Christianity and the Roman Empire: Background Texts
Ralph Martin Novak
Trinity Press International: 2001
340pp
Motivated by the fact that "the sources .. are widely scattered, difficult to find, and generally unknown to the layman," Novak here collects various texts on Christianity during the Roman period -- that is, from the earliest records until about the mid-fifth century, which seems a natural place to stop, as in later part of this period the Western empire was regularly in crisis: the overthrow of Romulus Augustus by Flavius Odoacer in 476 CE is often taken as the end of the Western empire
According to the author, this volume originated in a series of classes on early Christian history taught at an Episcopal church in Austin TX. The work, however, seems neither theological nor even polemical in outlook: it begins with a short discussion of proper historical methods, directed at non-specialist audiences, followed by a chapter discussing the very sparse information available on first century Christianity. In discussing the earliest moments of the movement, almost nothing but Christian sources remains. The first Christians were a small group, perhaps 0.01-0.1% of the population of the Empire; and the group appeared as Rome experienced increasing problems in that region, leading to the sack of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The earliest non-Christian references to the Christians seem to date from the start of the second century. Novak is not convinced that the reference in Suertonius to the 49 CE expulsion by Claudius of Jews from Rome due to "disturbances at the instigations of Chrestus" is evidence of Christians there at that date. So for the beginning of the movement, one must work mainly to make sense (say) of what is reported in the gospels or epistles. The gospels are, of course, somewhat garbled; a lengthy appendix discusses reasons to date (say) the birth of Jesus somewhere between 12 BCE and 4 BCE and the death in 30 or 33 CE. Novak would place certain passages in John against known texts from Judaic sources as evidence of deteriorating relations between Judaism and the new cult after the Jewish wars
The following chapters seem equally thoughtful, with attention to detail. In attempting to sort through the corruption of the Josephus text mentioning Jesus, for example, Novak can point to a much later copy, from Arabic sources, which does mention Jesus but which contains no obvious Christian apologetics, leading him to suggest a limited emendation to recover the original. The discussion of the various versions of Constantine's conversion, and a comparison of the reported conversion to the lack of Christian references on the triumphal arch and to only a delayed and slow change in the coinage, is quite informative
Although somewhat dense, this is a useful and interesting read
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