Brill Encyclopedia of Early Christianity Online

2009

Choice Reviews Online, 2010

2021

THE CHURCH: A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED, 2010

Part of a chapter from THE CHURCH: A GUIDE FOR THE PERPLEXED, co-authored with Matt Jenson.

Augustinian Studies, 2013

The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 2011

Vessela Traykova-Yoanina, 2021

The book proposes a new assessment of the issue of the archbishopric of Justiniana Prima, founded by Justinian I in Eastern Illyricum in the sixth century; and also of the place of this archbishopric in the early history of Christianity in South-East Europe. The aspects of the issue are examined in relation to 1) Justinian’s imperial policy, 2) the specific features of the local churches which Apostle Paul founded in Illyricum, and 3) the rivalry between them and the Churches of Rome and Constantinople for control over the dioceses of Illyricum. Consideration is given to Justinian’s possible motives in founding Justiniana Prima, thе archbishopric’s special character, and the reasons why it had a relatively short lifetime. The book then studies the presentation of the concept of Justiniana Prima in later centuries, and attempts to answer the questions: ‘Who are the true successors of Justiniana Prima?’ and also: ‘Is it possible that behind the apparent course of events there emerges a deeper spiritual subtext sending a message to future generations?’ Emphasis is placed on certain sources previously unavailable in Bulgarian translation. These shed light on Justinian’s personality, his actions, and his religious policy. The book also looks at the issue of early Christianity and at its roots in the millennial ‘culture of mysteries’. It also examines the essence of the conflict between early Christianity and the formalizing Churches of Rome and Constantinople with their Judeo-Christian background. There is an analysis of the reasons for the perversion of Christ’s Teaching, with some examples given of erroneous views that were substituted for the Savior’s own Teachings. The illustrations provide evidence for the specific features of churches lineally descended from the Apostle Paul and their kinship with the local ‘culture of mysteries’. An epilogue represents an attempt for a change in paradigm enabling the human individual and the human community to be placed in a larger context of many levels. The necessity of such a change is the outcome of the complexity of the problems raised in the text, which demand deeper levels of cognition.

This is the first volume of a multi-volume History of the Christian Church, series editor G. R. Evans. [From the author's Preface:] 'This book is an attempt to tell the story of the early Christian Church in a way which is clear and readable, whilst doing justice to the complexity and diversity of Christianity in the first six centuries CE. This is not an easy task. Frequently, histories of this period try to create a simple narrative of development, steering a direct path through the period despite all the awkward obstacles in the way…. Whatever the motives, however, the effect of composing too simplistic a story of the early Church is that it flattens out the contours of what was a very bumpy and winding road. It can have the tendency to suggest that the end result was somehow inevitable and it can thus fail to take seriously other forms and expressions of Christianity which were held by minorities or which did not survive. More insidiously, it can obscure the way in which early Christianity was deeply indebted to its Jewish origins and continued to be influenced by the intellectual and cultural legacy of pagan Greece and Rome long after the Empire was officially Christian. Of course, there are also dangers of trying to avoid too easy a narrative structure. The material can become difficult to understand or interpret. The reader can fail to see any connection between the Church of the past and that of the present. More subtly, the author can be accused – with some justification – of stressing the variety of early Christianity in order to defend a more inclusive and diverse understanding of the Church in the present day. Aware of these difficulties, I have tried in this book to write good history: that is, I have tried to steer a path between the mere accumulation of evidence and the construction of an over-simplified narrative. I have assumed neither that the development of the Church was a purely secular process, nor that it can be explained entirely in theological terms. Finally the book has tried to do justice to the range of Christian beliefs and practices, whilst pointing to the factors which held them together as being distinctively Christian. At root, it does assume that the kaleidoscopic variety of early Christianity can be viewed through a single lens.'

Augustiniana 66, 3-4, 2016

Review of: Di Berardino, Angelo (ed.), Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove (Il.) 2014, ISBN 978-08-308- 2943, ISBN 978-08-308-2940-8, ISBN 978-08-308-2941-5, ISBN 978-08-308-2942-2, I: xxxviii + 937 pp., II: xxxiv + 1020 pp., III: xxxiv + 994 pp. (Translation and revision of the Nuovo dizionario patristico e di antichità cristiane, Casa Editrice Marietti, Genova-Milano 2006-2008.)