Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries?
Larry W. Hurtado
Number of quotes: 5
Book ID: 393 Page: 21
Section: 3B,4B
From our earliest sources, it is clear that at a very early point the movement that became “Christianity” practically exploded trans-locally, and continued this geographical spread all through the early centuries.
Quote ID: 8391
Time Periods: 123
Book ID: 393 Page: 31
Section: 3B,4B
…Hopkins held that throughout most of the first two centuries CE “Christians were statistically insignificant,” and that it was only in the third century that Christianity gained “the prominence that made it worthwhile persecuting on an empire-wide scale.”{34}
Quote ID: 8392
Time Periods: 123
Book ID: 393 Page: 46/47
Section: 4B
As Bremmer observed with particular reference to initiation into the cults of Isis or Mithras, “initiation required investments of time and money,” and so the mystery cults were “not something for the poor and needy.”{53}….
{53} Bremmer, Initiation, 138.
Quote ID: 8393
Time Periods: 123
Book ID: 393 Page: 56
Section: 3B
Still, Trajan’s letter also shows that there was no policy then or, it appears, in the ensuing decades, to seek out Christians or to conduct some active and systematic persecution of them.
Quote ID: 8394
Time Periods: 12
Book ID: 393 Page: 119/120
Section: 4A
Justin says that, having spent time with teachers of various Roman-era philosophical traditions, which left him still searching for a satisfactory philosophical stance (Dial. 2.1-6), he then had an encounter with a venerable man (Dial. 3.1) who directed him to the OT writings and their proclamation of God’s Son, the Christ (Dial. 7.3). In these texts and in the fellowship of “those who are friends of Christ,” Justin says that he found “this philosophy alone to be safe and profitable” (Dial. 8.1).
Quote ID: 8395
Time Periods: 2
End of quotes
Start typing name in text box, or
double click a name in a quote
and then click in this box to open the list.