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Evangelism in the Early Church
Now a modern classic, Michael Green's Evangelism in the Early Church provides a comprehensive look at the ways the first Christians -- from the New Testament period up until the middle of the third century -- worked to spread the good news to the rest of the world.In describing life in the early church, Green explores crucial aspects of the evangelistic task that have direct relevance for similar work today, including methods, motives, and strategies. He assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the evangelistic approaches used by the earliest Christians, and he also considers the obstacles to evangelism, using outreach to Gentiles and to Jews as examples of differing contexts for proclamation. Carefully researched and frequently quoting primary sources from the early church, this book will both show contemporary readers what can be learned from the past and help renew their own evangelistic vision.
474 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1970
98 people are currently reading
627 people want to read
About the author
Michael Green
104 books45 followersEdward Michael Bankes Green, known as Michael Green, was a British theologian, Anglican priest, Christian apologist and author of more than fifty Christian books. He served as the Canon Missioner of Holy Trinity Church in Raleigh, North Carolina through 2007.
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
June 25, 2024
Green, Michael. Evangelism in the Early Church.
Not everything in early church practice is relevant for us today. Even those who claim continuity with early liturgies do not always (or even mostly) do what is laid out in 1 Corinthians 10-14. As such, we should be cautious about “doing church the way the early Christians did.” Nonetheless, there are key points of overlap. The early Christians had to respond to skeptical philosophy, paganism, and occultism, and the ways they did could prove helpful to us in some areas.
It is common to speak of the pax Romana and the ease in which it facilitated the gospel. Michael Green takes it a step further: if the Greek language helped spread the Gospel, Greek metaphysics ultimately undermined Greek polytheism.
The Greek Sophists’ ridicule of the Greek gods might have paved the way for later Christian preachers, evident in Justin’s “Address to the Greeks.” Greek metaphysics ultimately made belief in the gods impractical. By contrast, Plato and Aristotle “provided an impetus to monotheism.” Plato’s Demiurge is not the Christian God, to be sure, but it is a marked development from Zeus. Of course,
Defeating Greek polytheism was only a small part of the battle. As Green notes, “It was not necessary that people should believe in the ancient gods. Belief was a private matter. But they were expected to participate in the state cult.” The state did not care if you did not believe in Zeus. You just could not publicly undermine the cohesion such a belief brought to society. Therefore, Rome made a distinction between “religio” and “superstitio.” The former could demonstrate a binding link between religion and a particular country. As such, it was protected. This explains why Judaism was protected and Christianity was not.
Evangelizing the Jews
How successful were the early Apologists in evangelizing the Jews? Any success they might have had diminished over time. Green does not specifically deal with claims of supersessionism, either for or against. Nonetheless, the type of argument employed by Justin and Ps. Barnabas indicated that “the day of the Jewish mission was ended.”
Evangelizing the Gentiles
As belief in personal pagan gods was increasingly undermined by Greek philosophy, there was a corresponding rise in abstract terms like “Power, Renewal, Creation,” etc. As such, “when Christians spoke of joy, salvation, power and eternal life, their words would be understood, and the contemporary climate was one which was very interested in such concepts. Evidence of magic is forthcoming, too: the evil eye and the lucky hunchback, together with other apotropaic charms to keep off the influence of evil.”
The actual gospel message remained simple: the ‘good news’ of the coming kingdom, the message of Jesus as the one ordained to judge the living and the dead, and the announcement that Jesus was Lord.” Interestingly (and perhaps unfortunately) enough, the message lost its specific Jewish notion of Messiah and “Christos” became a sort of surname for Jesus.
The use of Jesus as “Lord” had another advantage: his sovereignty “over the malign forces of Fate which threatened men on every side, and assured the believer that by reason of the resurrection Jesus was indeed enthroned in the universe at the right hand of God.”
