Description
Book SynopsisThe Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Archaeology brings together expert work by leading scholars of the archaeology of Early Christianity and the Roman world in the Mediterranean and surrounding regions. The thirty-four contributions to this volume survey Christian material culture and ground the history, culture, and society of the first seven centuries of Christianity in archaeological method, theory, and research. The essays emphasize the link between archaeological fieldwork, methods, and regional and national traditions in constructing our knowledge of the Early Church and Christian communities within the context of the ancient Mediterranean, Near East, and Europe. Three sweeping introductory essays provide historical perspectives on the archaeology of the Early Christian world. These are followed by a series of topical treatments that focus on monuments and environments ranging from Christian churches to catacombs, martyria, and baths, as well as classes of objects of religious significance such as ceramics, lamps, and icons. Finally, the volume locates the archaeology of the Early Christian world in fifteen regional studies stretching from Britain to Persia, highlighting the unique historical contexts that have shaped scholarly discussion across time and space. The thorough, carefully-researched essays offer the most intensive, state-of-the-art treatment of recent research into the archaeology of Early Christianity available.
Trade ReviewOxford remains at the vanguard of well-researched topical summaries. Pettegrew, Caraher, and Davis are to be commended for offering an impressive range of interdisciplinary voices and expanding both the thematic and geographical horizons of archaeological investigations into Christian origins. * Church History *
With thirty-four essays and dozens of images and illustrations, this is an outstanding resource, both for scholars in the field and for use by teachers hoping to cast light on the oft-overlooked material culture of the New Testament and the early church. * Religious Studies Review *
This book is a timely and well-crafted contribution to the field of early Christian studies.... This handbook succeeds in showing the best of the field as it is today — a rigorous, holistic field that employs cutting-edge theory and methods.... The handbook will serve well as a primary entry point for students, scholars, and the general public interested in the field. It succeeds in presenting the archaeology of Late Antique Christianity as it is today, a field that has gotten past early problems in aims and methods and is now firmly rooted in 21st-century archaeology. The volume reflects an exciting moment of experimentation and broadening horizons. * American Journal of Archaeology *
Presenting a lush harvest of several decades of archaeological exploration of materials documenting the Christian faith, this Oxford Handbook offers fascinating snapshots of the lived reality of early Christianity.... The editors are to be congratulated for having assembled a highly readable collection that demonstrates both the good use to which the handbook-genre can be put as well as — and more importantly — the vitality and significance of the study of material remains that are relics of the lives of Christians in the long first half millennium CE. * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *
remains a tremendous reference for those interested in the field * and also interested in Christian origins and church history ... [it] will serve as a benchmark survey for years to come.Jamin Andreas Hübner, Reading Religion *
Table of Contents1. The Archaeology of Early Christianity: The History, Methods, and State of a Field William R. Caraher and David K. Pettegrew PART I. THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF ANCIENT CHRISTIANITY 2. Archaeology of the Gospels James F. Strange 3. New Testament Archaeology beyond the Gospels Thomas W. Davis PART II. SACRED SPACE AND MORTUARY CONTEXTS 4. The Catacombs Vincenzo Fiocchi Nicolai 5. Martyria David L. Eastman 6. Burials and Human Remains in Early Christian Context Sherry C. Fox and Paraskevi Tritsaroli 7. Churches Charles Stewart 8. The Archaeology of Early Monastic Communities Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom 9. Baptisteries in Ancient Sites and Rites H. Richard Rutherford 10. Baths, Christianity, and Bathing Culture in Late Antiquity Dallas DeForest PART III. ART AND ARTIFACTS IN CONTEXT 11. The Art of the Catacombs Fabrizio Bisconti 12. Visual Rhetoric of Early Christian Reliquaries Galit Noga-Banai 13. An Anarchéologie of Icons Gleen Peers 14. Spolia, its Viewers, and the 'Victory of Christianity' Jon Michael Frey 15. Early Christian Mosaics in Context Karen C. Britt 16. Pottery R. Scott Moore 17. Lamps Maria Parani 18. Statues Troels Myrup Kristensen 19. Amulets and the Ritual Efficacy of Christian Symbols Rangar H. Cline PART IV. CHRISTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY IN REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE 20. Christian Archaeology in Palestine: the Roman and Byzantine Periods Joan E. Taylor 21. Jordan Robert Schick 22. Syria Emma Loosley 23. The Church of the East until the 8th century Stefan R. Hauser 24. Armenia Christina Maranci 25. The Holy Island: An Archaeology of Early Christian Cyprus Jody Michael Gordon and William R. Caraher 26. Asia Minor Peter Talloen 27. Community, Church and Conversion in the prefecture of Illyricum and the Cyclades Rebecca Sweetman 28. The Early Christian Archaeology of the Balkans William Bowden 29. The Archaeology of Early Italian Churches in Context, AD 313-569 Alexandra Chavarría 30. The Christianization of Gaul: Buildings and Territories Bastien Lefebvre 31. Britain and Ireland, AD 100-700 David Petts 32. Constructing Christian Landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula: The Archaeological Evidence (4th-6th centuries) Alexandra Chavarría 33. Incorporating Christian communities in North Africa. Churches as bodies of communal history Susan T. Stevens 34. Archaeology of Early Christianity in Egypt Darlene L. Brooks Hedstrom Index
