Philosophy, Theology and Jesus in Early Christianity

This volume explores how Greco-Roman philosophy shaped early Christian reflection on the person and teachings of Jesus, offering thirteen studies on a variety of second-century Christian thinkers. The essays in this volume dispense with the reductive dichotomy by which early Christian authors are too often defined, as either philosophical or traditional thinkers. The contributions instead demonstrate how the commitments of these Christian authors to various philosophical ideas, on the one hand, and the traditions about Jesus, on the other hand, produced a fascinating dialectic which was generative for both Christian theology and the transmission of Jesus tradition. Each essay offers fresh, original insights into the philosophical frameworks through which second-century Christians understood Jesus. Taken together, these studies present a complex picture of the diversity and innovation of Christian thought during the period between the earliest written Gospels and the emergence of more institutional forms of Christianity. Philosophy, Theology and Jesus in Early Christianity is suitable for students and scholars interested in biblical reception and the history of Christian theology and philosophy, particularly those studying the intellectual developments of the second century.