This book focuses on conversion and Christendom, and the relationship of one to the other. Alan Kreider helps readers think about the meaning of the word Christendom, its character and inner dynamics, arguing that methods of conversion produced Christendom. This study, then, examines Christendom as the product of conversion, the latter understood as changes within categories of belief, belonging, and behavior.

This book focuses on conversion and Christendom, and the relationship of one to the other. Alan Kreider helps readers think about the meaning of the word Christendom, its character and inner dynamics, arguing that methods of conversion produced Christendom. This study, then, examines Christendom as the product of conversion, the latter understood as changes within categories of belief, belonging, and behavior.

This tenth anniversary revised edition of the authoritative text on Christianity's first thousand years of history features a new preface, additional color images, and an updated bibliography. The essential general survey of medieval European Christendom, Brown's vivid prose charts the compelling and tumultuous rise of an institution that came to wield enormous religious and secular power. Clear and vivid history of Christianity's rise and its pivotal role in the making of Europe Written by the celebrated Princeton scholar who originated of the field of study known as 'late antiquity' Includes a fully updated bibliography and index

The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion offers a comprehensive exploration of the dynamics of religious conversion, which for centuries has profoundly shaped societies, cultures, and individuals throughout the world. Scholars from a wide array of religions and disciplines interpret both the varieties of conversion experiences and the processes that inform this personal and communal phenomenon. This volume examines the experiences of individuals and communities who change religions, those who experience an intensification of their religion of origin, and those who encounter new religions through colonial intrusion, missionary work, and charismatic and revitalization movements. The thirty-two innovative essays provide overviews of the history of particular religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, indigenous religions, and new religious movements. The essays also offer a wide range of disciplinary perspectives-psychological, sociological, anthropological, legal, political, feminist, and geographical-on methods and theories deployed in understanding conversion, and insight into various forms of deconversion.

In this first in-depth and wide-ranging history of Christian conversion, David Kling examines the dynamic of turning to the Christian faith by individuals, families, and people groups. Global in reach and engaging recent methods and theories in conversion studies, the narrative progresses from early Christian beginnings in the Roman world to Christianity's expansion into Europe, the Americas, China, India, and Africa. Although conversion is often associated with a particular strand of modern Christianity (evangelical) and a particular type of experience (sudden, overwhelming), when examined over two millennia, it emerges as a phenomenon far more complex than any one-dimensional profile would suggest.

Explores two areas of Constantine's religious affiliation: his conversion to Christianity and the specific details connected to his actions.

For well over a millennium the civilization of Western Europe was 'Christendom,' with Christianity the dominant religion, buttressed by social and legal structures. This volume studies Christendom at its origins, bringing the insights of leading scholars in the fields of ancient history, theology, patristics, and liturgy to bear on aspects of Europe's Christianization. From a missiological perspective, the contributors ask what is Christianity's impact upon culture, what is culture's impact upon Christianity? Focusing on the first four centuries, but also looking forward to the future of Christianity in the West, this book combines scholarly excellence with accessibility. It will be valued by scholars and students alike.

In this expanded edition of a spiritual formation classic, David G. Benner explores the twin themes of love and surrender as the heart of Christian spirituality. God doesn't want his people to respond to him out of fear or obligation, but invites us to enter into an authentic relationship of intimacy and devotion—by surrendering to love.

How and why did the early church grow in the first four hundred years despite disincentives, harassment, and occasional persecution? In this unique historical study, veteran scholar Alan Kreider delivers the fruit of a lifetime of study as he tells the amazing story of the spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire. Challenging traditional understandings, Kreider contends the church grew because the virtue of patience was of central importance in the life and witness of the early Christians. They wrote about patience, not evangelism, and reflected on prayer, catechesis, and worship, yet the church grew--not by specific strategies but by patient ferment.