Landmarks in the History of Early Christianity

Kirsopp Lake, one of the most distinguished New Testament scholars of the early twentieth century, here turns his formidable learning to a question that has rarely been asked with such unflinching honesty: what actually happened in the centuries when Christianity transformed from a small Jewish sect into the dominant religion of the Roman Empire? Based on lectures delivered at a major university, this book strips away the accumulated layers of ecclesiastical tradition to examine the raw historical forces at work: the disintegration of traditional Roman religious practice, the vacuum left by exhausted local cults, the sweeping influence of Greek philosophy and mythology. Lake is particularly critical of scholars who approach the early Christian records seeking only the reflection of their own theological commitments. He insists on reading these texts as historical documents, asking what they can tell us about the genuine social, cultural, and religious transformations of the first centuries. The result is a book that respects its subject enormously while refusing to be seduced by it. Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how Christianity became what it is, and who prefers honest inquiry to comfortable mythology.