For studying early Christianity in its historical context, standard editions of the New Testament fail to provide the best resources. They present the earliest Christian writings out of chronological order and omit writings similar in age and historical importance to the books of the New Testament. In this book, these texts are arranged in a more historically meaningful order. The books of the New Testament are presented in the NRSV, the most widely accepted version in university classrooms today. Also included are translations of the Gospel of Thomas, the Didache, the Letter of Barnabas, 1 Clement, and the letters of Ignatius.
Each work’s introduction discusses the date and place of composition, authorship, audience, basic themes, literary features, the Jewish and Hellenistic contexts, and suggestions for further readings in the secondary literature. Generous notes illuminate specific historical, lexical, and interpretive issues and broader issues affecting the treatment of these texts are introduced in seven lead articles. Each section opens with discussions of pseudonomous authorship, church tradition, synoptic sources, epistles as documents, conflicting doctrines, and originating events. This approach allows for an objective, informed entrée into the complex world of the earliest Christian literature. Informative appendixes, maps, and charts make this an ideal text for the university or college classroom.
Introductions and notes in the Early Christian Reader were written and edited by Steve Mason and Tom Robinson with contributions from Michael W. Holmes, Robert A. Kraft and Jay C. Treat, and Stephen J. Patterson.
Steve Mason is Professor (Humanities & Ancient History) and Canada Research Chair in Cultural Identity and Interaction in the Graeco-Roman World, Vanier College, York University, Ontario. He is the author of Flavius Josephus on the Pharisees: A Composition-critical Study, and general editor of Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary.
Tom Robinson is coordinator of the Religious Studies Programme and teaches in the History Department of the University of Lethbridge in Alberta. He is author of The Early Church: An Annotated Bibliography of Literature in English and Mastering Greek Vocabulary.
