Early Christianity

and twentieth centuries Towards modernity: early Christianity in the nineteenth

nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw remarkable advances
in the study of early Christianity. These developments are inex-
tricably bound up with changes in the structure of knowledge
over the last two hundred years. The publication of Charles
Darwin’s The Origin of Speciesin 1859, whatever the personal
views of its author, irrevocably challenged the notion of a divinely
created universe; the centrality of religious institutions suddenly
became precarious; the forces of secularization gained new
impetus. A major influence has come from changes in the struc-
ture of universities and the professionalization of academic
disciplines. New methodologies have emerged in the study of
early Christianity and, at the same time, many of the resources
that form the basis for modern research. In short, the last two
centuries have been characterized as witnessing a shift ‘from
dogma to history’ as ‘the study of the early Church [moved] from
the study of the history of the development of doctrinal ortho-
doxy to the history of Christianity in all its many forms and ideals’
(Frend 2003: 1).
A crucial influence was exerted by the German scholar
Adolf von Harnack (1851–1930). A Lutheran who initially
pursued the study of theology, Harnack found himself uninspired
by the abstractions of philosophy but fired by the study of church
history. He served as professor of ecclesiastical history at various
German universities, culminating in an appointment (secured by
the personal intervention of Kaiser Wilhelm II) at the Humboldt
University in Berlin. Throughout his career, Harnack was a
zealous advocate of the study of early church history, arguing that
it could be used to correct uncritical dogmatic opinion. He pub-
lished widely on various aspects of early Christianity, but perhaps
his most lasting contribution was in the area of textual criticism.
Harnack’s energy in this field was instrumental in launching two
important series of publications: Texte und Untersuchungen zur
Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur(Texts and Studies on the

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