Patristic Theology, Ancient Rome - Religion, Early Church - History, Christianity - Comparative Studies, Judaism - Comparative Studies

Birth of a Worldview

Name: Birth of a Worldview
Author: Robert M. Doran
ISBN: 9780813387468

by Robert M. Doran

Write a review

Overview

Every religion represents a worldview, an account of human beings and their place in the world, of birth and death, of pain and suffering, of wealth and poverty, of injustice and war. At the dawn of the Christian era, the first Christian intellectuals wrestled with these questions, and in Birth of a Worldview, Robert Doran tells the story of how they worked to make their world comprehensible. Amid much internal strife, amid the competing worldviews of Hellenistic paganism and early Judaism, figures from Justin Martyr to Saint Augustine hammered out what became the worldview that dominated thought in the Christian West for a millennium. By illuminating the varieties of views within the early church and the rich cultural environment in which these views were contested, Doran reveals a fascinating process that might well have turned out dramatically differently. In this high-stakes game, heretics were simply the losers. Among the many riches of this book are the review of the role of women, the documentation of the vitality and influence of Jewish intellectual thought, and the continuing impact of Greek intellectual thought during Christianity's formative years. In addition, Doran's generous and effective use of long passages from a wide range of original sources gives this volume a freshness and authenticity not to be found in other accounts of this period. Birth of a Worldview is a breakthrough study of the first Christian intellectuals. Scholarly and engaging throughout, it will attract a wide range of scholars, students, and general readers in religious studies and ancient history.

About the Author, Robert M. Doran

Robert Doran is professor of religion at Amherst College.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet. Log in to write one.

Editorials

Booknews

Doran (Amherst College) explores how early Christian intellectuals expressed their understanding of the cosmos. His concern is not with their ethical codes of behavior, but with how their lifeways distinguished them from other religious groups, and how they thought about God and God's relationship with the earth and the humans on it. The treatment is an intellectual history rather than a description of events. It includes a chronology and a map. First published in 1995 by Westview Press as part of the Explorations series. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Choice

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.

Church Times

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

Theological Studies

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