Spiritual Warfare
The early church believed in demonic powers. The ancient pagans believed in them. Jesus believed in them. By their union with Christ and being seated with him, the early Christians knew they could have victory over demons. As Green notes, “Jesus was represented by the early Christians as in constant conflict with demons.”
Tatian himself could claim “I was rescued from the multiplicity of rulers and 10,000 tyrants” (Orat. 29).
This also brought the church into conflict with astrology. Geocentrism led to “a widespread belief that events on earth were governed by the stars.”
In such a conflict the kingdom message could be restated: “The unity of God, the inanity of idols and the ethical implications of idolatrous living in wilful estrangement from the true God are made abundantly plain.” Idolatry, for Justin and the early writers, originated from spiritual forces: “the demons had originated from fallen angels having intercourse with human women (Gen. 6:1f): they then dominated mankind, and ‘sowed among men murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds and every sort of vice” (2 Apol. 5).
“Before the middle of the second century Justin rejoices in ‘how many people possessed by demons, everywhere in the world and in our city, have been exorcized by many of our Christian men.” Cyprian notes “that demons in idols ‘when they are adjured by us in the name of the true God, yield forthwith, and confess, and admit they are forced to leave the bodies they have invaded.”
“One of the main reasons the gospel spread so fast was because these nasty powers that spoiled human lives could be and were thrown out by the power of the living God, who thus demonstrated that he is the Power above all others.”
Noting the success of the gospel, Green, alluding to Justin and Irenaeus, says, “Healing and exorcism were the twin factors which produced this conviction of divine power” (2 Apol. 6; Adv Haer. 2.32). Tertullian, although probably given to overstatement (as is often the case with him), notes, “We do more than repudiate the demons. We overcome them. We expose them daily to contempt and exorcize them from their victims. This is well known to many people” (To Scapula, ch. 2). Rather than writing this off as premodern credulity, Green notes similarities from his own ministry: “But in the past twenty-five years I have seen so much, of both exorcism and healing, in Britain and in my own ministry, that I have to repent of my previous skepticism. I have seen and been involved in some powerful healings and exorcisms.”
Conclusion
This volume is an excellent academic survey of early (often pre-Origen) Christian beliefs and practices and why they were successful.
Not everything in early church practice is relevant for us today. Even those who claim continuity with early liturgies do not always (or even mostly) do what is laid out in 1 Corinthians 10-14. As such, we should be cautious about “doing church the way the early Christians did.” Nonetheless, there are key points of overlap. The early Christians had to respond to skeptical philosophy, paganism, and occultism, and the ways they did could prove helpful to us in some areas.
It is common to speak of the pax Romana and the ease in which it facilitated the gospel. Michael Green takes it a step further: if the Greek language helped spread the Gospel, Greek metaphysics ultimately undermined Greek polytheism.
The Greek Sophists’ ridicule of the Greek gods might have paved the way for later Christian preachers, evident in Justin’s “Address to the Greeks.” Greek metaphysics ultimately made belief in the gods impractical. By contrast, Plato and Aristotle “provided an impetus to monotheism.” Plato’s Demiurge is not the Christian God, to be sure, but it is a marked development from Zeus. Of course,
Defeating Greek polytheism was only a small part of the battle. As Green notes, “It was not necessary that people should believe in the ancient gods. Belief was a private matter. But they were expected to participate in the state cult.” The state did not care if you did not believe in Zeus. You just could not publicly undermine the cohesion such a belief brought to society. Therefore, Rome made a distinction between “religio” and “superstitio.” The former could demonstrate a binding link between religion and a particular country. As such, it was protected. This explains why Judaism was protected and Christianity was not.
Evangelizing the Jews
How successful were the early Apologists in evangelizing the Jews? Any success they might have had diminished over time. Green does not specifically deal with claims of supersessionism, either for or against. Nonetheless, the type of argument employed by Justin and Ps. Barnabas indicated that “the day of the Jewish mission was ended.”
