Customer Reviews

Jews and Christians in Antioch in the First Four Centuries of the Common Era (Sources for Biblical study)

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The contents of this book are remarkable. But, the following problems should be noted. The print quality and typeface are awful. An interpretive essay of thirty-six pages has one hundred seventy-nine notes, and these are handled as end notes. These notes cover eighteen pages and are many times lengthy and explanatory of the text. In their preface, the authors make the point that "Its (the book's) chief purpose is to provide resources for the study of early Christianity..." That being said, the arrangement of the notes makes those resources extremely difficult to access. Both failings are unforgivable, therefore, a star is duly deducted. Also, the going price of a good to very good used copy of this book is in the thirty to forty dollar range. And, unless you are familiar with the basics regarding Antioch in the first four Centuries CE. I might suggest that you read Glanville Downey's "A History of Antioch in Syria..." which unfortunately may be even more elusive than the book here under consideration. This work was a shared undertaking of Robert Louis Wilken and Wayne A. Meeks, two superb scholars, who were well matched for this project.

The book is comprised of the above mentioned essay and its notes, plus a short section on archaeology bearing on the topic, and an introduction and nine translated letters of Libanius eight of which are directed to a Jewish authority in Tiberias addressed as the patriarch and the ninth to the Roman governor of Palestine on behalf of the Jewish community of Antioch. In addition, included are further translations and introductions one of which is Libanius' "Oration on the Systems of Patronage" and lastly two sermons of John Chrysostom which are the first and last of his series "Homilia Adversus Judaeos." The whole work checks in at a scant one hundred twenty-six pages. The translated documents speak for themselves and support the findings of the essay. The section on archaeology is short because there is little of archaeological significance that has been recovered from pre-fifth century CE Antioch. This is because Antioch was later repeatedly destroyed either by fire, war, or earthquake and now has a modern city of 150,000 or so people built over the ruins. But ultimately, it is the interpretive essay of shared authorship and its attached notes that define the immeasurable value of this work.

Do not look for long explanations as this is dense, fast moving narrative history covering an extended period of time. From the pre-Pauline era to near the close of the fourth century CE, this book traces and explains the histories of the Jewish and Christian communities and their interactions with the gentile world and the Roman Empire. In the process, we gain valuable information regarding the evolution of the Roman Empire especially after the mid-third century CE. The sources cited appear complete as of the date of this book's publication in 1978. Expect to spend extended time with the end notes to fully realize the value of the essay. No bibliography is included. Furthermore, the conclusions arrived at are extremely insightful and as fresh today as when they were first posited. That a whole lot more could be drawn out from a longer treatment of the materials considered goes without saying. But that was not the project undertaken. It is a research resource with a remarkable text full of insights that would help inform such further work. Unfortunately, with the exception of John P. Meier's inspired consideration of Antiochene Christianity through the early second century CE, two books from Isabella Sandwell, and Wilken's book on John Chrysostom very little subsequent work in this area has followed. This should be considered mandatory reading for those seriously interested in post second Temple Judaism, Christian origins, and the early history of Christianity.