Second-Century Christianity
A Sourcebook
Published on 14. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
277 pages
978-1-4813-1415-2 (ISBN)
Description
The second century of the Common Era was a time of significant transition, innovation, and upheaval for the Greco-Roman world. In the midst of great societal changes the relatively new religious movement of Christianity began to find its footing as a coherent body-though undeniably marked by incredible diversity of thought, expression, and practice-as it moved beyond its Judaic roots and took on a more Hellenistic tenor, albeit unevenly. This formative era for the church has unfortunately received little attention from a comprehensive scholarly perspective; research is sporadic, fragmented, and often focused on the major texts of the early apologists, hardly representative of the full swath of the various forms of Christianity around the Mediterranean.
Second-Century Christianity aims to fill that gap and provide a wide-ranging guide to the key features of the early church in the context of the Roman Empire at its height. Leading international scholars bring to light material evidence, neglected sources, apologists and theologians, heretical groups, apocryphal writings, persecution and martyrdom traditions, formation of the biblical canon, and ecclesiastical growth. Taken together, these essays present a rich and dynamic portrait of Christianity in this pivotal time period, one that takes seriously the variegated contours of the developing faith. Second-Century Christianity will prove an authoritative resource for researchers as well as teachers of Christian history and historical theology.
Second-Century Christianity aims to fill that gap and provide a wide-ranging guide to the key features of the early church in the context of the Roman Empire at its height. Leading international scholars bring to light material evidence, neglected sources, apologists and theologians, heretical groups, apocryphal writings, persecution and martyrdom traditions, formation of the biblical canon, and ecclesiastical growth. Taken together, these essays present a rich and dynamic portrait of Christianity in this pivotal time period, one that takes seriously the variegated contours of the developing faith. Second-Century Christianity will prove an authoritative resource for researchers as well as teachers of Christian history and historical theology.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Waco
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 152 mm
Width: 230 mm
Thickness: 47 mm
Weight
1062 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4813-1415-2 (9781481314152)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Michael F. Bird is Deputy Principal and Lecturer in Theology at Ridley College.
Scott Harrower is Lecturer in Christian Thought at Ridley College.
Scott Harrower is Lecturer in Christian Thought at Ridley College.
Content
1 The Christian Second Century: Energetic Innovations and Legacies
Scott Harrower
2 An Introduction to the Second Century: Reading God, Reading Books, and Reading Each Other
D. Jeffrey Bingham
3 Second-Century Christian Women
Edwina Murphy
4 Gallic, Greek, Asian, and Unknown Texts
Kirsten H. Mackerras and Jonathon Lookadoo
5 Apologists, Heresiologists, and First Theologians (Preliminary Issues, the City of Rome)
Scott Harrower
6 Apologists, Heresiologists, and First Theologians (Antioch, Smyrna, Alexandria)
Scott Harrower
7 Emerging Diversity: "Other" Christianities
David A. Evans and Paul McKechnie
8 Jewish Responses and Pagan References to Christianity
Warren Campbell and David Lincicum
9 The Second Century According to Eusebius in the Fourth Century
Michael J. Svigel
10 How Much of the New Testament Should Be Dated to the Second Century?
Michael F. Bird
11 Early Christian Letters
Janelle Peters
12 Nag Hammadi Codices as a Window into Second-Century Christianity
Christine Jacobi
13 Jesus Books, Gospel Fragments, and Gospel Harmonies
Markus Bockmuehl and Jacob A. Rodriguez
14 Apocalypses in the Second Century
Joerg Frey
15 Early Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
Tobias Nicklas
16 Martyrologies and Second-Century Christianity
Lynn H. Cohick and Samuel S. Cho
17 Didactic and Pastoral Writings
Jonathon Lookadoo
18 The Significance and Authority of Apostolic Texts as Scripture in the Second Century
Eckhard J. Schnabel
19 Christian Papyri and Literary Culture
Paul Foster
20 New Testament Manuscripts Possibly from the Second Century
Michael J. Kruger
21 Lost (and Found) Second-Century Christian Writings
Stephen C. Carlson
22 The Rule of Faith and Emerging Symbolum Apostolorum: Origin, Function, Structure
Tomas Bokedal
23 Sources of Second-Century Worship
Daniel Cardo and Elizabeth Klein
Scott Harrower
2 An Introduction to the Second Century: Reading God, Reading Books, and Reading Each Other
D. Jeffrey Bingham
3 Second-Century Christian Women
Edwina Murphy
4 Gallic, Greek, Asian, and Unknown Texts
Kirsten H. Mackerras and Jonathon Lookadoo
5 Apologists, Heresiologists, and First Theologians (Preliminary Issues, the City of Rome)
Scott Harrower
6 Apologists, Heresiologists, and First Theologians (Antioch, Smyrna, Alexandria)
Scott Harrower
7 Emerging Diversity: "Other" Christianities
David A. Evans and Paul McKechnie
8 Jewish Responses and Pagan References to Christianity
Warren Campbell and David Lincicum
9 The Second Century According to Eusebius in the Fourth Century
Michael J. Svigel
10 How Much of the New Testament Should Be Dated to the Second Century?
Michael F. Bird
11 Early Christian Letters
Janelle Peters
12 Nag Hammadi Codices as a Window into Second-Century Christianity
Christine Jacobi
13 Jesus Books, Gospel Fragments, and Gospel Harmonies
Markus Bockmuehl and Jacob A. Rodriguez
14 Apocalypses in the Second Century
Joerg Frey
15 Early Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
Tobias Nicklas
16 Martyrologies and Second-Century Christianity
Lynn H. Cohick and Samuel S. Cho
17 Didactic and Pastoral Writings
Jonathon Lookadoo
18 The Significance and Authority of Apostolic Texts as Scripture in the Second Century
Eckhard J. Schnabel
19 Christian Papyri and Literary Culture
Paul Foster
20 New Testament Manuscripts Possibly from the Second Century
Michael J. Kruger
21 Lost (and Found) Second-Century Christian Writings
Stephen C. Carlson
22 The Rule of Faith and Emerging Symbolum Apostolorum: Origin, Function, Structure
Tomas Bokedal
23 Sources of Second-Century Worship
Daniel Cardo and Elizabeth Klein