The patient ferment of the early church : the improbable rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire / Alan Kreider.

By: Material type: TextPublisher: Grand Rapids, MI : Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2016Copyright date: 2016Description: xiii, 321 pages ; 23 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780801048494
  • 0801048494
Subject(s): LOC classification:
  • BR 162.3 .K74 2016
Contents:
Growth and patience. The improbable growth of the church -- The good of patience -- Push and pull -- Ferment. Christians as agents of growth -- Communities as cultures of patience -- Forming the habitus. Catechesis and baptism -- Worship -- "Wise doves" in the Didascalia apostolorum -- The transformation of patience. The impatience of Constantine -- Augustine and the just impatience.
Summary: How and why did the early church grow in the first four hundred years despite disincentives, harassment, and occasional persecution? In this unique historical study, veteran scholar Alan Kreider delivers the fruit of a lifetime of study as he tells the amazing story of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Challenging traditional understandings, Kreider contends the church grew because the virtue of patience was of central importance in the life and witness of the early Christians. They wrote about patience, not evangelism, and reflected on prayer, catechesis, and worship, yet the church grew -- not by specific strategies but by patient ferment.
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Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-313) and index.

Growth and patience. The improbable growth of the church -- The good of patience -- Push and pull -- Ferment. Christians as agents of growth -- Communities as cultures of patience -- Forming the habitus. Catechesis and baptism -- Worship -- "Wise doves" in the Didascalia apostolorum -- The transformation of patience. The impatience of Constantine -- Augustine and the just impatience.

How and why did the early church grow in the first four hundred years despite disincentives, harassment, and occasional persecution? In this unique historical study, veteran scholar Alan Kreider delivers the fruit of a lifetime of study as he tells the amazing story of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Challenging traditional understandings, Kreider contends the church grew because the virtue of patience was of central importance in the life and witness of the early Christians. They wrote about patience, not evangelism, and reflected on prayer, catechesis, and worship, yet the church grew -- not by specific strategies but by patient ferment.

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