of the Pope." --Book Jacket.

How did Christianity come to win official recognition from the state in A.D. 325? Why then? Why not until then? Harnack outlines answers to these questions and analysis the causes and courses of this transition. A standard work on the early expansion of the church by one of the greatest students of early Christianity in the last 200 years.

Christianity and the Christian Church of the First Three Centuries is the first volume in Baur’s five-volume history of the Christian Church. It and the last volume, Church and Theology in the Nineteenth Century, are being published in new translations. This book, based on the second German edition of 1860, is the most influential and best known of Baur’s many groundbreaking publications in New Testament, early Christianity, church history, and historical theology. It is divided into six main parts and discusses such matters as the entrance of Christianity into world history, the teaching and person of Jesus, the tension between Jewish Christian and gentile Christian (Pauline) interpretations and their resolution in the idea of the Catholic Church, the opposition of Gnosticism and Montanism to Catholicism, the development of dogma or doctrine in the first three centuries, Christianity’s relation to the pagan world and the Roman state, and Christianity as a moral and religious principle.

This collection of essays by contemporary historians considers how after two centuries of scholarship we can best explain Christianity's rise to dominance.

Philip Schaff almost needs no introduction. He wrote one of the finest histories of the church. His work, the History of the Christian Church, has become a benchmark on the subject. In his eight volume set he covers just about every issue concerning the church from the time of the Apostles through the Reformation. He incorporates discussion of ideas and principles throughout the history of the church. In this eBook all eight volumes are present and there is also a linked table of contents for every section. We have also labeled every section and chapter so that it will be easier to navigate through the volumes. This material has been carefully compared, corrected, and amended, according to the 1910 edition of Charles Scribner's Sons. Here are the general titles of each of the volumes: Volume One THE FIRST PERIOD APOSTLIC CHRISTIANITY A.D. 1-100. Volume II SECOND PERIOD ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIANITY A.D. 100-311 (325). Volume III THIRD PERIOD THE CHURCH IN UNION WITH THE ROMAN EMPIRE FROM CONSTANTINE THE GREAT TO GREGORY THE GREAT. A.D. 311-590. Volume IV MEDIAEVAL CHRISTIANITY From Gregory I to Gregory VII A.D. 590-1073 Volume V FROM GREGORY VII. TO BONIFACE VIII. A. D. 1049-1294. Volume VI FROM BONIFACE VIII. TO MARTIN LUTHER. A.D. 1294-1517. THE SIXTH PERIOD OF CHURCH HISTORY. Volume VII HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 1517 - 1648. Volume VIII SECOND BOOK. THE SWISS REFORMATION. THIRD BOOK. THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND, OR THE CALVINISTIC MOVEMENT.

Using basic concepts of economic theory, the authors explain the origin and subsequent spread of Roman Christianity, showing first how the standard concepts of risk, cost and benefit can account for the demand for religion.

First published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.