Early Christianity

by Roland H. Bainton

Written by an eminent church historian, this Anvil tells the stirring story of Christianity during its first five centuries. The struggle with the Roman Empire and with rival religions, the attitude of the Church toward ethical and social questions, and the reasons for the triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire are clearly outlined in an absorbing narrative and brief selections from crucial documents. The author carries the history forward through periods of triumph and bitter controversy up to Justinian's reign in the east and Augustine's era in the west.

Genres: History, Church History, Religion

187 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Roland Herbert Bainton, Ph.D. (Yale University; A.B., Whitman College), served forty-two years as Titus Street Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Yale Divinity School. A specialist in Reformation history, he continued writing well into his twenty years of retirement. His most popular book, Here I Stand, sold more than a million copies.

Ordained as a Congregationist minister, he never served as the pastor of a congregation.

Reviews

[John E]

A quick introduction to early Christianity. It is a combination of text (75 pages) and snippets from 44 ancient documents (91 pages). The structure makes it harder to read if you want to read it all since you have to jump back and forth between the two sections. Ends with the Justinian code where the persecutions inflicted on the early Christians were now applied to their opponents.

[Kenneth]

A book in two parts: (1) a survey of the early centuries of the Church up to the age of Justinian in the 6th century; and (2) a selection of quotes from various documents illustrating the events and viewpoints of the times. Excellent little book for a church history survey course (which I did take in college).

[Joshua Duffy]

fantastic overview on the first 500 years or so of Xianity. I literally couldn't put this one down. On my all-time fav list.

[Sean McGowan]

Very good and concise.

[Michael]

Very concise with primary sources included. Wonderful little book.