Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity Explorations in the Second Christian Century

The second century is the seedbed of the diverse patterns of life, experience and belief that would make up early Christianity. These essays explore the writings, arguments, and individuals who sowed those seeds, an the debates they continue to inspire. As allegiance to Jesus Christ spread across the Roman Empire in the second century, writings, practices, and ideas erupted in a creative maelstrom. Many of the patterns of practice and belief that later become normative emerged, in the midst of debate and argument with neighbours who shared or who rejected that allegiance. Authoritative texts, principles of argument, attitudes to received authority, the demands of allegiance in the face of opposition, identifying who belonged and who did not, all demanded attention. These essays explore those divergent voices, and the no-less diverse and lively debates they have inspired in recent scholarship.