Screen LibraryWho were the first Christians? : dismantling the urban thesis /
"It has been widely assumed that there were 6 million Christians (or 10% of the population of the Roman Empire) by around the year 300. The largely-unexamined consensus view is also that Christianity was an urban movement until the conversion of Emperor Constantine. On close examination, it app...
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| Main Authors: | |
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| Published: |
Oxford University Press,
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| Publisher Address: | New York, NY : |
| Publication Dates: | [2017] |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | |
| Summary: |
"It has been widely assumed that there were 6 million Christians (or 10% of the population of the Roman Empire) by around the year 300. The largely-unexamined consensus view is also that Christianity was an urban movement until the conversion of Emperor Constantine. On close examination, it appears that these two popular views would nearly saturate every urban area of the entire Roman Empire with Christians, leaving no room for Jews or pagans. In Who Were the First Christians?, Thomas Robinson shows that scenario simply does not work. But where does the solution lie? Were there many fewer Ch |
| Carrier Form: | x, 297 pages ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [253]-281) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9780190620547 0190620544 |
| Index Number: | BR166 |
| CLC: | B979 |
| Call Number: | B979/R665 |
| Contents: | Introduction: must historians count? -- The "urban" thesis -- Counting Romans and Christians -- Counting the Jewish population -- Urban and rural relationships -- Supposed barriers to Christian success in the countryside -- The pre-Constantinian evidence -- Dismissing the evidence of Christianity in the countryside -- The country bishop. |