Evangelizing the Gentiles
As belief in personal pagan gods was increasingly undermined by Greek philosophy, there was a corresponding rise in abstract terms like “Power, Renewal, Creation,” etc. As such, “when Christians spoke of joy, salvation, power and eternal life, their words would be understood, and the contemporary climate was one which was very interested in such concepts. Evidence of magic is forthcoming, too: the evil eye and the lucky hunchback, together with other apotropaic charms to keep off the influence of evil.”
The actual gospel message remained simple: the ‘good news’ of the coming kingdom, the message of Jesus as the one ordained to judge the living and the dead, and the announcement that Jesus was Lord.” Interestingly (and perhaps unfortunately) enough, the message lost its specific Jewish notion of Messiah and “Christos” became a sort of surname for Jesus.
The use of Jesus as “Lord” had another advantage: his sovereignty “over the malign forces of Fate which threatened men on every side, and assured the believer that by reason of the resurrection Jesus was indeed enthroned in the universe at the right hand of God.”
Spiritual Warfare
The early church believed in demonic powers. The ancient pagans believed in them. Jesus believed in them. By their union with Christ and being seated with him, the early Christians knew they could have victory over demons. As Green notes, “Jesus was represented by the early Christians as in constant conflict with demons.”
Tatian himself could claim “I was rescued from the multiplicity of rulers and 10,000 tyrants” (Orat. 29).
This also brought the church into conflict with astrology. Geocentrism led to “a widespread belief that events on earth were governed by the stars.”
In such a conflict the kingdom message could be restated: “The unity of God, the inanity of idols and the ethical implications of idolatrous living in wilful estrangement from the true God are made abundantly plain.” Idolatry, for Justin and the early writers, originated from spiritual forces: “the demons had originated from fallen angels having intercourse with human women (Gen. 6:1f): they then dominated mankind, and ‘sowed among men murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds and every sort of vice” (2 Apol. 5).
“Before the middle of the second century Justin rejoices in ‘how many people possessed by demons, everywhere in the world and in our city, have been exorcized by many of our Christian men.” Cyprian notes “that demons in idols ‘when they are adjured by us in the name of the true God, yield forthwith, and confess, and admit they are forced to leave the bodies they have invaded.”
“One of the main reasons the gospel spread so fast was because these nasty powers that spoiled human lives could be and were thrown out by the power of the living God, who thus demonstrated that he is the Power above all others.”
Noting the success of the gospel, Green, alluding to Justin and Irenaeus, says, “Healing and exorcism were the twin factors which produced this conviction of divine power” (2 Apol. 6; Adv Haer. 2.32). Tertullian, although probably given to overstatement (as is often the case with him), notes, “We do more than repudiate the demons. We overcome them. We expose them daily to contempt and exorcize them from their victims. This is well known to many people” (To Scapula, ch. 2). Rather than writing this off as premodern credulity, Green notes similarities from his own ministry: “But in the past twenty-five years I have seen so much, of both exorcism and healing, in Britain and in my own ministry, that I have to repent of my previous skepticism. I have seen and been involved in some powerful healings and exorcisms.”
Conclusion
This volume is an excellent academic survey of early (often pre-Origen) Christian beliefs and practices and why they were successful.
June 2, 2023
Chapters 1-3 and 7 Required reading for “Apologetics and Outreach”
As the title suggests, draws heavily from primary source documents from church history.
Dense and academic, but informative…I will likely revisit/explore the other chapters after taking ancient and medieval church history
As the title suggests, draws heavily from primary source documents from church history.
Dense and academic, but informative…I will likely revisit/explore the other chapters after taking ancient and medieval church history
February 25, 2018
This was an interesting and edifying read. It’s an academic read so it can be dense at times. If you do end up reading it prepare for so long slow chapters. What I appreciated the most from Green’s work is how he showed the pluralism of the first century and how the early church responded with fidelity to the scriptures and creativity. They met pluralism with a contextualized approach that didn’t compromise the gospel. Needless to say it was worth the heavy sledding and is very applicable to evangelism today. The 1st and 21st century aren’t that different. @eerdmans
June 25, 2020
A lot of interesting thoughts and views on the first centuries. And helpful quotes of many writers of the beginning of Christianity. But most of the archaeological arguments are more wishful thinking than based on hard evidence. For example the claimed traces of Christianity in Pompeii or Herculaneum. That made me doubt also other claims made in the book that I didn’t verified yet. The book is a bit older, so that could be one of the reasons. But I expected a better story.
