World of the Early Church a Companion to the New Testament

A portrait and analysis of the environment in which the Christian faith first grew, as well as an account of the Church's responses to that environment. Provides the student and reader with a perspective on the world surrounding the Church that is at once immersed in that world and informed with a sense of the unique mission of the Christian faith. Covers not only the world of the advent of Christ and the work of the apostles, but also the much less studied world "before the times" -- in the "gap" between the Old and New Testaments. Familiarizes the reader with the cultural, social, political, and religious landscape as it was shaped in the five centuries preceding the appearance of Christ.