From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity (2004)
From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity (2004) Teaching Company professor Bart Ehrman, in 24 lectures, provides exceptional insights into the scholarly wasteland that encompasses the first three centuries of Christianity. Professor Ehrman tells the story of how, over centuries, core issues, such as whether Jesus was human or divine, whether salvation came from Jesus’ death and resurrection or from knowledge (Gnostics), and the pressures to ‘institutionalize’ Christianity, were pragmatically resolved. During the initial century, there seemed no clear cohesion to Christianity. By the 4th century, with Constantine’s blessing, the Council of Nicaea, and the primacy of the bishop of Rome, the Catholic Church established doctrines that categorized opponents as heretics.
Personally I was especially intrigued by Ehrman’s historical explanation of the Holy Trinity. That this was not integral to early Christian beliefs illustrates the theological compromises enacted in order to achieve ‘Catholic unity.’ Clearly Ehrman has mined to the utmost diverse sources on these early Christian centuries. The result is a far more convincing historical story line than Eusebius’s The History of the Church. I find that From Jesus to Constantine is breakthrough scholarship that is supplemented by Keith Hopkins’ scholarly-and-supposition book, A World Full of Gods: The Strange Triumph of Christianity(1999).
