Customer Reviews

Christianity in Late Antiquity, 300-450 C.E.: A Reader

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This book is basically piles of documents from when Christianity was still competing with the polytheistic religions of the late Roman Empire. The authors preface each document with a bit of history and explanation. The documents themselves are highly illuminating regarding the thinking of the early Christians, the creation and purpose of monasticism, the creation of a governing structure for Christians, and debates between competing views of the nature of Christ, Mary the mother of Jesus, etc.

I found the documents amazing and sometimes very dense. They are amazing in that we as modern people tend to think of ourselves as more complicated than people before. One reading of anything by John Chrysostom or Athanasius put me in my place. Oddly, I was left with the feeling that the authors really just compiled a bunch of documents that anyone could gather with intensive internet searches and that the actually authorship was minimal. This doesn't negate the fact that this is an excellent book to read to understand history or faith better.

I haven't read the book, and the table of contents look very interesting, but the date in common era for a book about Christianity bothers me. Why would the publisher or author use an innovative secular dating system for a book on Christian antiquity? It seems like a contradiction, and it is sure to repel Christians, the main gruop of people who will read this book.