June 6, 2025
Everything I hoped this book would be and more. Academically rigorous but Green always has his eye set on the practitioner. This book not only informed my practice, but also spurred me on to greater faithfulness and boldness.
Definitely a book I will be returning to as a resource for years to come.
Definitely a book I will be returning to as a resource for years to come.
April 1, 2017
Informative. Harder to engage with the text than books by Jerram Barrs.
June 13, 2024
This was for class, very hard to understand and was not beginner friendly.
October 24, 2022
A thorough, practical history of how the earliest Christians shared their faith with the world around them. The plethora examples in this book are insightful and convicting for how the church must pursue its mission today.
April 2, 2019
This book is incredibly thorough. It feels very long, but he really gets through a lot of material, so it's a tradeoff.
I will say that Green's use of primary sources is excellent. It's a rare treat to get to read the writing of someone who is so steeped in the primary sources and can pull together many strands of the historical record so capably.
Green's obvious concern that the contemporary church reclaim the evangelistic zeal of the church of the first several centuries makes this book far more than a scholarly tome, but an opportunity to dig deep in the early sources and yet come out thinking about what this means for us today.
At times Green gets distracted by the debates of midcentury NT scholarship, but that's sort of to be expected in this kind of a book.
Perhaps the best part of this book is his ability to paint the picture of the early Christian era in its pagan context. Green actually helped me to understand the pagan mindset toward religion in a profound way.
I will say that Green's use of primary sources is excellent. It's a rare treat to get to read the writing of someone who is so steeped in the primary sources and can pull together many strands of the historical record so capably.
Green's obvious concern that the contemporary church reclaim the evangelistic zeal of the church of the first several centuries makes this book far more than a scholarly tome, but an opportunity to dig deep in the early sources and yet come out thinking about what this means for us today.
At times Green gets distracted by the debates of midcentury NT scholarship, but that's sort of to be expected in this kind of a book.
Perhaps the best part of this book is his ability to paint the picture of the early Christian era in its pagan context. Green actually helped me to understand the pagan mindset toward religion in a profound way.
Read
August 9, 2023Though dry in style, Michael Green's book is a valuable resource for understanding both the how and the why of Christianity's spread in the first 300 years or so. I found his sections on evangelism to Jew and Gentile respectively to be very helpful. I also enjoyed his chapters on conversion and evangelistic methods quite a bit.
The take home is this: the early church was not, for the most part, involved in a programmatic approach to evangelism. With the exception of missionaries such as Paul, the faith appears to have grown rather organically as everyday people from all classes shared their faith in both explicit and subtle ways. Green's historical analysis dismantles the false dichotomies that we have in our discussions of evangelism today. It also does a good job of setting aside the notion of "professional" evangelism, making clear that the early church appeared to believe that evangelism was everyone's job, not just missionaries, preachers, and teachers.
The take home is this: the early church was not, for the most part, involved in a programmatic approach to evangelism. With the exception of missionaries such as Paul, the faith appears to have grown rather organically as everyday people from all classes shared their faith in both explicit and subtle ways. Green's historical analysis dismantles the false dichotomies that we have in our discussions of evangelism today. It also does a good job of setting aside the notion of "professional" evangelism, making clear that the early church appeared to believe that evangelism was everyone's job, not just missionaries, preachers, and teachers.
