The first thousand years : a global history of Christianity / Robert Louis Wilken.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wilken, Robert Louis, 1936- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church history--Middle Ages, 600-1500.

Church history.

Church history--Primitive and early church, ca. 30-600.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (415 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven, Connecticut : Yale University Press, [2012]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"How did a community that was largely invisible in the first two centuries of its existence go on to remake the civilizations it inhabited, culturally, politically, and intellectually? Beginning with the life of Jesus, Robert Louis Wilken narrates the dramatic spread and development of Christianity over the first thousand years of its history. Moving through the formation of early institutions, practices, and beliefs to the transformations of the Roman world after the conversion of Constantine, he sheds new light on the subsequent stories of Christianity in the Latin West, the Byzantine and Slavic East, the Middle East, and Central Asia.Through a selected narration of particularly noteworthy persons and events, Wilken demonstrates how the coming of Christianity set in motion one of the most profound revolutions the world has known. This is not a story limited to the West; rather, Christian communities in Ethiopia, Nubia, Armenia, Georgia, Persia, Central Asia, India, and China shaped the course of Christian history. The rise and spread of Islam had a lasting impact on the future of Christianity, and several chapters are devoted to the early experiences of Christians under Muslim rule. Wilken reminds us that the career of Christianity is characterized by decline and attrition as well as by growth and expansion. Ten years in the making and the result of a lifetime of study, this is Robert Louis Wilken's summa, a moving, reflective, and commanding account from a scholar at the height of his powers"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Beginning in Jerusalem

2. Ephesus, Rome, and Edessa: The Spread of Christianity

3. The Making of a Christian Community

4. Divisions Within

5. Constructing a Catacomb

6. A Learned Faith: Origen of Alexandria

7. Persecution: Cyprian of Carthage

8. A Christian Emperor: Constantine

9. The Council of Nicaea and the Christian Creed

10. Monasticism

11. A Christian Jerusalem

12. Emperor Julian, the Jews, and Christians

13. Bishop and Emperor: Ambrose and Theodosius

14. Architecture and Art

15. Music and Worship

16. The Sick, the Aged, and the Poor: The Birth of Hospitals

17. The Bishop of Rome as Pope

18. An Ordered Christian Society: Canon Law

19. Augustine of Hippo

20. The Great Controversy over Christ

21. Egypt and the Copts

Nubia

22. African Zion: Ethiopia

23. Syriac-Speaking Christians: The Church of the East

24. Armenia and Georgia

25. Central Asia, China, and India

26. A Christian Empire: Justinian

27. New Beginnings in the West

28. Latin Christianity Spreads North

29. The Sacking of Jerusalem

More Controversy over Christ

30. No God but God: The Rise of Islam

31. Images and the Making of Byzantium

32. Arabic-Speaking Christians

33. Christians Under Islam: Egypt and North Africa

34. Christians Under Islam: Spain

35. An Emperor in the West: Charlemagne

36. Christianity Among the Slavs

Afterword

Chronology and Maps

Suggested Readings

Translations

Index

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Z

Illustrations.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-283-90644-9

0-300-18898-6

OCLC:

822890102