Early Christianity

includePaulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswis-

senschaft (Pauly’s Specialist Encyclopaedia on the Study of

Classical Antiquity), abbreviated as RE, was originally published

1894–1967. A new edition Der Neue Pauly: Enzyklopädie der

Antikewas published between 1996 and 2003 and is appearing

in an English translation (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2002– ). However,

the first edition is still worth consulting, not least because many

of its entries are much more detailed than those in the second

edition.

There are some multi-volume compendia of essays that

contain much that is valuable for the study of early Christianity.

Most important is the new edition of The Cambridge Ancient

History(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996–2000).

Volumes 10–11 cover the first and second centuries, and volumes

13–14 the period after Constantine. The second edition of volume

12 (on the third century) is promised soon. Rather more erratic

in terms of organization, but including much that is directly

relevant to early Christianity, is Aufstieg und Niedergang der

römischen Welt(The Rise and Decline of the Roman World)

(Berlin and New York: De Gruyter, 1972– ), commonly abbrevi-

ated as ANRW.

Source materials

Biblical texts

Recommending versions of biblical texts for the student of early

Christianity is a thankless task. A primary reason is that the

text of the Bible was subject to change during the early Christian

centuries (see p. 67), making it well nigh impossible to recom-

mend a modern version that corresponds to what people in

antiquity would have known. In addition, not all modern

Christians agree which books are canonical, so that the bibles they

use will often contain different collections of books; likewise,

many can be so devoted to a particular translation of their scrip-

tures that suggesting that they should try another runs the risk of

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