Persecution in the Early Church: Recommended Resources
Recommendations provided by Kenneth R. Calvert, Th,M. candidate in patristics at Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
June 30, 2008
General Histories
W. H. C. Frend,The Rise of Christianity (Fortress Press, 1984). A well&ndash documented and easy–to–read coverage of early Christianity.
Adolf von Harnack, Mission and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries, 2nd ed., 3 vols., trans. by J. Moffatt (London: Williams & Norgate, Ltd., 1908). In classic German style Harnack provides an excellent introduction to the early church.
Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, Vol. 1, Beginnings to 1500 (Harper and Row, 1975). Written by a scholar of faith, this church history is well composed and researched. The coverage of martyrdoms and persecutions is good.
Secondary Literature
Stephen Benko, Pagan Rome and the Early Christians (Indiana University Press, 1986). A more recent work focusing on issues relative to pagan and Christian relations. Excellent background material to the persecutions.
W. H. C. Frend, Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church (Baker, 1981). The most complete and documented modern accounting of the persecutions in the first three hundred years of Christian history. It is readable and accurate.
E. G. Hardy, Christianity and the Roman Government, 3rd ed. (London: G. Allen & Unwin, 1925). This book focuses less on religious tensions and more on legal issues and Roman administration.
W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire Before A.D. 170 (Putnam's, 1893). A broad coverage of New Testament times and the early church.
H. B. Workman, Persecution in the Early Church (Oxford, 1980). An edited version of an earlier work by the same author. It is short, and easy to read, yet well documented.
Popular Works
Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Penguin, 1983). Though regarded as outdated, this popular work makes for good reading.
John Foxe, Foxe' Book of Martyrs (Baker, 1978). A popular text, not known for objective historical work, that details some of the gruesomeness that came with persecution.
Specific Persecutions
Timothy Barnes, Constantine and Lu sebiu (Harvard University Press, 1981). The book offers a good look at the Diocletian persecution with the subsequent triumph of Christianity in the rise of Constantine.
N. H. Baynes, ed., "The Imperial Crisis and Recovery," Vol. XII in The Cambridge Ancient History (Cambridge University Press, 1939). Chapter 6 treats the Decian persecution, and chapter 19 the Diocletian.
Patrick Healy, The Valerian Persecution (Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1905). A good review of crucial events leading to the persecution, and the results for the Empire and the church.
Primary Sources
The Ante–Nicene Fathers, Vols. 1—10 (Eerdmans, 1981). This classic set, covering the first three hundred years of Christian writings, includes martyrdoms, apologies, and letters of exhortation. Despite the old translations, still the best collection.
Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History (Penguin, 1981). This first history of Christianity, written in the fourth century, is a compilation of Christian texts, with running interpretation.
J. B. Lightfoot, ed. and trans., Apostolic Fathers (Baker, 1984). Including the earliest post–
biblical writings, this text gives a good idea of Christian thinking in the early years of the persecutions. Good translations.
Herbert Musurillo, ed., The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979). The Greek and Latin texts, alongside English translations, of all the recorded martyrdoms of the Christian period.
J. Stevenson, ed., A New Eusebius, Documents Illustrative of the History of the Church to AD. 337 (SPCK, 1977). A good collection of edited texts, both Christian and Roman. The text is in the style of Eusebius, though without the Eusebian interpretation of Christian history.
Copyright © 1990 by the author or Christianity Today International/Christian History magazine.
Click here for reprint information on Christian History.
 |
|  |
 | | | | Subscribe to Christianity Today and
get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.
|
 |
|
No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders.
If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive 9 more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.
Give a gift subscription | Buy past issues |
| | | | |
 |
|  |
Easily find high-quality, well-researched materials that provide a Christian perspective on topics ranging from headlines to history.
Start using this invaluable tool TODAY for preparing your Bible studies, presentations, class lectures, sermons, meetings, and more.
|
It's easy and quick to join:
Brought to You by Christianity Today Int'l |  |
|
| 
Find similar articles
Print this article
E-mail this page
Bookmark this article
