Vigiliae Christianae, Supplements The Impact of Scripture in Early Christianity

Including 14 contributions, this volume examines the reliance upon a collection of authoritative texts in early Christianity. Scripture, ultimately authored by God himself, became an object of careful attention not only in scholarly study but in all aspects of early Christian life. One of the most conspicuous innovations of early Christianity within Greco-Roman culture is its reliance upon a collection of authoritative texts. The ultimate author of Scripture was thought to be God Himself, whose will could and should be sought and found in these holy writings. For this reason it is not surprising that very soon these texts not only became the object of careful attention and scholarly study, but also put their stamp on the various forms and manifestations of early Christian life, such as martyrdom, asceticism, liturgy, art, and literature. This multifarious influence of Scripture is the subject of The Impact of Scripture in Early Christianity. It contains fourteen contributions, predominantly in English, by Belgian and Dutch scholars which have been gathered in a thematically ordered collection.