June 3, 2022
Michael Green provides his readers with an excellent, and comprehensive, overview of early Christian evangelism. He's potentially too thorough, expanding for pages details he could likely have conveyed in sentences, but the book effectively accomplishes the purpose for which he wrote it. Due to the academic nature of the book, I would not recommend it for anyone other than those who (1) are up for the challenge, and (2) have a strong desire to learn more about early Christian evangelism. Those who do undertake the task of reading this book, however, will be duly rewarded.
June 14, 2023
Probably more like 3.5 than 3. Had to read about 150 pages of it for class. Really liked chapters 1, 2, and 7 but chapter 3 I didn’t enjoy as much. Was fun learning about different ways the gospel was able to spread during the first few hundred years after Jesus’s resurrection. I have to write about the different pathways the gospel is able to spread in our current day in age and it is interesting to think about.
October 3, 2018
This was a great book. Read for class, will read again in more detail. There was a lot that I missed. I do not consider this book to be readily accessible for the casually interested. It is an academic work, but it is perfectly readable, and for those who are interested enough to tackle this work, it will pay dividends. Worth a good deal more than time and money invested.
December 21, 2021
The Cornerstone of Evangelism in Embryonic Christianity
Green has a grasp of two important principles: missiology and historical theology. As a result, this book answers many of the questions we 20th and 21st Century Christ-followers have on the mission of bringing the Gospel to the world.
Green has a grasp of two important principles: missiology and historical theology. As a result, this book answers many of the questions we 20th and 21st Century Christ-followers have on the mission of bringing the Gospel to the world.
April 14, 2024
Good book. Things really haven’t changed all that much in 2000 years. Here’s a quote that I feel like summed it up well. “When we no longer see ourselves as dying men preaching to dying men, the absoluteness of the command to evangelize becomes muted, and we draw back before a task which at the best of times is difficult, delicate and very demanding.”
April 23, 2024
This book is an incredibly informative about what made evangelism in the early church so effective. Green effectively balances reporting simple historical facts about the early church and interpreting these facts to make them relevant to the needs of the modern church.
April 3, 2018
Excellent overview evangelism in the first centuries after Christ. Early Christians used more personal meetings and discussions than great meeting or "evangelism conferences".
August 10, 2018
This was a very interesting account of the history and development of evangelism and apologetics.
December 31, 2019
Simply put, this is the best book on evangelism I’ve ever read.
September 12, 2021
Very good. A bit academic, but very clear!
September 14, 2021
Um ótimo livro para entender a história da igreja na evangelização em seus primeiros 3 séculos e um ótimo manual de evangelismo! Leitura com muitas informações, porém todas muito valiosas
November 19, 2021
Boring! But has some good points
November 28, 2022
Makes some good points. Could have been more concise at places and focus more on the wealth of biblical evidence.
February 7, 2024
When I read the first edition of this book, back when I was in my early 20s (around 1981/2), it sparked an interest in Early Church History that has remained with me to this day - some 40 years later. There is always a danger of coming back to a book that influenced you decades earlier - because you have grown and changed. While my first read was life changing, and I cannot say the same for the current read - nor was I expecting that. However, it was like visiting with an old friend. I thoroughly enjoyed the journey through this revised edition. As an author the late Michael Green still speaks well to me; and he continues to challenge me and encourage me.
I would argue that this is still a good book to get to know the early church. While there are many fine history book, Green’s approach of looking at how Evangelism was done in the first few centuries, introduces most of the key characters - and hopefully the reader will be like me and want to find out more :)
It would have been nice to have a “For Further Reading” section, but back when it was written (over 50 years ago) and when it was revised (20 years ago) there was not as many books as there are now - or at least the books today are easier to get.
I would argue that this is still a good book to get to know the early church. While there are many fine history book, Green’s approach of looking at how Evangelism was done in the first few centuries, introduces most of the key characters - and hopefully the reader will be like me and want to find out more :)
It would have been nice to have a “For Further Reading” section, but back when it was written (over 50 years ago) and when it was revised (20 years ago) there was not as many books as there are now - or at least the books today are easier to get.
