Antioch and Rome: New Testament cradles of Catholic Christianity [Paperback]

Raymond Edward Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1983

Two major New Testament scholars use the tools of modern biblical interpretation to reconstruct the history of two of the most important Christian centers of the first-century church.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 242 pages
• Publisher: Paulist Press (1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809103397
• ISBN-13: 978-0809103393
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,873,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Raymond E. Brown, S.S., taught for many years at Saint Mary's Seminary in Baltimore and was Professor of Biblical Studies at the Union Theological Seminary for two decades. He was the author of three books in the Anchor Bible series on the Gospels and Epistles of John and wrote the classic Anchor Bible Reference Library volumes The Birth of the Messiah, The Death of the Messiah, and An Introduction to the New Testament. He died in 1998.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why on earth is this book not back in print?, May 22, 2007

By 

otro lector mas (Caimito, Puerto Rico, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity (Paperback)

This is one of the most enjoyable histories of the earliest Church which you will come across: informative, lucid, concise, authoritative, and impartial. One would expect no less from a collaboration between two such towering Biblical scholars.

The authors trace the development of Christianity in each of the title cities thru three generations. In the first generation the only common sources to both cities are Paul and Acts. For the second generation all possible information is gleaned from Matthew's Gospel about Antiochene Christianity and from I Peter and Hebrews about Roman Christianity. Finally, I Clement is scrutinized regarding Roman Christianty and likewise Ignatius and the Didache regarding Antioch in the third generation.

I found particularly revealing their assessment of the close connection between Jerusalem and Roman Jews. As a result, Roman Judaism was much more conservative than that found elsewhere in the Diaspora, and if Paul wanted to be accepted in Rome he had to tone down his earlier rhetoric. Thus his letter to the Romans. This is a formidable rebuttal to those who claim that the destruction of Jerusalem and the preeminence of Rome resulted in Christianity drifting towards paganism and away from Judaism.

I am shocked that I'm the first to write an Amazon review for this gem which has been out almost a quarter of a century. I find it even more shocking that this book is now out of print. This is a work that should be edifying students of Christianity for generations.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Important Point of View, March 17, 2009

By 

David E. Blair (Columbia, PA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity (Paperback)

I can not but agree with and amplify the comments of the previous reviewer regarding this book. It is now twenty odd years since this book was first published, and it went out of print after only one edition. Yet, this work represents a major interpretation of early Church development that is as fresh today as when it was proposed. Dealing with the Christian communities in Antioch and Rome in the first three generation after Jesus, Brown proposes in the book's introduction four different positions in the early Church on the matter of the observance of Jewish law and its application to gentile believers. The most conservative position advocated strict law observance including circumcision. One must become an adherent of Judaism to enter the Church. A conservative position advocated by James, the relative of Jesus, that required gentile converts to observe some Jewish law and practice but not circumcision. It is probably fair to say that this was the position of the Jerusalem apostles. A moderate position advocated by Paul especially in his later epistle to the Romans, and finally, a more radical law free mission advocated by the Hellenists as seen in Stephan's speech and the epistle to the Hebrews. Reading this, one can not but immediately notice that the interpretation of the relationship between Paul and the early Church at Jerusalem as uniformly hostile is absent. Meier and Brown propose a nuanced and evolutionary relationship between Paul and his adherents and the Jerusalem center.

Furthermore, these four identifications are not fixed positions but points on a continuum with fluidity in the middle and greater rigidity at the extremes. And, in the center of all this was the apostle Peter. Not present here is the all too common contemporary fixation with a Jamesian party including Peter locked in a death struggle for the soul of the early Church with a radical Pauline faction. Ultimately, for Meier and Brown, it is not a triumphant Paulinism that defines the early Church. For these scholars, the early Church is defined by a subtle and complex interaction between the two central positions in this dialogue. The early Church in the diaspora is seen as largely populated by Jewish Christian converts. Therefore, the paramount issue in the self identification of the early Church is how Jewish will it be. While conforming nicely to the available evidence, this is a minority opinion in the overheated scholarly discussion of Christian origins in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. The authors' evidence is adduced from the New Testament and the early Church fathers. Meir and Brown well cover the interaction of the Churches at Antioch and Rome with the Jerusalem center during the first Christian generation. A preliminary point of importance stressed by the authors is that there were significant Jewish Christian communities outside of Roman Palestine prior to Paul's mission work. Meier's work covering Antiochene Church development occupies the first ninety odd pages of the book with the remaining two thirds devoted to Brown's presentation of the early Roman Church.

Hellenistic Jewish Christians left Jerusalem after Stephan's stoning and represent the first known wave of concerted Christian mission work in the wider Roman Empire. The authors agree that Paul's gospel was approved of by the Jerusalem apostles. Paul did not teach a different gospel. His emphasis was different. And, as Meier points out, Paul lost at Antioch in the uproar over table fellowship. Paul was abandoned by those he was working with, and he set off on his own mission to evangelize Asia Minor. Meier is dubious regarding Paul's declaration of being the "apostle to the gentiles" while Peter is the "apostle to the circumcision." This is seen as the self aggrandizing rhetorical excess of a very upset and angry Paul. Also, he makes a case for disassociating the "Apostolic Decree" regarding Noahide observances by gentile converts from the meeting at Jerusalem in which Paul's gospel was sanctioned. Meier astutely points out that there would have been no cause for the Antioch dispute if the Noahide restrictions were already promulgated and in force. Brown opts for a relatively conservative Jewish Christian Church at Rome with strong foundational ties to Jerusalem. The forty-nine CE expulsion of the Jews from Rome is presented as a likely result of strife between Jews and Jewish Christians in the Roman synagogues. Paul's ministry and doctrine are seen as far more flexible over time than is often portrayed. And, ultimately, Paul is seen as assuming a much more conservative stance in his epistle to the Romans in an attempt to be acceptable to that Church and the Jerusalem center.

And, there is much, much more of interest here than I have been able to cover. While this book is accessible to most readers with a good background knowledge of Christian origins, it should be noted that this is a dense academic work which is heavily footnoted. To get the most out of this book, these notes need to be consulted and digested while reading the text because they contain much additional information germane to the discussion. This tends to break up the flow of the narrative and causes the reader to jump back and forth across the notes and text to glean the most from this study. Are there any weaknesses? Yes, Brown's extensive treatment of the letter to the Hebrews can be questioned. However, that is notoriously difficult territory. And, as Brown and Meier have noted, they are open to accusations of bias in favor of Roman Catholic orthodoxy. This then makes the choice of the words "Catholic Christianity" in the book's title unfortunate. However, a fair minded reader will define this as universal Christianity. Many would deny that any such emerging Church universal existed or that it was in the process of asserting itself. But, to do so effectively, one must take issue with the authors of this book and its conclusions, and their positions are well argued and meticulously documented. Support for their interpretations here can be found in the work of F. F. Bruce and James D. G. Dunn who can hardly be accused of being Roman Catholic apologists. All in all, this is a challenging book that deserves careful attention. Its conclusions demand to be fully engaged in any consideration of the development of the early Church.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Antioc and Rome, March 29, 2009

By 

Marna Swim (Saginaw, MI) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antioch and Rome: New Testament Cradles of Catholic Christianity (Paperback)

My pastor recommended this, 'cause we are studying St. Paul. I'm 74,

and I've never felt so informed about 1st Century Christianity, as I am with this read. The information makes reading the Bible more inviting and important.