Texts and Resources
Early Christianity and World
Cultures:
Texts and Resources
Unit 1: Kerygma and
Culture
Introduction: What is Culture?
Bardaisan: extract from the Book of
the Laws of Diverse Countries
(begin at # 730)
Explore a page dedicated to the Christian Topography of Cosmas Indicopleustes
The Ancient Mediterranean Context
For a chronology of Roman emperors, thorough
biographies of each,
links
to coin images, and maps of the Roman empire click here
Implications: Sorting Kerygma from Culture
(The Visit of the Magi - Rome, Catacombs of St. Callixtus, early 4th century)
Unit 2: Mediterranean Christianity
The Inner Life of the
Community
A New Way of
Life:
Reading:
The
Didache
A
New Style of Leadership
Reading: Ignatius of Antioch
on the role of the bishop
A New Way of
Viewing the Past
Irenaeus of Lyon - handout
Understanding
Tradition - a modern assessment, click here
Marking the Boundaries of the New Community
Joining the
Community
Reading: Hippolytus of Rome
Which Books are
Ours?
Readings:
The Muratorian
Fragment
The New Community and Roman Culture
Readings:
Letter to
Diognetus
Tertullian
Clement
Points of Contact / Modes of Mission
(Trajan)
A Roman
governor's response to the spread of Christianity
Reading:
Pliny
the Younger & the emperor Trajan
Christianity
Spreads in the Cities
Reading: from
the Acts of St. Mark (begin at chapter 2)
Christianity
Spreads in the Countryside
Reading: from the Vita
of Gregory Thaumaturgos
Unit 3: The New Community Confronts
the Powers
Roman State and Christian Church
Readings: Dionysius of Alexandria
Decian libelli
Edict on Manichaeism
Diocletian & the Great Persecution
The Three Hebrew Children in the Fiery Furnace
Catacomb of Priscilla
Rome
The Way of the Martyrs
"... only let me attain to Jesus Christ."
Reading: The letter of Ignatius
to the church in Rome
" Away with the atheist!"
Reading: The Martyrdom of
Polycarp
Martyrdom and the Family
Reading: The Martyrdom of
Perpetua and Felicitas
So what's the point?
Reading: G. K. Chesterton - "The Modern
Martyr"
The Constantinian Revolution
Two Readings on the Conversion of Constantine:
Lactantius: On the Deaths of the Persecutors
Eusebius: Life of Constantine
Unit 4: Late Antique Christianity
A Christianized State?
Readings:
Paulinus: V. of Ambrose
Symmachus and Ambrose -
* For a chronology of Ambrose, Symmachus, and Augustine, plus
study questions on the Altar of Victory dossier, click
here
* For the
dossier of letters which
constitute the core of the debate
between Symmachus and Ambrose, click here
from the Codex Theodosianus - web source, click here
Augustine: selections from the City of God
The Destruction of the Serapeum, click here
The Call of the Desert
Readings: The bestseller of the 4th century: Athanasius's V. of Anthony
For study questions to the Life of Anthony, click here
Desert Fathers & Desert Mothers
K. Ware: "The Way of the Ascetics"
Hagiography and History: Three Lives 
Readings: V. of Macrina
V. of Mary of Egypt
V. of
Martin
Holy Places, Holy Things
Readings:
Constantine & the
Holy Land
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Councils and Conflicts
Readings: Arianism
Nestorius and Chalcedon
Unit 5: The Church and the
"Fall" of Rome
Making do with the Present:
Reading:
V. of Severinus
Preserving the Past:
Readings:
Jerome & Bible Translation
Boethius & Cassiodorus
Preparing for the Future:
Reading:
Benedict
Unit 6: First Forays Beyond the Frontier
Germanic Culture
A Roman
Historian Looks at the Germans of His Day
Reading: Tacitus:
Germania
Having Dinner
with Attila the Hun
Reading: Priscus of Panium
(Gothic decorative gold fibula, 4th century)
Ulfilas and the Goths
The Missions of
Ulfilas
Reading: The
Letter of Auxentius regarding Ulfilas
Philostorgius on the Work of Ulfilas among the Goths
A (brief) look at Patricius
Readings: hymn on the
Life of St. Patrick
St. Patrick's Confessio
Unit 7: The Syriac World and Persia
West Syrian Levant
(Mosaic of a family from Edessa, 3rd century AD)
Abgar, Addai
and Edessa
Reading: The legend of St.
Thaddeus (Addai) and King Abgar
For an icon of Abgar holding the cloth with Christ's image, click here
Singers and Stylites:
Reading: St. Ephraim's First
Hymn on Fasting
St. Ephraim's Hymns on the
Nativity (read the first three)
* Remarks on the life of St. Ephraim
from Sozomen's Church History may be found here
* Read about the seige
of Nisibis by Shapur I in 338 here
Simeon Stylites, his Life and that of Daniel the Stylite
St. Isaac of Nineveh
(13th century icon of St. Ephraim)
Non-Chalcedonian Syria - The Jacobites
Edessene Christianity
Jacob
Baradaeus and the refounding of Syriac Christianity
Reading:
John of Ephesus' Life of Jacob
For a listing of Jacobite patriarchs of
Antioch, click here
Be sure to follow the link to the "spiral" of patriarchal succession.
