This exciting handbook of the Early Church will intrigue laypersons, clergy and scholars alike. It departs from the traditional “history of doctrine” to focus on the struggles of early Christian communities to organize themselves, to sort out the roles of women, slaves, children and the differently abled and to create forms of unity within the remarkable diversity they embraced.

Karen Jo Torjesen, Claremont Graduate Union California, USA

This Handbook is a breath of fresh air: it breaks free of the usual history of doctrine approach to the early Church to give an account of the wide range of different contexts in which Christian self-understanding and practice were formed. It will enable those who study this extraordinary period to learn with and within the early Church; to have their thinking and actions shaped and informed by it.

Carol Harrison, University of Oxford, UK

This is a wonderfully rich collection of essays exploring many different aspects of the early centuries of Christian history, theology, spirituality, and so much more. It is sure to become the standard go-to handbook for scholars, students, and all those interested in early Christianity.

John Behr, Aberdeen University, UK