Christianity in the Second Century
Themes and Developments

Christianity in the Second Century seeks to show how study on this period of Christian development has undergone substantial change.

James Carleton Paget (Edited by), Judith Lieu (Edited by)

9781316616949, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 November 2018

366 pages
23 x 15.3 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

Christianity in the Second Century shows how academic study on this critical period of Christian development has undergone substantial change over the last thirty years. The second century is often considered to be a time during which the Christian church moved relentlessly towards forms of institutionalisation and consolidated itself against so-called heretics. However, new perspectives have been brought within recent scholarship as the period has attracted interest from a variety of disciplines, including not only early Christian studies but also ancient Judaism and the wider world of the early imperial scholarship. This book seeks to reflect this changed scholarly landscape, and with contributions from key figures in these recent re-evaluations, it aims to enrich and stimulate further discussion.

Introduction Judith Lieu and James Carleton Paget
Part I. Contexts: 1. Empires, diasporas and the emergence of religions Greg Woolf
2. The Mediterranean Jewish diaspora in the second century Tessa Rajak
3. The Rabbis and their rivals in the second century CE Philip Alexander
4. Church and synagogue vis-à-vis Roman rule in the second century William Horbury
Part II. Discerning Continuity and Discontinuity in Early Christianity: 5. The second century from the perspective of the New Testament James Carleton Paget
6. Continuity and change in second century Christianity: a narrative against the trend Lewis Ayres
7. 'The Gnostic myth': how does its demise impact twenty-first century historiography of Christianity's second century? Karen King
8. The Gnostic myth Mark Edwards
9. Modelling second century Christian theology: Christian theology as philosophia Winrich Löhr
Part III. Interpreting Texts and Engaging in Practice: 10. Galen and the Christians: texts, authority, and orthodoxy in the second century AD Rebecca Flemming
11. 'Authoritative texts' and how to handle them: some reflections on an ambiguous concept and its use in second-century Christian literature Joseph Verheyden
12. Belief and practice in Graeco-Roman religiosity: Plutarch, De Iside and Osiride 379c Teresa Morgan
13. Dice oracles and fate: on early Christianity among others in the second century Laura Nasrallah
Part IV. Modelling Identities: 14. Christians as 'third race': is ethnicity at issue? Erich Gruen
15. Ethnic discourse in early Christianity Oskar Skarasuane
16. Pagan attitudes John North
17. Away with the atheists! Tim Whitmarsh
18. Modelling the second century as the age of the laboratory Judith Lieu.

Subject Areas: Church history [HRCC2], The Early Church [HRCC1], Christian Churches & denominations [HRCC], Christianity [HRC], Religion & beliefs [HR], Humanities [H]