Autumn 2009 Catalogue 4 pdfing:1 - Yale University Press

History 9This stimulating history ofearly Christianity revisits theextraordinary birth of a worldreligion and gives a new slanton a familiar storyCharles Freeman, a specialist on theancient world and its legacy, is theauthor of numerous books includingThe Closing of the Western Mind andEgypt, Greece and Rome.September400 pp. 234x156mm. 26 b/w illus.ISBN 978-0-300-12581-8 £25.00*A New History of Early ChristianityCharles FreemanThe relevance of Christianity is as hotly contested today as it has everbeen. A New History of Early Christianity shows how our currentdebates are rooted in the many controversies surrounding the birth ofthe religion and the earliest attempts to resolve them. Charles Freeman’smeticulous historical account of Christianity from its birth in Judaea inthe first century A.D. to the emergence of Western and Easternchurches by A.D. 600 reveals that it was a distinctive, vibrant, andincredibly diverse movement brought into order at the cost ofintellectual and spiritual vitality. Against the conventional narrative ofthe inevitable ‘triumph’ of a single distinct Christianity, Freeman showsthat there was a host of competing Christianities, many of which had asmuch claim to authenticity as those that eventually dominated.Tracing the astonishing transformation that the early Christian churchunderwent—from sporadic niches of Christian communities survivingin the wake of a horrific crucifixion to sanctioned alliance with thestate—Charles Freeman shows how freedom of thought was curtailedby the development of the concept of faith. The imposition of ‘correctbelief’ and an institutional framework that enforced orthodoxy wereboth consolidating and stifling. Uncovering the church’s relationshipswith Judaism, Gnosticism, Greek philosophy and Greco-Romansociety, Freeman offers dramatic new accounts of Paul, the resurrection,and the church fathers and emperors.“A masterful book, and a pleasure to read.”—Ward Blanton,University of GlasgowTranslation rights: A.M. Heath & Co, London