legitimacy to a doctrine that at first appears to contradict the primary New Testament soteriology, namely that the death of Jesus Christ is the exclusive means of redemption from sin.
Book Synopsis Handbook of Early Christianity by : Anthony J. Blasi
Download or read book Handbook of Early Christianity written by Anthony J. Blasi and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2002 with total page 844 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Visit our website for sample chapters!
Book Synopsis Seven Revolutions by : Mike Aquilina
Download or read book Seven Revolutions written by Mike Aquilina and published by Image. This book was released on 2015-02-24 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combining history, politics, and religion, Mike Aquilina and Jim Papandrea provide practical lessons to be learned from the struggles of the Early Church, lessons that can be applied to the day-to-day lives of Christian readers. Prolonged, multiple wars in the Middle East. Waves of immigrants crossing the borders. Ongoing economic recession. Increasing political polarization, often with religious overtones. Conflicts over ideologies that pit the progressive against the traditional. Sound familiar? These conditions not only describe the United States, but the situation of the Roman Empire in the third century. That situation led to religious persecution and the eventual collapse of the empire. In the middle of the third century, the Roman Empire was roughly the same age as the United States is now. In this book, authors Mike Aquilina and Jim Papandrea examine the practices of the Early Church—a body of Christians living in Rome—and show how the lessons learned from these ancient Christians can apply to Christians living in the United States today. The book moves from the Christian individual, to the family, the church and the world, explaining how the situation of the Early Church is not only familiar to modern Christian readers, but that its values are still relevant
Book Synopsis Patronage in Early Christianity by : Alan B. Wheatley
Download or read book Patronage in Early Christianity written by Alan B. Wheatley and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2011-04-14 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did the community we glimpse in the New Testament become an institution quite willing to have the emperor Constantine as a primary public partner? By tracing the use of resources, titles, and functions of leaders and patterns of honor giving, Wheatley traces from a wide variety of sources both acceptance and revision of Roman patronage in this countercultural community. Along the way, it is possible to see dissident groups like the Montanists and Marcionites more clearly and sympathetically, and to ask ourselves some pertinent questions about how a Christian community might function in the twenty-first century.