December 14, 2014
Evangelism in the Early Church is a superb introduction to, resource on, and portrait of the early Church’s evangelistic endeavors. In the introduction Green shares his passion for both Evangelism and Theology and this dual-focus is evident throughout the book. Green is both careful and skillful in his analysis, presentation, and application of his insights on the state of the early Church and the early Church Fathers who followed in their footsteps. While it is not for everyone (highly academic and not the most accessible) and while it has its areas of weakness, those who are dedicated enough to the material will reap rich rewards from his study on the message, messengers, and methods God used to spread the gospel and grow the Church in the first few centuries. As our culture increasingly reflects the circumstances the early Church encountered in the ancient world, it is a more timely set of lessons than ever. May we as the Church and the successors to the earliest believers rise to Green’s challenge of being willing to pay the price to return evangelism to the place of first importance that it held for them.
October 16, 2015
I have mixed feelings about this interesting book.
Pros:
- At times a fascinating study of the evangelistic practices of the early church in the first few centuries
- Provides many helpful summaries of the cultural, political, and religious environment that the early church ministered in
- Written in a very passionate style that is often very moving to read
- Good at making highly practical applications of early church issues to modern day evangelism
Cons:
- Sometimes gets too bogged down discussing scholarly debates and opinions
- Often spends more time examining the beliefs and practices of the apostles than of the generations of Christians that followed them; thus, it often feels more like a commentary on the New Testament text than a study of the early church
- Seems to take on a surprisingly critical attitude towards the New Testament writers at times; Green seems comfortable claiming that the apostles and NT writers sometimes contradicted each other, were sometimes wrong in their theology, and were sometimes partially responsible for harmful attitudes (e.g., anti-Semitism) that took shape in later generations of Christians
Pros:
- At times a fascinating study of the evangelistic practices of the early church in the first few centuries
- Provides many helpful summaries of the cultural, political, and religious environment that the early church ministered in
- Written in a very passionate style that is often very moving to read
- Good at making highly practical applications of early church issues to modern day evangelism
Cons:
- Sometimes gets too bogged down discussing scholarly debates and opinions
- Often spends more time examining the beliefs and practices of the apostles than of the generations of Christians that followed them; thus, it often feels more like a commentary on the New Testament text than a study of the early church
- Seems to take on a surprisingly critical attitude towards the New Testament writers at times; Green seems comfortable claiming that the apostles and NT writers sometimes contradicted each other, were sometimes wrong in their theology, and were sometimes partially responsible for harmful attitudes (e.g., anti-Semitism) that took shape in later generations of Christians
February 12, 2016
This book had some really engaging information, particularly when addressing the Messianic expectations and the Jewish setting at the time of Christ. Micheal Green shines when he goes about showing the historical setting and the vast positions on the prophecy and promise of the Messiah. There is also some good information on the method of evangelism in the Early Church. I do think that this book could have been condensed by 100 pages or so, as it drags on at times. Over all solid book and a great resource to have.
February 27, 2014
Excellent content, outstanding research, decent practical application but the writing was only fair. The revised edition has a little more pastoral bent to what is otherwise an excellent guide to early church research. Green gives a wide view of the church fathers (primarily the first two centuries) and provides wonderful historical context for all his claims. It is well worth a read.
January 24, 2024
Esse Quam ideri
Do not waste your money on this kindle book. The limit on copy amount prevents you from capturing the lengthy notes for all chapters.
Of no use to a serious exploration and further study. Buy paper from a good used book dealer since you will have to write out all the needed notes.
Do not waste your money on this kindle book. The limit on copy amount prevents you from capturing the lengthy notes for all chapters.
Of no use to a serious exploration and further study. Buy paper from a good used book dealer since you will have to write out all the needed notes.
March 13, 2016
Too long. But I really enjoyed several sections, particularly the chapters on 1st century Jewish and Greco-Roman culture. It was fascinating to read of the avenues that God had prepared for the early Church as they translated the Gospel into their cultural settings.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews