Early Christian Reader, An

An Earlt Christian Reader offers an alternative to the New Testament as a basic text for college and university courses in the beginnings of Christianity. In a bold and innovative move, Mason and Robinson have gathered all of the known first century Christian writings, whether canonical or not, and arranged them in a plausible historical order. The editors have provided informative, sometimes provocative historical notes for each document. They have included such early texts as 1 Clement and the Didache and have grouped the texts according to date and author so that, for example, Luke and Acts appear together. And they have provided material for the reconstruction of the hypothetical documents"Q" and "Proto-Luke." Maps and other student aids complete the collection.