The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers

Description

The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers offers an informative introduction to the extant body of Christian texts that existed beside and after the New Testament known to us as the apostolic fathers. Featuring cutting-edge research by leading scholars, it explores how the early Church expanded and evolved over the course of the first and second centuries as evidenced by its textual history. The volume includes thematic essays on imperial context, the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, the growth and diversification of the early church, influences and intertextuality, and female leaders in the early church. The Companion contains ground-breaking essays on the individual texts with specific attention given to debates of authorship, authenticity, dating, and theological texture. The Companion will serve as an essential resource for instructors and students of the first two centuries of Christianity.

Michael F. Bird is Academic Dean and Lecturer in Theology at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia and Senior Research Fellow with the Australian College of Theology. He is author of several books including The New Testament in its World (co-authored with N.T. Wright), Paul and the Second Century (co-edited with Joseph Dodson), and The Gospel of the Lord: How the Early Church Wrote the Story of Jesus. Scott D. Harrower is lecturer in early church history and theology at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia. He has published articles on Syrian Christianity, comparative hagiography, and Augustine of Hippo, as well as books on women in the early church and the Trinity. He is also co-editor of Cascade's Studies in Early Christology.

'The essays are uniformly informative and accessible, and the book is nicely indexed. This collection should be particularly helpful to advanced students of Christian origins and related history ... Recommended.' P. K. Moser, Choice Connect