handbooks, dictionaries and encyclopaedias come in useful.
Closely related to the broad surveys discussed above are those
volumes of collected essays that cover many basic aspects of early
Christian history. Hazlett 1991 is handy and brief, with essays on
background context, on themes in early Christian history, and on
the sources and their interpretation. Rather grander and more
up-to-date are the two volumes of Esler 2000. Handsomely
produced, these volumes contain introductions to a wide range of
topics, encompassing social history, theology, institutional devel-
opment, and archaeology. When it appears, Harvey and Hunter
(forthcoming) promises to be the standard work in the field.
Briefer articles may be found in a wide range of ency-
clopaedias and dictionaries where the entries are arranged
alphabetically rather than thematically, as is the case with Hazlett
and Esler. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church(revised
edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997) edited by F. L.
Cross and E. A. Livingstone, now in its third edition, is a basic
tool for those working on any period of Christian history. It
contains short articles, complete with rudimentary bibliography,
on personalities and movements from all periods of Christian
history, with early Christianity being quite well represented. For
background material, but also some Christian items too, there
is simply no better and more comprehensive guide than the
third edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary(Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1996), edited by Simon Hornblower and
Anthony Spawforth; its format of short entries followed by
summary bibliographies is almost identical to that of the Oxford
Dictionary of the Christian Church. The OCD– as the Oxford
Classical Dictionaryis usually abbreviated – is now also avail-
able on CD-ROM. Cambridge University Press is producing its
own classical encyclopaedia, tentatively called the Cambridge
Dictionary of Classical Civilization, edited by Lin Foxhall, David
Mattingly, Graham Shipley, and John Vanderspoel. It is intended
to be livelier and less technical than the OCD, and is aimed delib-
erately at a less academic-oriented audience, but the date and
format of its publication are not yet certain.DISCOVERING EARLY CHRISTIANITY
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