Ancient Christianity: The Development of its Institutions and Practices

Ancient Christianity: The Development of its Institutions and Practices is the fruit of Angelo Di Berardino's forty years of study, teaching, and writing at the Augustinianum in Rome. In this volume, he offers an overview of the birth and development of Ancient Christianity's institutions and practices in all their variety and diversity. The volume retraces the first five centuries identifying how ecclesiastical institutions arose, developed, and were consolidated into their full maturity. It is a task fraught with difficulty because of the scarcity and fragmentary nature of the information preserved from different geographical regions and people who have inherited distinct traditions. The chronological and geographical context of the evidence presents a challenge for historians looking to provide a more or less unified framework instead of an impressionistic pastiche. Often authors cite a few texts and generalize them, offering a homogeneous but false vision. Insisting on the inclusion of regional and diverse sources, Di Berardino deftly demonstrates that Christianity, from its beginnings and throughout its whole history, has always been multi-faceted. The culmination of decades of research, Ancient Christianity: The Development of Its Institutions and Practices will be an indispensable resource for years to come.