Frend's masterful survey, here presented with a new Preface and updated bibliographies, traces the historical and theological development of the Christian church from apostolic times through the fifth century. Frend charts the tumultuous and momentous process by which an obscure Palestinian Jewish sect became the official religion of the Roman Empire and achieved, despite conflict, schism, and heresy, a firm organizational, liturgical and doctrinal identity. The Early Church is an introduction to the patristic period, covering up thru 461 A.D. The author gives great attention to the social and political realities surrounding and affecting events, personalities, and disputes in the Christian movement. His is an interdisciplinary approach to history. W.H.C. Frend provides the reader with an unusually comprehensive and penetrating view of the church's initial centuries. Includes notes, brief bibliographies, an index, and a chronological table of events. W.H.C. Frend is Emeritus Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. This item is an abridged form of the much more extensive early Church history by the same author: The Rise of Christianity
