Empire Criticism of the New Testament

New Approaches

Edited by Christoph Heilig

Book cover: Empire Criticism of the New Testament

Extent: 409 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Biblical Studies, Religious Studies

Series: Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

Language: English

Hardback (Unspecified)

(October 2025)

ISBN: 9783161643880

6.1 x 9.13 inches

Price: $193.00

In stock

How did early Christians navigate daily life in the Roman Empire? Leading experts introduce innovative methodological approaches and demonstrate through detailed textual analyses that this question requires nuanced consideration and is essential for understanding early Christian texts.


English summary: The question of how early Christians navigated their daily existence within the Roman Empire has become a subject of heated debate in recent years. This volume gathers experts who focus on one methodological approach each to shed new light on this question. In doing so, this collection moves from simply debating whether or not early Christians expressed criticism of the Roman Empire to offering detailed analyses of complex dynamics. Each contribution offers an important perspective to a multifaceted image – one that allows for variegated forms and fronts of critical interaction by early Christian writers. The volume thus shows that situating these texts within their imperial contexts by considering material culture and up-to-date theoretical frameworks is a crucial task for New Testament and early Christian studies. Due to its distinctive layout, with each specialist first introducing an analytical tool before then applying it in a nuanced way to primary texts, this volume not only provides both a definitive account of where the field stands and charts new territory for future research but also serves as a textbook for advanced students. German description: Wie bestritten fruhe Christen ihren Alltag im Romischen Reich? In diesem, auch als Lehrbuch geeigneten Band fuhren Experten in innovative methodische Ansatze ein und weisen durch detaillierte Textanalysen nach, dass diese Fragestellung einer nuancierten Betrachtung bedarf und fur das Verstandnis fruhchristlicher Texte essentiell ist.

  • Edited by Christoph Heilig