Early Christian Mission, Volumes 1 & 2

by Eckhard J. Schnabel

Publishers:

IVP; Apollos

, 2004

How is it that a first-generation Jewish messianic movement undertook a mission to the pagan world and rapidly achieved a momentum that would have a lasting and significant impact on world history?

This momentous question has surprisingly eluded the concentrated focus of historians and New Testament scholars. Perhaps it’s because the story of early Christian mission encompasses so much of the history of early Christianity. And to tell that history is to traverse a broad spectrum of issues in contemporary New Testament studies, all of which have been investigated in specialized depth, though frequently unconnected to a unified picture. On the other hand, as Eckhard Schnabel comments, those who’ve attempted to paint “the portrait of early Christian missions” have “often painted with brush strokes too broad.” As a result, an “undifferentiated picture of early Christian mission” is widely held.

In this monumental study, Schnabel gives us both a unified and detailed picture of the rise and growth of early Christian mission. He begins with a search for a missionary impulse in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism. He then weighs the evidence for a mission of Jesus to Gentiles. But the center of focus is the apostolic missionary activity as it is related in Acts, Paul’s letters, and the rest of the New Testament.

Here’s a study that seeks to describe all the evidence relevant to the missionary strategy and tactics of the early church, to explain the theological dimensions of the early Christian mission, and to integrate the numerous studies published in the last decades into a synthetic overall picture. Schnabel’s detailed and immensely informed analysis will reward careful reading and reflection, and form a solid basis for a new understanding of the rise of Christianity and the nature of Christian mission—both then and now.

Key Features

• Examines the first century of missionary expansion—from Jesus to the last of the apostles
• Offers a vast and detailed panorama of the missionary impulse and activity of the early church
• Examines the history and archaeology of important sites

Contents

Top Highlights

“If Meir Bar-Ilan is correct,¹²² only about 2 to 15 percent of the population (women included) in cities such as Tiberias could read and write, in other towns only 1 percent, and in some villages complete illiteracy was the case.” (Page 202)

“Since the Spirit of God has been poured out, as promised by Joel, the last days have begun and the new covenant has been inaugurated. This is the reason why even Jews need to be ‘saved’ and thus are called to repentance.” (Page 404)

“Views that fail to take into account the historical and social conditions of life in the first century are potentially problematic. For example, the view that the early Christians recognized the significance of ‘small groups’ or of ‘house churches’ fails to recognize the fact that outside of local synagogues Christians had no other option but to meet in private homes whose largest rooms could accommodate about forty people.” (Page xxiii)

“In a.d. 111/112 Pliny the Younger, the governor of the province of Bithynia-Pontus, complained in a letter to Emperor Trajan about the aggressive expansion of the ‘wretched’ cult (superstitionem pravam, immodicam), initiated by the crucifixion of Jesus, a superstition that now reached a ‘great number of persons of every age and class,’ both men and women, and infected ‘not only the towns, but villages and rural districts too’ (Pliny, Ep. 10.96.8–10). Thus four emperors became aware of the Christians and of their faith before the end of the apostolic period (taking negative action against them): Claudius, Nero, Domitian and Trajan.” (Page 4)

Endorsements

Comparatively few biblical studies of mission exist. Those that do were written primarily by missiologists. Most New Testament scholars, even a number of fairly conservative ones, doubt that Second Temple Judaism or even Jesus himself significantly foreshadowed the missionary zeal of the early church beyond Jewish circles. What would a comprehensive study of the relevant New Testament data yield, especially if prefaced by a survey of Old Testament and intertestamental developments, and undertaken by someone who has mastered the secondary New Testament literature in all three major European languages? The result is a magnum opus, for both Schnabel and the discipline, that should be the defining work on this topic for years to come.

—Craig L. Blomberg,distinguished professor of New Testament, Denver Seminary

The sheer size of this book demonstrates not only the fantastically wide knowledge of its author but also and above all the way in which the activity of mission permeates the New Testament story. There is nothing else available that can compare with this major treatment which discusses every aspect of the subject in the light of constant, critical interaction with current scholarship and yet manages to remain beautifully clear and immensely readable. This book is, quite simply, indispensable for the New Testament student.

—I. Howard Marshall, Emeritus Professor of New Testament Exegesis, University of Aberdeen

This thorough, carefully researched and splendidly thought-out book constitutes a groundbreaking and encyclopedic work on the early Christian mission that other scholars, including myself, will be using for decades to come.

—Craig Keener, is professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary

As strange as it may seem, since the time of Adolf von Harnack at the turn of the twentieth century there has never been an attempt at a comprehensive critical account of the earliest period of Christian missions. Now in his massive and magisterial two-volume work that ignores neither history nor theology, Eckhard Schnabel has sought to remedy this gap in scholarly research. I predict that scholars will be interacting with this work for decades to come because of its thoroughness, meticulous attention to detail, and integration of knowledge from fields as wide-ranging as archaeology, classics, Roman and Jewish history, linguistics, sociology and of course biblical studies. This is a book every serious student of early Christianity must have on his shelf. There is nothing else quite like it.

—Ben Witherington III, Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary

Professor Eckhard Schnabel’s Early Christian Mission is a masterpiece that stands in the tradition of Harnack and Lietzmann. Schnabel first judiciously traces the origins of early Christian mission and then skillfully identifies the diverse expressions of mission in the early Christian movement, from Jesus to Paul and beyond. In doing this he creates the historical, social and religious context in which the writings of the New Testament and related literature can be meaningfully read and appreciated and in the light of which the origins of Christianity can be understood with much greater precision. Professor Schnabel has placed us all in his debt.

—Craig A. Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament Acadia Divinity College

Product Details

• Title: Early Christian Mission, Volumes 1 & 2
• Author: Eckhard J. Schnabel
• Publishers: IVP, Apollos
• Print Publication Date: 2004
• Logos Release Date: 2013
• Pages: 1972
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Missions › History--Early church, ca. 30-600
• ISBNs: 9780830898022, 0830898026
• Resource ID: LLS:ECMSCHNABEL
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T23:36:06Z

About Eckhard J. Schnabel

Eckhard J. Schnabel received his PhD from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and is the Mary French Rockefeller Distinguished Professor of New Testament Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous books, commentaries, and essays, including Early Christian Mission, Paul the Missionary, and Der Erste Brief an Die Korinther in the Historisch-Theologische Auslegung commentary series. He also spoke at Pastorum Live 2012.