THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF

CHRISTIANITY
*
Constantine to c. 600

This volume in the Cambridge History of Christianity presents the ‘golden age’ of patristic Christianity. After episodes of persecution by the Roman government, Christianity emerged as a licit religion enjoying imperial patronage and eventually became the favoured religion of the empire. The articles in this volume discuss the rapid transformation of Christianity during late antiquity, giving specific consideration to artistic, social, literary, philosophical, political, inter-religious and cultural aspects. The volume moves away from simple dichotomies and reductive schematisations (e.g., ‘heresy v. orthodoxy’) toward an inclusive description of the diverse practices and theories that made up Christianity at this time. While proportional attention is given to the emergence of the Great Church within the Roman empire, other topics are treated as well – such as the development of Christian communities outside the empire.

AUGUSTINE CASIDAY is Lecturer in Historical Theology, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Wales, Lampeter. He is author of  Evagrius Ponticus (2006) and Tradition and Theology in St John Cassian (2006) and assistant editor of The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (2004).

FREDERICK W. NORRIS is Professor Emeritus of World Christianity, Emmanuel School of Religion. He is author of over 200 articles, associate editor with Everett Ferguson of the Encylopedia of early Christianity (1990, second edition 1997) and co-editor with A. Malherbe and J. Thompson of The Early Church in its Context (1998).

THE CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF

CHRISTIANITY

The Cambridge History of Christianity offers a comprehensive chronological account of the development of Christianity in all its aspects – theological, intellectual, social, political, regional, global – from its beginnings to the present day. Each volume makes a substantial contribution in its own right to the scholarship of its period and the complete History constitutes a major work of academic reference. Far from being merely a history of Western European Christianity and its offshoots, the History aims to provide a global perspective. Eastern and Coptic Christianity are given full consideration from the early period onwards, and later, African, Far Eastern, New World, South Asian and other non-European developments in Christianity receive proper coverage. The volumes cover popular piety and non-formal expressions of Christian faith and treat the sociology of Christian formation, worship and devotion in a broad cultural context. The question of relations between Christianity and other major faiths is also kept in sight throughout. The History will provide an invaluable resource for scholars and students alike.

List of volumes:

Origins to Constantine
EDITED BY MARGARET M. MITCHELL AND FRANCES M. YOUNG

Constantine to c. 600
EDITED BY AUGUSTINE CASIDAY AND FREDERICK W. NORRIS

Early Medieval Christianity c. 600–c. 1100
EDITED BY THOMAS NOBLE AND JULIA SMITH

Christianity in Western Europe c. 1100–c. 1500
EDITED BY MIRI RUBIN AND WALTER SIMON

Eastern Christianity
EDITED BY MICHAEL ANGOLD

Reform and Expansion 1500–1660
EDITED BY RONNIE PO-CHIA HSIA

Enlightenment, Reawakening and Revolution 1660–1815
EDITED BY STEWART J. BROWN AND TIMOTHY TACKETT

World Christianities c. 1815–1914
EDITED BY BRIAN STANLEY AND SHERIDAN GILLEY

World Christianities c. 1914–c. 2000
EDITED BY HUGH Mcleod

THE CAMBRIDGE
HISTORY OF

CHRISTIANITY
*

VOLUME ₂

Constantine to c. 600
*

Edited by

AUGUSTINE CASIDAY

and

FREDERICK W. NORRIS

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press
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Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521812443

© Cambridge University Press 2007

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2007

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data

Constantine to c. 600 / edited by Augustine Casiday and Frederick W. Norris.
p. cm. -- (The Cambridge history of Christianity ; v. 2)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-521-81244-3 (hardback)
ISBN-10: 0-521-81244-5 (hardback)
1. Church history – Primitive and early church, c. 300–600. I. Casiday,
Augustine. II. Norris, Frederick W., 1941-- III. Title. IV. Series.
BR200.C66 2007
270.2 – dc22 2006100088

ISBN 978-0-521-81244-3 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to
in this publication, and does not guarantee that any contenton such
websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Contents

Maps

Contributors

KHALED ANATOLIOS, Weston Jesuit School of Theology

PAUL M. BLOWERS, Emmanuel School of Religion

BEAT BRENK, Università di Roma I ‘La Sapienza’ and emeritus, Universität Basel

ALAN BROWN, Trinity College, Cambridge

DAVID BUNDY, Fuller Theological Seminary

AUGUSTINE CASIDAY, University of Wales, Lampeter

H. A. DRAKE, University of California, Santa Barbara

MARILYN DUNN, University of Glasgow

MARK EDWARDS, Christ Church, Oxford

GEORGIA FRANK, Colgate University

DAVID FRANKFURTER, University of New Hampshire

ROWAN A. GREER, emeritus, Yale Divinity School

DAVID G. HUNTER, Iowa State University

ANNA LEONE, University of Durham

SAMUEL N. C. LIEU, Macquarie University

WINRICH LöHR, Universität Hamburg

J. REBECCA LYMAN, emerita, Church Divinity School of the Pacific

BRONWEN NEIL, Australian Catholic University, McAuley Campus

FREDERICK W. NORRIS, emeritus, Emmanuel School of Religion

KENNETH PENNINGTON, The Catholic University of America

CLAUDIA RAPP, University of California, Los Angeles

SAMUEL RUBENSON, Lund University

MICHELE RENEE SALZMAN, University of California, Riverside

KNUT SCHäFERDIEK, emeritus, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn

BRYAN D. SPINKS, Institute of Sacred Music, Yale University

GUY G. STROUMSA, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

FRANK R. TROMBLEY, Cardiff University

KARL-HEINZ UTHEMANN, emeritus, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

RAYMOND VAN DAM, University of Michigan

Abbreviations

The Roman empire, c. 400

(cont.)

Rome and the West, c. 600

Byzantium and the Near East, c. 600

Edessa and the Orient, c. 600