Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Illustrations ix
4. Maps xi
5. Preface xiii
6. PART ONE: BEGINNINGS
7. CHAPTER ONE. A Trial 3
8. CHAPTER TWO. The Seedbed: JUDAISM IN THE FIRST CENTURY AD 8
9. CHAPTER THREE. Jesus before the Gospels 19
10. CHAPTER FOUR. Breaking Away: THE FIRST CHRISTIANITIES 31
11. CHAPTER FIVE. What Did Paul Achieve? 47
12. CHAPTER SIX. The Letter to the Hebrews 66
13. CHAPTER SEVEN. Fifty Years On: THE GOSPEL WRITERS REFLECT ON JESUS 72
14. CHAPTER EIGHT. John and the Jerusalem Christians 87
15. CHAPTER NINE. Creating a New Testament 97
16. CHAPTER TEN. No Second Coming THE SEARCH FOR STABILITY 111
17. PART TWO: BECOMING CHRISTIAN
18. CHAPTER ELEVEN. Toeholds in a Wider Empire 123
19. CHAPTER TWELVE. Open Borders: THE OVERLAPPING WORLDS OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS 132
20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN. Was There a Gnostic Challenge? 142
21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN. The Idea of a Church 155
22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN. To Compromise or Reject: CONFRONTING THE MATERIAL WORLD 163
23. INTERLUDE ONE. The Earliest Christian Art 169
24. CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Celsus Confronts the Christians 171
25. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. The Challenge of Greek Philosophy 176
26. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN. Origen and Early Christian Scholarship 186
27. CHAPTER NINETEEN. New Beginnings THE EMERGENCE OF A LATIN CHRISTIANITY 196
28. CHAPTER TWENTY. Victims or Volunteers CHRISTIAN MARTYRS 205
29. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE. The Spread of Christian Communities 215
30. PART THREE: THE IMPERIAL CHURCH
31. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO. The Motives of Constantine 225
32. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE. Debating the Nature of God 238
33. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR. The Stifling of Christian Diversity 248
34. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE. The Assault on Paganism 254
35. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX. ‘No one is honoured before him’ THE RISE OF THE BISHOP 261
36. INTERLUDE TWO. The Art of Imperial Christianity 271
37. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN. An Obsession with the Flesh 274
38. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT. The End of Optimism AUGUSTINE AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN 285
39. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE. Divine but Human 298
40. CHAPTER THIRTY. The Closing of the Schools 306
41. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE. A Fragile Church: CHRISTIANITY AND THE COLLAPSE OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE 313
42. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO. Faith, Certainty and the Unknown God 321
43. Notes 327
44. Glossary 337
45. Further Reading 353
46. Timeline 359
47. Index 367