Jacob of
Sarug
Reading:
Canticle on
Habib the Martyr
The world of John of Ephesus\
( the Triumphal Entry from a Medieval Syriac manuscript)
Christianity in Persia -- the Church of the East
A chronology of all Sassanian kings may be
found here
+ a short history of the Sassanian empire
here
A chronology of Persian Christianity may be
found here
Persian Christians came into conflict with the magi,
priests of the state religion of
Zoroastrianism, for information on this religion, click here
Christians in Sassanian Persia -- various texts readings
The work of
Marutha, bishop and ambassador -- click here
Border Wars and Christian Persecutions -- click
here
Barsauma,
Narsai and the School of Nisibis
Reading: Narsai - Homily on the Resurrection
Establishing a New Identity
Reading: The reforms of Mar Babhai
-- from Thomas of Marga, The Book of the
Governors
Unit 8: Nilotic Christianity
View stunningly life-like mummy portraits
of late antique Egyptians
here
Coptic Egypt
Early Egyptian Christianity
Monks and Martyrs
Reading:
Martyrdom of St. Macrobius (+ Intro.)
A helpful overview of early Coptic Christianity may be found here
Visit an extensive site dedicated to the city of
Alexandria here
* Explore Alexandria's
archaeological remains by using the
many links found here
Nubian Sudan
Kush and Mediterranean Civilization
A map of Nubia may be found here
For a good overview of Nubian history and culture, click here
The Conversion of the Nubian
Kingdoms
Reading:
a selection from John of Ephesus' Ecclesiastical History
Visit the Nubian Museum in Egypt by clicking
here
* For the
frescoes from the cathedral at Faras, click here
Jesus and the Paralytic / Jesus and the
Samaritan Woman at the Well
Wall Painting, Church of St. Mary, 13th century, Ethiopia
Axum - Ancient Ethiopia
Readings: Texts
on Axum, Christianity, and the Roman Empire
selections from the Lives of Ethiopian Saints
* View stunning Ethiopian icons, click here
Unit 9: The Caucasus
Armenia:
Reading: Gregory the
Illuminator
Take a virtual tour of ancient Armenian churches!
click here
*
Explore galleries of Armenian miniature paintings:
click here
Georgia:
* For a survey of Georgian church history, click here and then follow the
link for "History"
Nina "Equal to the
Apostles"
Reading: The Life
of St. Nina from Rufinus' Ecclesiastical History
A Martyred Princess:
Reading: The Passio of Shushanik
A Martyrdom under Sassanian Over-lords
Reading: The Passio of Eustace the Cobbler
Tour an interactive image map of Georgia and read the intro here
An album of early Georgian churches may be found here and here, listed
under "Georgian Christian Art."
**Be sure to also visit the link for
"Enamels"
Georgian enamel reliquary, 10th century
Unit 10: Central Asia, China and India
Along the Silk Road
Readings:
Nestorian Missions in Central Asia
from Thomas of Marga, The Book of the Governors
An Account of a Christian Turkic
Tribe
China
(A priest and worshippers during a Palm Sunday service:
wall painting from Turfan oasis, western China --
for an enlargement, click "view image" on browser)
Readings:
The Nestorian Stone
Monument of Sian-fu
*For photos and a discussion of the stone, click
here
For a collection of documents related to the official status of
Christianity in T'ang China, click here
A Chinese Hymn on the
Transfiguration
A Chinese Hymn on the Holy Trinity
For the funerary inscription honoring the Persian general Abraham, click here
India
Reading: The Acts of St. Thomas
tour some ancient churches of India by clicking here
(Look under "Malankara")
* Examine
one of the early Syriac/Pahlavi stone crosses by clicking here
Unit 11: Christianity and Judaism
Unit 12: Christianity and Early Islam
The New Faith
Martyrs of Najrân
Relations under the Ummayyads:
Mena of Nikiu: V. of
Isaac
The Abbasids and the rise of Dhummitude:
Patriarch Timothy &
Caliph Mahdi
The Continuing Legacy
Unit 13: The Barbarian Kingdoms of the
West
Unit 14: Celtic Ireland and early
Britain
(opening page of St. John's Gospel, Book of
Kells)
Unit 15: Christianizing Germanic
Society
(The Birka crucifix, 10th century: the oldest image of Christ from Scandinavia)
Unit 16: Scandinavia
The World of the Northmen
Early Missions in Baltic Lands
Reading: The Life of St. Anskar
Viking Kings and the "White
Christ"
Reading: From the Saga of
Olaf Trygvesson in the "Heimskingla"
Unit 17: Danubian Lands
Reading: from the Lives of Sts. Cyril and Methodius
Unit 18: Kievan Russia
Reading: The Conversion of St. Vladimir from the Russian Primary
Chronicle, click
here
