Formation and Struggles: The Church AD 33–450, Part 1: The Birth of the Church AD 33–200
Overview
This study of the formation of the church begins with the earliest Christian community in Jerusalem, led by Jesus’ disciples, and ends with the expansion of Christianity into various regions of the Roman Empire. Tracing the growing pains of the church from its birth through its separation from Judaism, to its struggle against Gnostic and pagan influences, the author demonstrates how early Christians deepened their loyalty to the apostolic tradition by wrestling with internal and external challenges. The author appeals to the general reader as well as the scholar by addressing perennially popular questions: Did Jesus marry? Who was responsible for the crucifixion? What is the relationship between philosophy and theology? And how were the Scriptures compiled? The volume concludes with teachings of the church father Irenaeus of Lyons, who presents an image of a church shaped by ministry, canon, creed, and openness to the world—a church that, by method and model, offers a solid base for growth in the following centuries.
Top Highlights
“The first, the subject of our study, covers about five years, from the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ (ad 30) up to the call and conversion of Paul (ca. ad 35). The second ends with the destruction of the temple (ad 70), and the third takes up the events following the First Jewish-Roman War to the end of the century.” (Page 27)
“languages of Palestine, Greek, and Aramaic, as well as Latin, were the languages of conquerors. Aramaic” (Page 30)
“The earliest extant list of New Testament books comes to us around the end of the second century, probably originating in Rome. It is named ‘The Muratorian Canon,’ after the scholar L. A. Muratory, who discovered it in the eighteenth century. The Canon includes thirteen letters ascribed to Paul, without the Letter to the Hebrews. The Letter of James, 1 and 2 Peter, and 3 John did not make the list, which consisted of twenty-two books.” (Page 187)
“In ‘inaugurated eschatology,’ neither the present nor the future kingdom can be separated from the life and person of Jesus and his future coming.” (Pages 12–13)
“from those who did not deliver what they received from the apostles but substituted their own speculations” (Page 2)
- Title: Formation and Struggles: The Church AD 33–450, Part 1: The Birth of the Church AD 33–200
- Author: Veselin Kesich
- Series: The Church in History
- Volume: I
- Publisher: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press
- Print Publication Date: 2007
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Church history › Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600
- ISBNs: 9780881413199, 0881413194
- Resource ID: LLS:FRMTNSTRGGLS01
- Resource Type: text.monograph.church-history
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:45:09Z