000			04723cam a2200349 i 4500
001			38990
003			OCoLC
005			20250122153232.0
008			230629s2023 miub b 001 0 eng
010			_a 2023016748
020			_a9780310147817 _q(paperback)
020			_a0310147816 _q(paperback)
035			_a(OCoLC)1388322320 _z(OCoLC)1424965365
040			_aNcWfSB/DLC _beng _erda _cDLC _dBDX _dOCLCO _dOCLCF _dCLE _dOCLCO _dDTM _dYDX _dMNN _dOCLCA _dPTS _dLTS
042			_apcc
049			_aLTS
082	0	0	_a261 Williams
100	1		_aWilliams, Nadya, _d1981- _eauthor.
245	1	0	_aCultural Christians in the early church : _ba historical and practical introduction to Christians in the Greco-Roman world / _cNadya Williams.
264		1	_aGrand Rapids, Michigan : _bZondervan Academic, _c[2023]
300			_axxviii, 220 pages : _bmap ; _c23 cm.
336			_atext _btxt _2rdacontent.
337			_aunmediated _bn _2rdamedia.
338			_avolume _bnc _2rdacarrier.
504			_aIncludes bibliographical references and indexes.
505	0	0	_gPart 1: _tCultural Christians in the New Testament era. _tMore for me, less for thee : the curious case of sharing without caring in the early church -- _tBBQ and wine : when food leads to sin -- _t(Un)holy bodies, (un)holy minds : resisting the cultural views of sexuality. -- _gPart 2: _tCultural Christians in the age of persecution. _tTrouble in Bithynia : how cultural sins lead to apostasy -- _tUnexpected martyrs : women's challenge to cultural Christianity in the third-century church -- _tWhen sharing and caring disappear : the problem of self-care in the age of crisis. -- _gPart 3: _tCultural Christians in the age of Constantine and beyond. _t"Are you washed in the blood?" : sectarian violence among cultural Christians -- _tThe altar and the cross : Christian nationalism in the twilight of empire -- _tThe siren call of the desert : why running away from the church cannot solve the problem of cultural sin.
520			_a"Cultural Christians in the Early Church considers the challenge of culture to the earliest converts to Christianity, as they struggled to live on mission in the Greco-Roman cultural milieu of the Roman Empire, and argues that cultural Christians were the rule, rather than the exception, in the early church"-- _cProvided by publisher.
520			_a"In the middle of the third century CE, one North African bishop wrote a treatise for the women of his church, exhorting them to resist such culturally normalized yet immodest behaviors in their cosmopolitan Roman city as mixed public bathing in the nude, and wearing excessive amounts of jewelry and makeup. The treatise appears even more striking, once we realize that the scandalous virgins to whom it was addressed were single women who had dedicated their virginity to Christ. Stories like this one challenge the general assumption among Christians today that the earliest Christians were zealous converts who were much more counterculturally devoted to their faith than typical church-goers today. Too often Christians today think of cultural Christianity as a modern concept, and one most likely to occur in areas where Christianity is the majority culture, such as the American "Bible Belt." The story that this book presents, refutes both of these assumptions. Cultural Christians in the Early Church, which aims to be both historical and practical, argues that cultural Christians were the rule, rather than the exception, in the early church. Using different categories of sins as its organizing principle, the book considers the challenge of culture to the earliest converts to Christianity, as they struggled to live on mission in the Greco-Roman cultural milieu of the Roman Empire. These believers blurred and pushed the boundaries of what it meant to be a saint or sinner from the first to the fifth centuries CE, and their stories provide the opportunity to get to know the regular people in the early churches. At the same time, their stories provide a fresh perspective for considering the difficult timeless questions that stubbornly persist in our own world and churches: when is it a sin to eat or not eat a particular food? Are women inherently more sinful than men? And why is Christian nationalism a problem and, at times, a sin? Ultimately, recognizing that cultural sins were always a part of the story of the church and its people is a message that is both a source of comfort and a call to action in our pursuit of sanctification today"-- _cProvided by publisher.
650		0	_aChristianity and culture _xHistory _yEarly church, ca. 30-600.
650		0	_aChurch history _yPrimitive and early church, ca. 30-600.
942			_2ddc _cBK _h261 _mWilliams _n0
999			_c38990 _d38990