The Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries

by Adolf von Harnack

Preface to the First German Edition
Preface to the Second German Edition.
Table of Contents
Book I. Introductory.
Chapter I. Judaism: Its Diffusion and Limits.
Chapter II. The External Conditions of the World-wide Expansion of the Christian Religion.
Chapter III. The Internal Conditions Determining the World-wide Expansion of the Christian Religion—Religious Syncretism.
Chapter IV. Jesus Christ and the Universal Mission.
Chapter V. The Transition from the Jewish to the Gentile Mission.
Chapter VI. Results of the Mission of Paul and of the First Missonaries.
Book II. The Mission—Preaching in Word and Deed.
Chapter I. Religious Characteristics of the Mission-Preaching.
Chapter II. The Gospel of the Saviour and of Salvation.
Chapter III. The Conflict with Demons.
Chapter IV. The Gospel of Love and Charity.
Chapter 5. The Religion of the Spirit and of Power, of Moral Earnestness and Holiness.
Chapter 6. The Religion of Authority and of Reason, of the Mysteries and of Transcendentalism.
Chapter 7. The Tidings of the New People and of the Third Race: The Historical and Political Consciousness of Christiandom.
Excursus. Christian’s as a Third Race, in the Judgment of Their Opponents.
Chapter 8. The Religion of a Book and a Historical Realization.
Chapter 9. The Conflict with Polytheism and Idolatry.
Epilogue. Christianity in its Completed Form as Syncretistic Religion.
Book III. The Missionaries: The Methods of the Mission and the Counter-movements.
Chapter I. The Christian Missionaries (Apostles, Evangelists, and Prophets or Teachers: The Informal Missionaries)
Excursus. Travelling: The Exchange of Letters and Literature.
Chapter II. Methods of the Mission: Catechizing and Baptism, the Invasion of Domestic Life.
Chapter III. The Names of Christian Believers.
Excursus I. “Friends.”
Excursus 2. Christian Names.
Chapter IV. The Organization of the Christian Community, as Bearing upon the Christian Mission.
Excursus I. Ecclesiastical Organization and the Episcopate (in the Provinces, the Cities, and the Villages), from Pius to Constantine.
Excursus II. The Catholic Confederation and the Mission.
Excursus 3. The Primacy of Rome in Relation to the Mission.
Chapter V. Counter-movements.
Addenda

Genres: History, Religion

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1904

About the author

Carl Gustav Adolf von Harnack (7 May 1851 – 10 June 1930) was a German Lutheran theologian and prominent church historian. He produced many religious publications from 1873 to 1912 (in which he is sometimes credited as Adolf Harnack).

Harnack traced the influence of Hellenistic philosophy on early Christian writing and called on Christians to question the authenticity of doctrines that arose in the early Christian church. He rejected the historicity of the Gospel of John in favor of the Synoptic Gospels, criticized the Apostles' Creed, and promoted the Social Gospel.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is both a tremendously ponderous and important book in the fine tradition of German biblical scholarship. Von Harnack had surveyed all the sources available by the beginning of the twentieth century in constructing this tome. He not only provides copious notes, documenting his claims, but even footnotes some of his footnotes which sometimes occupy more space in a page than the text of the book does. God, I love this kind of pedantry!

If you are really interested in the history of the expansion of the early church, read this--everyone else in the field has.

These volumes were read over a series of nights while between rounds as a security guard at Union Theological Seminary in New York, the work-study job I had throughout the four years resident there.