Edited by Bart D. Ehrman
Revealing the rich diversity of the early Christian movement, this reader brings together an extensive selection of texts from the second and third centuries, both "orthodox" and "heterodox." Selections include the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the writings of Nag Hammadi, early
pseudepigrapha, martyrologies, anti-Jewish tractates, heresiologies, canon lists, church orders, liturgical texts, and theological treatises. Featuring large textual excerpts - entire documents wherever possible - concise introductions, and lucid, up-to-date translations, After the New Testament is
ideal for courses in Early Christianity, Christian Origins, and Early Church History.
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part One: General Introduction
Part Two: The Spread of Christianity: Early Christians and their Converts
1. The Acts of John
2. The Acts of Thomas
3. Justin: Dialogue with Trypho
Part Three: The Attack on Christianity: Persecution and Martyrdom
in the Early Church
4. Pliny's Letter to Trajan
5. The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans
6. The Martyrdom of Polycarp
7. The Letter of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons
8. The Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs
9. The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas
Part Four: The Defense of
Christianity: Pagan Antagonists and Early Christian Apologists
Pagan Assaults on Christianity
10. Minucius Felix: Octavius
11. Celsus
12. Porphyry
Christian Apologists
13. Justin's First Apology
14. Athenagoras: Plea Regarding the Christians
15. The Letter to
Diognetus
16. Tertullian: Apology
17. Origen: Against Celsus
Part Five: Anti-Judaic Polemic: The Opposition to Jews in Early Christianity
18. The Epistle of Barnabas
19. Justin: Dialogue with Trypho
20. Melito of Sardis: "On the Passover"
21. Tertullian: Answer to the
Jews
Part Six: The Diversity of Early Christianity: Writings Later Deemed Heretical
Jewish Christian Texts
22. The Gospel to the Ebionites
23. The "Letter of Peter to James" and Its "Reception"
24. The Homilies of Clement
Gnostic Christian Texts
Sethian Texts
25. The
Secret Book of John
26. The First Thought in Three Forms
27. The Revelation of Adam
Valentinian Texts
28. The Gospel of Truth
29. The Treatise on the Resurrection
30. The Gospel of Philip
Thomasine Texts
31. The Hymn of the Pearl
32. The Book of Thomas
Other
Gnostic Texts
33. On the Origin of the World
34. The Wisdom of Jesus Christ
Part Seven: The Internal Conflicts of Christianity: Writings Against the "Heretics"
Proto-Orthodox Heresiologists
35. Irenaeus: Against the Heresies
36. Tertullian: Prescription of the
Heretics
37. Tertullian: On the Flesh of Christ
38. Tertullian: Against Praxeas
"Gnostic" Heresiologists
39. The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter
40. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth
Part Eight: "Apostolic" Writings Outside the Canon: Early Christian Apocrypha
Apocryphal
Gospels
41. The Proto-Gospel of James
42. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas
43. The Gospel of Thomas
44. The Gospel of Judas
45. The Gospel of Peter
46. The Gospel of Mary
47. The Epistle of the Apostles
Apocryphal Acts
48. Acts of Thomas
49. Acts of Peter
50.
Acts of Paul
51. Acts of John
Apocryphal Epistles
52. The Letters of Abgar and Jesus
53. Paul's Third Letter to the Corinthians
54. Paul's Letter to the Laodiceans
55. The Correspondence Between Paul and Seneca
Apocryphal Apocalypses
56. The Apocalypse of
Peter
57. The Apocalypse of Paul
58. The Ascension of Isaiah
Part Nine: The New Scriptures: Canonical Lists in Early Christianity
59. The Muratorian Canon
60. Irenaeus: Against the Heresies
61. Origen of Alexandria
62. Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History
Part Ten: Text
and Meaning: The Interpretation of Scripture in Early Christianity
63. Ptolemy's Letter to Flora
64. Irenaeus: Against the Heresies
65. Tertullian: Prescription of the Heretics and Against Marcion
66. Origen: Commentary on John
67. Origen: On First Principles
Part Eleven: The
Proclamation of the Word: Homilies in Early Christianity
68. Second Clement
69. Origen: Homilies on Luke
70. Origen: Homilies on Genesis
Part Twelve: The Structure of Early Christianity: The Development of Church Offices
71. First Clement
72. The Didache
73. The Letters
of Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, and Smyrneans
74. Hippolytus: The Apostolic Tradition
75. The Didascalia
76. Cyprian: On the Unity of the Church
Part Thirteen: The Development of the Liturgy: Ritual Practices in Early Christianity
77. The Didache
78. Justin: The
First Apology
79. Tertullian: Apology
80. Tertullian: On the Crown
81. Hippolytus: The Apostolic Tradition
82. The Didascalia
Part Fourteen: Women and Gender: Christianity in a Patriarchal World
83. The Acts of Thecla
84. The Acts of Peter
85. The Gospel of the
Egyptians
86. Irenaeus: Against the Heresies
87. Clement of Alexandria: Miscellanies
88. Tertullian: On the Dress of Women
89. Women Montanist Prophets
Part Fifteen: Leading the Upright Life: The Role of Ethics in Early Christianity
90. The Didache
91. Clement of
Alexandria: "The Educator"
92. Tertullian: To His Wife
Part Sixteen: The Emergence of Orthodoxy: Theological Writings of Proto-Orthodox Christians
93. Tertullian: Against Praxeas
94. Origen: On First Principles
95. Novatian: On the Trinity
96. Dionysius of Rome: Letter to
Dionysius of Alexandria
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Bart D. Ehrman is James A. Gray Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has written or edited more than twenty-five books, including The Bible (2013), Forgery and Counterforgery (2013), The New Testament, Fifth Edition (2012), and The
Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, Second Edition (2011), all published by Oxford University Press.
