Birth of a Worldview: Early Christianity in its Jewish and Pagan Context

(Paperback)

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Birth of a Worldview is a groundbreaking intellectual history of the making of the worldview that came to define western Christian culture for two millennia. Using a broad range of primary sources, Robert Doran narrates the story of how early thinkers wrestled with philosophical and cultural questions in order to form a view that would make sense of their place in the world. This engaging book will be of interest to scholars, students, and general readers interested in religious studies, ancient history, and intellectual thought.

Reviews

Through succinct discussion and frequent, extensive citations of primary sources, Doran brings alive the diverse ways Christian intellectuals from the first to the fifth centuries expressed their understanding of the cosmos and their place in it. * Choice Reviews *
Doran offers us a balanced and insightful tour through the emergence of a distinctively Christian world-view. Seven succinct and readable chapters cover Christianity before Constantine, Christian cosmology, relations with the Jews, the emergence of the canon, the emergence of orthodox theology, the human condition, and the role of women. The text is amply supported with selections from primary literature. This makes the book a good choice for courses introducing early Christianity. . . . A fine synthesis of key themes operative in the emergence of Christianity. -- John J. Keefe * Theological Studies *
Fascinating. . . An original contribution to the study of the early Church, and an essential companion and guide to existing textbooks and collections of documents on the period. -- Revered W.H.C. Frend * Church Times *

Author Bio

Robert Doran is professor of religion at Amherst College.