Archaeology of Early Christianity - Taschenbuch

Published in 1996 by Geoffrey Chapman in paperback, 412pp, ISBN 0225668238, this book, written by William H. C. Frend, looks at 'The Archaeology of Early Christianity: A History'. Early Christian archaeology begins with the empress Helena's discovery of the 'True Cross', but it did not become a science until the Renaissance. Travellers in the Ottoman Empire in the eighteenth century told of churches standing amid the 'heaps of ruins' they encountered everywhere on their journey. Napoleon in Egypt and the French conquest of Algeria harnessed the study of Christian archaeology to national ambitions. Archaeological method suffered from an overriding need for spectacular finds for national museums. The predominance of the Roman catacombs as a focus for Christian archaeology added an element of religious rivalry which persisted through the first decades of the twentieth century. After the Second World War improved methods and a series of finds of great importance, such as the Nag Hammadi Gnostic Library, have resulted in international co-operation to salvage the world's early Christian heritage. While problems of stylistic origins of church architecture have not been ignored in this book, the emphasis has been on archaeological research as a means of tracing the mission of the church and the history of ideas of non-orthodox traditions, including the Donatists, Manichees and Monophysites. It is the first study of its kind. It sets the story of Christian archaeology within the framework of religious thought and national ambitions. It brings to life the characters of leading figures in the field as well as describing their work. The author draws on his own experiences as an archaeologist working on the sites he has studied. Archaeology has made a decisive impact on the study of early Christian mission. The author throws new light on the ideas of 'non-orthodox' traditions in the early Church