Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction: on studying the early church / Rowan Williams -- Jewish-Christian relations: a painful split / Markus Vinzent -- Graeco-Roman culture and Christians: good neighbours? / Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski -- What was the role of women in the churches? / Ilaria L.E. Ramelli -- To what extent were children and slaves welcomed in the early church? / Ville Vuolanto -- Disability in the early church / Monica Tobon -- Eschatology in the early Christian thought-world / John A. McGuckin -- Christianity and Christianities / Mark Edwards -- The church's unity around the bishop: Ignatius of Antioch and Irenaeus of Lyons / Allen Brent -- Unity around a teacher: Clement and Origen of Alexandria / Ilaria L.E. Ramelli -- Diversity around a prophet: the case of Montanism / William Tabbernee -- Unity around a martyr: Perpetua and Felicity / Sarah Parkhouse -- Community and liturgy: emerging of the Trinitarian formula baptism / Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski -- The community's commemoration of Jesus in the Eucharist / John A. McGuckin -- Prayer and poetry in the early Christian community / Paul F. Bradshaw -- The Christian community and its structure: deacons, priests and bishops / Paul van Geest and Bart J. Koet -- Dismissal from the clerical state and its consequences in the early church / Henryk Pietras -- Graeco-Roman and Christian art in late antiquity / Ja�� Elsner -- The community's hope: soteriology in the early church / Robert J. Daly, SJ -- From the community of martyrs to the church of the empire / Giulio Maspero -- Doctrine: why were Christians obsessed with dogmas? / Ilaria L.E. Ramelli -- Councils: the path towards an agreement in faith / Henryk Pietras -- 'Light from light': the metaphysics of light of the early church / Isidoros Charalampos Katsos -- The origins of monasticism / Tim Vivian -- Persecution of heretics / Marcin Wysocki -- The Western church and its thought-world (major Latin Fathers) / John A. McGuckin -- The Eastern church and its thought-world (major Greek Fathers) / John A. McGuckin -- The Coptic church: faithful to its roots / Mark Sheridan -- The Syriac Orthodox Church / Saliba Er -- Does Jersualem still need Athens? / Gy��rgy Ger��by -- Is the canon of the scriptures closed?: recent interest in the Nag Hammadi Codices / Paula Tutty -- The early church's developing theology of (new) creation / Paul M. Blowers -- Suffering of Christ: suffering of people / Stefano Salemi -- The Church: one , holy, catholic, apostolic / Nicholas Sagovsky

"T&T Clark Handbook of the Early Church discusses the key documents, authors, themes and Early Christian traditions. The essays trace the vital trajectories of emerging distinctive Christian identity in the Graeco-Roman world and diversities of theologies. Special attention is given to the coherent growth of Christian faith in connection with worship, alongside the crucial transformation of Christian life and doctrine under the Christian Emperor. The contributing essays offer a chronological development of the Early Church, as well as they examine the interaction between Christian worship and faith. In addition, readers interested in systematic theology are offered chapters on the roots of some significant theological notions in Christian Antiquity, also with reference to ancient philosophy. The chapters address issues such as: the relationship between faith and reason, interreligious dialogue, creation and ecology, suffering of people in relation to Christ's suffering and feminist views on the Holy Trinity. The book finishes with appendices and indexes giving information on biblical references, updated publications, electronic resources and classified bibliographies"-- Provided by publisher